Taboo examines systems of justice around the world including a West Africa village that uses an ordeal of boiling oil to determine guilt, a blood feud in Albania, and a system of public shame in Texas.
Taboo looks at foods that are considered delicacies around the world including rotten shark meat in Iceland, goat fetus in India, rat in Togo, and bull penis as an aphrodisiac in Taiwan.
Taboo examines how animals and insects are used as medicine. It looks at the use of animal parts in South Africa, bees is Taiwan, leeches in India, and maggots in the United States.
Taboo examines how societies view death and dead bodies including a month-long funeral in Indonesia, public immolation of the dead in India, and a pathologist in the the United States.
Taboo examines how cultures sometimes use pain in religious rites including tongue boring in Nepal, self stabbing and possession rites in Indonesia, and extreme body piercing and self-mutilation in Thailand.
Taboo looks at rites of passage around the world including a boy's circumcision in South Africa, an Apache's girls ritual of womanhood, and American couple's journey into old age.
Taboo examines how people in different cultures raise children including young gymnasts in China, India children raised in prison, and unsupervised children in Indonesia.
Taboo looks are exotic entertainers around the world including carnival performers in the United States, cross-dressing cabaret in Thailand, and geisha in Japan.
Taboo looks at different family arrangement around the world including the matriarchal Mosuo tribe in China, criminal gang families in South Africa, and polyandry in northern India.
Taboo looks at how different cultures indicate status and identity through body modification including the stretched necks of the Padaung in Thailand, the full body tattoos of the Yakuza in Japan, and branding in the United States.
Taboo looks at initiation rituals around the world including stick whipping and facial tattoos in the Fulani tribe of Benin, dancing on knife blades in South Korea, and enduring ant gloves in Brazil.