It’s long been known that people eat Pokémon idk why everyone is so shocked every time it comes up.
Slowpoke tail is a delicacy. Far’fetchd almost went extinct from over hunting. Professor Oak jokes about eating Ash and Gary’s Krabbys. Barraskewa is “surprisingly tasty”. Etc.
There was some post not too far back where Pokemon as food came up and it’s been hinted at in Pokedex entries or shown in the cartoon where the characters are stuck on a desert island and fantasize about Magikarp sushi and Kingler claws were shown in soup. Far’fetched has a Pokedex entry that states it almost went extinct from over-hunting, and that people cook them with the big leeks they hold.
Pokemon has actually been a decades-long vegan op. :hail-seitan:
I mean it is named after a Spanish roast pig dish, so yeah
What always confuses me is why people who aren’t vegan are shocked at the concept of people eating Pokémon.
probably because pokemon are explicitly depicted as being more intelligent than existing animals
before anyone @s me about how smart pigs and shit are, I already know, but in general pokemon are depicted as much more intelligent than that so it’s more comparable to saying “yeah our society eats dolphins all day”
Some of them are dumbasses but I think I get the point that they’re more human-like (they often have anthropomorphic traits) than real animals. Well, except for like, Muk, Xurkitree, etc. but I don’t think this conversation includes those lol.
yeah I mean there’s your slowpokes and stuff but in the anime and stuff you can clearly see Pikachu/etc are generally as intelligent as the child protagonists
Because they’re cute and people don’t like the idea of eating cute things
I don’t particularly like animals, and tend to think farm animals are gross (and :im-vegan: regardless )
Pokemon are cute like mascots, or emojis. Thinking about eating them makes me think about eating like funkopops or something. I struggle to even think of them as made of meat.
But some carnists will readily admit cows and pigs are cute and still eat them
Different types of cuteness
A Pokemon is designed to be considered the ultimate companion for a person, as they say “Every Pokemon is someone’s favorite” and the idea of eating that hits a nerve
Farm animals are taught to us to be sources of food, so even if they’re cute, they’re still seen as a food source first and foremost
because there’s little real distinction between a pile of garbage, a cow, a boy, the ocean, and god in the pokemon universe. They all have roughly the same intelligence, might have psychic powers other other magical abilities, and apparently eat each other. Pigs can’t learn to talk and it’s weird to eat parrots and ravens. chimps and monkeys are pretty smart and act like us and it’s frowned upon usually to eat them. It’s considered odd to keep cows or pigs as pets for the most part. but what makes one pokemon dinner and the other your best friend? This gets weirder when you think about if some pokemon could consent to sex. Meowth can talk and is just as smart as a human, I’m not saying it wouldn’t be weird but he could consent. Psychic types are also smart and can read minds, apparently they can still be eaten. don’t get me wrong, i can see the IRL distinctions being arbitrary too, but at least I can point them out and they kinda make sense.
