Dungeon Messy: The Ethics of Eating Monsters

Michael Lee

The following is an excerpt from my article that was published on Salon.

Chilchuck: “You promised not to go for demi-humans!”

Laios: “They’re farther removed from humans than cows or pigs…”

Chilchuck: “NO demi-humans!!”

We think very little about where our food comes from. We often don’t want to think of the barbarism of the act, which is why slaughterhouses and factory farms are often located out in the middle of nowhere. Out of sight, out of mind. We may be vaguely aware of modern animal husbandry practices, some of us may have even read Michael Pollen’s seminal 2002 essay Power Steer, but what do we really know about the animals that end up on our plate? The truth is we don’t want to know. Our heroes in Delicious in Dungeon have no such luxury of distance to shield themselves as the immediacy of the next meal requires them to be involved in the entirety of the food process. By centering food in this way, the series opens up discourse on how, in fact, our lives revolve around food, and challenges some of our thinking on food consumption.

It’s a delicate balance, between the aesthetic and the ethical. The sensation of taste and the pleasure food brings versus the maintaining of a sense of rightness in how we pursue these pleasures. Delicious in Dungeon makes attempts to examine this balance through the viewpoints of the main party members. Senshi, a Dwarf and the party’s cook, advocates for a kind of utilitarian conservation. Respecting the balance of nature and taking only what one needs. His concern lies with maintaining the ecosystem of the dungeon. Senshi doesn’t kill for the thrill of the hunt, or take more than the party needs to survive. But he does concede that something needs to be sacrificed so the party can eat. Which is why he believes that one must enjoy the meals made from the monsters in the dungeon. To turn one’s nose up at a dish would be disrespectful to the animal that was sacrificed.

Marcille, the party’s Elven mage, often finds herself eating foods she wishes she didn’t have to consume. Seeing how the sausage is made causes Marcille to reject food. Carolyn Korsmeyer, in her 2012 essay Ethical Gourmandism, asks the question “is the very taste of the food we eat imbued not only with flavor but also with moral valence?” Do our feelings towards how something tastes change if we are made aware of what went into the preparation of the food in question? To avoid this moral valence affecting her enjoyment of a meal, Marcille is often left out of discussions on what will be on the menu in a given episode.

Such is the case with the merfolk that Laios wants to eat. The compromise reached between Chilchuck and Laios is that Laios can use the merfolk’s seaweed hair in a dish, but he also sneaks in some of the merfolk’s eggs, which in the lore of Delicious in Dungeon are kept in the hair to protect them from predators. When Marcille notices little pops of flavor, Senshi muses that they must be fish eggs, to which Marcille responds “they’re delicious!”

From Chilchuck’s perspective, a demi-human has too much in common with a human to be eaten. He notes that the merfolk Laios wants to eat holds a trident as a weapon, making the conclusion that merfolk are smart enough to use tools. He also sees human-like features in the shape of the merfolk’s hands. Laios quickly retorts that humans actually have more DNA in common with the cows and pigs they eat everyday and that merfolk are nothing like humans at all. the Orcs of Delicious in Dungeon are demi-humans as well and have prominent porcine features. Would Laios hesitate to take a bite out of an Orc? When is something considered taboo and how does that come about?

This excerpt should give you a taste, but it would be great if you could support Salon (and my numbers with them) by sending a click their way, plus you’ll get a chance to read the whole piece I wrote for them!
Find it here.

Michael Lee is the Editor of KOSATEN, and writes in other places as well. His work looks at video games, anime, and Japanese fandom, with a particular focus on doujinshi and other fan-created media.