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Swift’s modest proposal was that the poor breed their children as food for the elites. Tapping into the New World discourse of cannibalism, Swift wrote:
I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked or boiled, and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee, or a ragout.