History Main / CarnivoreConfusion

->''"Let me get this straight. You know her; she knows you. But she wants to eat him. And... everybody's okay with this? [[SuddenlyShouting DID I MISS SOMETHING?!]]"''

->''"Let me get this straight. You know her; she knows you. But she wants to eat him. And... everybody's okay with this? DID I MISS SOMETHING?!"''

* ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'':

* An increasingly popular option in fiction has been to render the carnivore's prey in a realistic, [[WhatMeasureIsANonCute non-cute manner]]. The prey does not talk — the prey is not humanized in any way. [[NoCartoonFish Fish]], in particular, are nearly always a viable mealtime option, unless they're major characters. Invertebrates of all kinds usually get a pass as well, again with the exception of times where [[WesternAnimation/ABugsLife they are the main characters]].

* The Advertising/MAndM mascots take this to another level when they talk about getting eaten, and in at least one commercial ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjuyHAuHMXI eat one of their own kind]].''

* The M&M mascots take this to another level when they talk about getting eaten, and in at least one commercial ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjuyHAuHMXI eat one of their own kind]].''

* Chick-Fil-A actually averts this by doing a series of ads with sapient ''cows'' shilling the restaurant... because they want people to eat more chicken and less beef.
* Then there's the infamous "Miss Piggy advertising a bacon breakfast at Denny's". [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIJm0YXq9Ss Watch it here]].

* More recent works will use this aspect for social commentary (''Manga/{{Beastars}}'', etc.). YMMV on how well they do.

There's an [[ElephantInTheLivingRoom unspoken awkward issue]] in fiction involving {{Talking Animal}}s. A lion is a carnivore - its teeth and intestinal tract are geared to eat meat. But what if the lion is as much of a person as Mr. Antelope? If everyone can talk, and everyone at least implicitly has the same thoughts and feelings as everyone else regardless of species, does this mean predatory creatures are forced to [[SapientEatSapient engage in a form of murder to eat?]] Or is it more like ''cannibalism?'' And then [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman what happens when]] [[LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy human characters are added into the mix]]? Let's not get started on AnthropomorphicFood...

* As several members of ''WebAnimation/{{Hololive}}'' are LittleBitBeastly animal girls, there is no shortage of jokes regarding this trope, such as Botan's (a lioness) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1FDUOfOelA continued attempts]] to devour Watame (a sheep), or the time Moona asked Gura (a shark) to enter a hot tub while playing ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' before [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgs-RgvZLao tossing in several carrots]] and joking that she was making shark soup. At least Gura has explicitly confirmed that she doesn't like to [[ToServeMan eat humans]] (which is TruthInTelevision, as humans contain far too little fat for a shark to consider us appetizing). And that's ''without'' getting into [[BlackComedyCannibalism the moral and ethical implications]] of Kiara (a phoenix) being the manager of a fast food restaurant specializing in chicken dishes yet explicitly named "Kiara Fried ''Phoenix''".

[[caption-width-right:349: "[[ImAHumanitarian you are what you eat]]"? No. This is [[RussianReversal eating what you are]], and apparently being okay with it.]]

[[caption-width-right:349:When the phrase "[[ImAHumanitarian you are what you eat]]" [[LiteralMetaphor is taken a little too literally]].]]

* The prey is suicidal and wants to end his/her life. The suicidal prey does this by waiting to be caught by the predator or walking/running/crawling/slithering/flying into the predator’s mouth/beak. The predator, who would likely eat nonsuicidal prey, doesn’t want to eat the suicidal prey.

[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
* Literature/TheBible:
** Historically some theologians have proposed that the animals in the Garden of Eden were all herbivores, with meat-eating being a result of the Fall.
** The above is possibly a back-formation from Isaiah 11:6, which speaks of the future messianic age: ''The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.''
** It is also taken from Genesis, where the animals were told by the One Upstairs to eat any of the green plants, while humans were also originally vegetarian. It's not sure if this was intended to be outside of the Garden as well and people have differing interpretations.
** The only animals explicitly shown to be intelligent were the serpent and a donkey, the former of which was evil and the latter of which was given the ability to speak.
* UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}} considers all animal life sentient. They refer to them as sentient beings, which is why some branches of Buddhism prescribe a vegetarian diet. Most, nevertheless, do consider that even a sentient being is still OK to eat for survival or health reasons (but still not to do unnecessary harm). Some also allow eating meat if you didn't kill the animal, say if the animal dies of natural causes or a non-Buddhist already killed it (the latter can be seen as a case of LoopholeAbuse, but the logic behind it is that the karma for a Buddhist is worse for killing animals as the Buddhist knows better, whilst a non-Buddhist can argue ignorance).
* USefulNotes/{{Hinduism}} also prescribes vegetarianism for similar reasons. Contrary to popular beliefs, cows are not "sacred", it is just considered wrong to eat the flesh of the one who gave you milk (as a mother). Some branches of Hinduism though allow you to eat animal meat if they are already dead and/or in the case of there being no other food sources at hand.
* Some Native American tribes have certain animals as forbidden food as they were considered the ancestors of the tribe.
[[/folder]]

* As several members of ''WebAnimation/{{Hololive}}'' are LittleBitBeastly animal girls, there is no shortage of jokes regarding this trope, such as Botan's (a lioness) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1FDUOfOelA continued attempts]] to devour Watame (a sheep), or the time Moona asked Gura (a shark) to enter a hot tub while playing ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' before [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgs-RgvZLao tossing in several carrots]] and joking that she was making shark soup. At least Gura has explicitly confirmed that she doesn't like to [[ToServeMan eat humans]] (which is TruthInTelevision, as humans contain [[NothingButSkinAndBones far too little fat]] for a shark to consider us appetizing). And that's ''without'' getting into [[BlackComedyCannibalism the moral and ethical implications]] of Kiara (a phoenix) being the manager of a fast food restaurant specializing in chicken dishes yet explicitly named "Kiara Fried ''Phoenix''".

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

* Estee's [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/209574/1/naked-lunch/the-jungle Naked Lunch]] in the [[FanFic/TriptychContinuum Triptych Continuum]] has a similar idea, wherein a griffin comes to Equestria to open a butcher shop. Given that there are a few species who ''need'' to eat meat (including a few griffins) living there already, and they've been relegated to getting their food from back-alley shops (or worse, pet supply stores), they're at least happy about his arrival. [[spoiler: As is a pony named Sizzler, who works at the ''[[ScareChord meat station]]'' at the palace.]] [[WordOfGod Word Of Fanfic Author]] is that in this continuity, meat is harvested from the non-sentient monster species. (Basically, if it's trying to kill and eat you, go right ahead and return the favor.) Ranching is a decidedly hazardous profession. There's also a cross-species agreement in place called The Treaty Of Menagerie, which basically states that none who consume meat shall take it from any who talk or think -- but not every race has signed off on it, with the Diamond Dogs and dragons noticeably absent.

* ''FanFic/ThePiecesLieWhereTheyFell'':

[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]
* Literature/TheBible: historically some theologians have proposed that the animals in the Garden of Eden were all herbivores, with meat-eating being a result of the Fall.

* Buddhism considers all animal life sentient. They refer to them as sentient beings, which is why some branches of Buddhism prescribe a vegetarian diet. Most, nevertheless, do consider that even a sentient being is still OK to eat for survival or health reasons (but still not to do unnecessary harm). Some also allow eating meat if you didn't kill the animal, say if the animal dies of natural causes or a non-Buddhist already killed it (the latter can be seen as a case of LoopholeAbuse, but the logic behind it is that the karma for a Buddhist is worse for killing animals as the Buddhist knows better, whilst a non-Buddhist can argue ignorance).
* Hinduism also prescribes vegetarianism for similar reasons. Contrary to popular beliefs, cows are not "sacred", it is just considered wrong to eat the flesh of the one who gave you milk (as a mother). Some branches of Hinduism though allow you to eat animal meat if they are already dead and/or in the case of there being no other food sources at hand.

* ''[[http://unionofsaints.darkbb.com Pork]]''. It's okay, [[MeetTheMeat they're cool with it]].

* In ''Felarya'', most characters eat humans, yet are really nice otherwise. [[LetsMeetTheMeat It isn't odd for the predators to exchange words with their prey]].
* The [[http://forums.furtopia.org Furtopian Hoofer Revolution]] embodies this trope. The entire hoofer revolution of 2010's April fool's day forum take-over revolved around this trope as its theme; the ungulates and other herbivores rebelling against the carnivores. Further {{hilarity ensue|s}}d once a herbivorous fox, a carnivorous rabbit, and a number of shape-shifters came into play, adding to the confusion.
* Inverted in ''WebAnimation/ASDFMovie 7'', where the talking muffin ''wants'' to be eaten (and is so cheerful about it!) yet nobody he meets feels like eating him.
-->'''Mr. Muffin''': Why won't you let me die?
* ''WebAnimation/SuperSmashAdventures'': Billy Piranha is a Piranha Plant who prefers eating vegetables, particularly watermelons.

* In ''WebAnimation/StarterSquad'', all Pokémon can talk to each other, but not to humans. Bulbasaur and Squirtle are shocked and disturbed by Charmander's habit of eating the Pokémon he defeats, and it's portrayed as equivalent to cannibalism. But later on, a Pidgeotto is shown eating a Caterpie, and the show doesn't even comment on it.
* ''WebAnimation/LucasTheSpider'' subverts this with the titular spider. At first, Bzzt (a housefly) is terrified that Lucas (a jumping spider) will attempt to eat him. Luckily for Bzzt, the friendly Lucas turns out to be one of the [[ShownTheirWork herbivorous species of jumping spider]].

* ''Fanfic/TheBridge'': Numerous Equestrian species like mermares and griffins are at the least omnivores, but the distinction between eating non-sapient animals or fish and other sapient beings is seen as a very big difference. So herbivorous ponies don't pay their neighbor's much mind.

** That said news that Godzilla Junior once regularly dined on dolphins and whales when he was growing up and saw nothing wrong with it. Godzilla was aware of cetacean intelligence but often saw them as [[DeviousDolphins a bunch of jerks]] who'd attack him when he was young, he still didn't consider it cannibalism as he'd never consider doing that to humans or ponies.

* As several members of ''WebAnimation/{{Hololive}}'' are LittleBitBeastly animal girls, there is no shortage of jokes regarding this trope, such as Botan's (a lioness) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1FDUOfOelA continued attempts]] to devour Watame (a sheep), or the time Moona asked Gura (a shark) to enter a hot tub while playing ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' before [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgs-RgvZLao tossing in several carrots]] and joking that she was making shark soup. And that's ''without'' getting into the moral and ethical implications of Kiara (a phoenix) being the manager of a fast food restaurant specializing in chicken dishes.

* As several members of ''WebAnimation/{{Hololive}}'' are LittleBitBeastly animal girls, there is no shortage of jokes regarding this trope, such as Botan's (a lioness) continued attempts to devour Watame (a sheep), or the time Moona asked Gura to enter a hot tub while playing ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' before tossing in several carrots and joking that she was making shark soup.