Humans populate all seven known regions of the Pokémon world. The majority of these citizens, however, seem to prefer to spend their days locking eyes with strangers and forcing them to battle, instead of helping to produce food. The few farms scattered around the world are generally mom-and-pop operations that focus on free-range animals. In the Johto region, the MooMoo farm has several Miltanks, a cow-like Pokémon, that graze in an open paddock and produce small batches of milk, while the riverside Floccesy Ranch in Unova is home to a flock of roaming Mareep, or electric sheep. A more commercial outfit can be found in Mistralton City, where vegetables are grown in greenhouses and neat dirt patches, then flown to other regions by cargo plane. Clearly, these ventures do not supply enough food for the population, yet the world’s cafés and restaurants somehow manage — the menu at seaside Olivine Café is “chock full of hearty fare for beefy sailors,” according to one patron.
Simply put, it is a fact that people eat Pokémon. In the original television show, Farfetch’d, a duck-like Pokémon, was hunted to near extinction because of its delicious taste, similar to the blue fin tuna today. Early in the series, there was evidence that real world animals did exist, but that has largely been attributed to the then-undeveloped universe.
Even if you discount early examples, there is the matter of the Slowpoke tail. Slowpoke is a water-based creature with very low intellect. In the second generation of games, the criminal organization Team Rocket hatched a plan to cut off “tasty, nutritious” Slowpoke tails and sell them for a huge profit. The item description said it all: “Very tasty. Sell high.”
Read More | "The Food Politics of Pokemon" | Monica Kim | Modern Farmer