Pokemon: Edibility and Sentience.

      It is abundantly clear that different species of Pokemon have different levels of individual intelligence that can be understood by humans. Furthermore, they are not viewed in the same way as pets are viewed in our society. They are caught in the wild, and can only be contained following a severe enough beating at the hands of a trainer. Despite this, it is clear in universe that there have been cases of Pokemon abuse, and that those who do abuse Pokemon are highly frowned upon. It can be inferred, then, that some level of the actions of Pokemon are a willing--albeit, likely coerced--action. The concern of the legality of a Pokemon's ability to consent and choose to partake in interactions, such as Machamps being used in construction work ala Sun and Moon, is what raises the largest concern, here: Where is the line between humans, "animals", and non-human sentient entities? The lines become even more blurred when considering the distinct stages of evolution and the differences in the Pokemon's appearance, skill, and even their perceived intelligence. 

     The unique social status that Pokemon appear to possess as creatures with wildly varying levels of sentience and awareness of the world in which they live would lead some to believe that the world of Pokemon is a vegetarian one. But it has been repeatedly proven that it is not vegetarian for humans and certainly not herbivorous for the Pokemon themselves. Lucario's Pokedex in Pokemon: Diamond, explicitly states, quote: "It has the ability to sense the auras of all things. It understands human speech." Furthermore, it belongs to an egg-group identified as "Human-like". What does this mean for Lucario? And what does this mean for the people of the Pokemon world? Lucario is a comprehending, thinking creature. Pokemon: X and Pokemon: Omega Ruby further push his comprehension to levels beyond human capabilities: he can read the thoughts of others. In this way, would Lucario not deserve a higher level of rights within society than humanity itself? But despite their abilities to feel the emotions of others, it has been stated that Lucario does hunt prey, and therefore seems to be aware of the hierarchy of sentience and, for lack of a better word, "human" rights within its own species. Lucario is not the only Pokemon who appears to possess mental abilities greater than of humans. Mr. Mime has the capability of manifesting invisible objects based purely on the belief of the viewers of its pantomiming acts. This means that Mr. Mimes, in addition to understanding human body language with enough skill to accurately mimic it, they have an inherit ability to comprehend the interiorly held beliefs of humans. 

     Despite all of this psychobabble and over-analysis, no conclusion on the ethics of meat consumption in the Pokemon world can truly be reached. It is because of this I will now be offering my personal thoughts on which Pokemon would likely taste the best and cause me the least moral outrage to consume.

     Coming in at number one is any and all traditionally fish shaped Pokemon, with the exclusion of sharks. The most obvious and commonly discussed Pokemon fulfilling this roll is Magikarp, but I would like to direct your attention to the Whiscash, which bares a striking resemblance to the catfish. Pivoting from my biased view as someone who loves seafood, I would like to suggest that Tauros and Miltank would make good meat cattle, with Miltank having an edge due to their ability to be used as a dual-purose dairy-meat breed. 

     Perhaps I will revisit this topic in the future. I don't care about this subject anymore.