Nintendo recently revealed that Pokemon Sword and Shield would allow players to make curry from various ingredients. One of these ingredients, however, has had the game’s community asking questions about how they’re made. Specifically, are the sausages in the game made from Pokemon?
Curry-making supposedly plays a big part in Pokemon Sword and Shield — the dish is somewhat popular in the United Kingdom after all, the country that the games’ Galar Region is based on. However, the fact that sausages can be used to make the dish in the game has some members of the series’ subreddit worrying about how these are made.
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Since most sausages are made from pork, the most obvious candidate is Tepig. As its name indicates, this starter Pokemon from the series 5th generation looks exactly like a cute piglet. The correlation is obvious enough that Reddit post does come with an image of a worried Tepig from the anime.
More importantly, developer Game Freak has yet to reveal whether or not Tepig will be in Pokemon Sword and Shield. This has some fans stating that its absence is due to it being used as a food source. In fact, redditor Mx_Toniy_4869 actually postulated that this was the fate of all Pokemon not in the games. “So that explains where all the missing Pokémon went! They killed them to make curry!” they exclaimed.
Of course, with Pokemon basically being analogous to animals (and occasionally plants and vegetables) in the games’ world, them being used for food may be somewhat expected. That said, their cute nature as well as the fact that they demonstrate some form of sentience does make the thought kind of disturbing. “The fact pokemon slaughter houses are now canon makes me feel a little bit sick,” stated Reddit user DrLancet.
That said, this hasn’t stopped some folks from having some fun. One Pokemon that’s drawn attention is Oddish, which is basically a radish with a face. Noting that Oddish is a Poison type Pokemon, one poster on Reddit has actually given some instructions on how to prepare it. “The trick to preparing oddish is to carefully remove the poisonous pods just under the grass growing out of the oddish’s head,” explained ChibiHobo. “If done carefully, you can easily roast the base of an oddish over a charcoal fire for a smokey, rich flavor. As for the leaves, once washed and dried, can be used to make a floral tea.”
Meanwhile, other users have suggested a slightly different use for Oddish and other Poison type Pokemon. “Oddish could probably also be used as a drug, I’d guess that many plant Pokemon could be smoked or made into a preparation akin to ayahuasca,” wondered HaZzePiZza. “Especially the poisonous ones, well you’ll either die or trip balls since we don’t know which are which and what poisons do what.”
Of course, the games themselves have made some allusions to Pokemon being used for food. The series’ second generation games introduced an item called Slowpoke Tails, the actual severed tails of the Pokemon Slowpoke that people value as a delicacy in game. The games’ lore however excuses these by stating that Slowpokes aren’t intelligent enough to realize that they’ve lost their tails, therefore feeling no pain.
That said, in defense of the sausages, some members pointed out that actual animals who aren’t Pokemon do exist in the series’ world. Redditor thatloserred actually compiled a list of some of the instances where the game alludes to these animals.
While the aforementioned list does show that the sausages may not be made of Pokemon, the games still have options for players who may want to avoid them. Players can also use other ingredients, including fruits and berries to make the curry in the games when they arrive on Nintendo Switch on November 15.
