If you’ve ever watched the anime or played the games, there’s probably one question that’s always been on your mind. What do Pokémon trainers and other humans eat? The Pokémon food that actual Pokémon eat probably isn’t that great to humans, so they probably don’t eat that. Is it actual Pokémon they eat? They’ve gotta eat something! After all, without food, there would be no Pokémon trainers or any humans! Not to mention there would be no economy in regards to food.
A new mini-series was kicked off at the A.V. Club called “Special Topics in Gameology.” This mini-series focuses on commerce in video games. The first article of the mini-series talks about commerce in a series we all know and love: Pokémon. Readers chimed in and talked about how Pokémon have shaped the economy and the way people live in their world, and they also talked about food.
A user by the name of LotionChowder reminded us all that once upon a time, it was mentioned that normal animals lived alongside Pokémon. This has since faded away from the series. Unexpected Dave talked about how those normal animals that once lived alongside Pokémon went extinct as more and more Pokémon were discovered and already existing ones were bred. Humans played a factor in this by breeding Pokémon too aggressively, and that helped with the elimination of normal Pokémon. After all, how can a normal animal compete against something that shoots fire out of its mouth like a Charmander can?
Lack of Name brought the topic of which Pokémon would be the tastiest into the discussion. Steamed Bulbasaur and Farfetch’d were two Pokémon who were dropped as acceptable food choices. Magikarp continues to be a useless fish according to Crass the Lord, who says that carp meat isn’t very good. Given that Magikarp’s based off of a carp, the fish shouldn’t get its hopes up about becoming someone’s meal anytime soon. Merve reminded us all that Magikarp has potential once it evolves though. That useless little fish becomes a big, bad Gyarados that actually probably tastes really good. You’d have Gyarados farms, as suggested by Liebkartoffel, to help produce this delicious meal, and odds are it wouldn’t be for a cheap price. Alternatively, you could go “Gyarados whaling,” as Austin suggested, and exploit the Water/Flying type’s weakness to Electric type attacks by using your Electric type’s lightning bolts as harpoons. It sounds pretty rad, doesn’t it?
What kind of Pokémon do you think would be tasty? How do you think Pokémon trainers and other humans get their food? How does all of this affect their economy?