Should I feel bad about eating Choya?

Choya used to appeal to me as a pet but in Elona I found myself eating them in dishes. Unfortunately, it seems I learned nothing from Malomedies and these plants are actually sapient. They are supposedly cannibals, but I'm not sure that matters where I or the locals are concerned.

Food for thought:

! You can actually offend a Choya Chief by eating Choya innards in front of him during one of the Path of Fire instances.!! Cactus Table: This table contains different types of cactus. Some of it looks like it could be edible.! Try some cactus.!! The flavor is almost refreshing, if a bit bland. There don't seem to be any ill effects. The choya chief looks a little upset, however.! Leave.

At the same time, there are chopped up choya in front of the choya chef in the choya cave in Desert Highlands.

I wager it depends on the choya. Don't eat the friendly ones. Help yourself to the bad ones but don't do it in front of the friendly ones, that's just bad manners.

I mean unless they offer you to join them in their cannibalism? Then it's just getting weird and you should probably politely decline and excuse yourself. They're apparently not very good so you wouldn't be missing much.

Well, do you feel bad about eating sylvari? Its all just sallad in the end.

In the real world, there are countries where people regularly eat animals that we Americans consider pets. It's all a matter of cultural perspective.

Also, bear in mind that except for Gourdon and the Pricklepatch village in Desert Highlands, the large majority of Choya are red-name hostile and only barely social or intelligent even among their own kind. If you don't feel guilty about killing them when they attack you on sight, then why bother feeling guilty for eating them when necessary?

@Jimbru.6014 said:If you don't feel guilty about killing them when they attack you on sight, then why bother feeling guilty for eating them when necessary?To be fair though, I dont think many nations armies has rationalized it quite that easily when running low on supplies.

Then again if the main enemy force during WW2 had been 2m tall gummy bears the world could have been a different place.

@Dawdler.8521 said:

@Jimbru.6014 said:If you don't feel guilty about killing them when they attack you on sight, then why bother feeling guilty for eating them when necessary?To be fair though, I dont think many nations armies has rationalized it quite that easily when running low on supplies.

How do you kill a 2m tall walking Gummybear?

Bullets won’t work (i think).

Maybe Flamethrowers...

Same goes for harpy and orc meat

@Dawdler.8521 said:Well, do you feel bad about eating sylvari? Its all just sallad in the end.

Cleansed dragon corruption doesn't seem particularly edible. You are welcome to try. Go ask the Nightmare Court for excess clothes to eat.

@"AgentMoore.9453" said:Food for thought:

! You can actually offend a Choya Chief by eating Choya innards in front of him during one of the Path of Fire instances.!! Cactus Table: This table contains different types of cactus. Some of it looks like it could be edible.! Try some cactus.!! The flavor is almost refreshing, if a bit bland. There don't seem to be any ill effects. The choya chief looks a little upset, however.! Leave.

It's weird they were only a little upset. Maybe the food died naturally, was ritually selected, or came from POWs. The locals who "gather" healthy/innocent Choya may be viewed differently.

It's also a bit iffy to start eating a race because of what one group does.

@Dawdler.8521 said:

@Jimbru.6014 said:If you don't feel guilty about killing them when they attack you on sight, then why bother feeling guilty for eating them when necessary?To be fair though, I dont think many nations armies has rationalized it quite that easily when running low on supplies.

My main is a ranger. Bear Grylls survival eating FTW. Now mind you, eating a choya would definitely NOT be my first choice. They're combative, all the needles make them hard to clean, and there's that whole exploding thing that makes it hard to get much useful food from them. There's usually much easier bush food out there if you have the options.

@"AgentMoore.9453" said:Food for thought:

! You can actually offend a Choya Chief by eating Choya innards in front of him during one of the Path of Fire instances.!! Cactus Table: This table contains different types of cactus. Some of it looks like it could be edible.! Try some cactus.!! The flavor is almost refreshing, if a bit bland. There don't seem to be any ill effects. The choya chief looks a little upset, however.! Leave.

We are extrapolating that the Choya chef is upset because you're eating his people, whereas he could actually be annoyed about many other things.

1. You are nibbling the ingredients he hasn't prepared yet, curse you.
2. You took the piece he wanted.
3. You made a face that said "ALMOST refreshing, a bit bland, and am I going to get sick from this?"
4. You did not wash your hands before you grabbed that glob of choya guts.

@"Cragga the Eighty Third.6015" said:

@"AgentMoore.9453" said:Food for thought:

! You can actually offend a Choya Chief by eating Choya innards in front of him during one of the Path of Fire instances.!! Cactus Table: This table contains different types of cactus. Some of it looks like it could be edible.! Try some cactus.!! The flavor is almost refreshing, if a bit bland. There don't seem to be any ill effects. The choya chief looks a little upset, however.! Leave.

1. You are nibbling the ingredients he hasn't prepared yet, curse you.
2. You took the piece he wanted.
3. You made a face that said "ALMOST refreshing, a bit bland, and am I going to get sick from this?"
4. You did not wash your hands before you grabbed that glob of choya guts.

This is true, but even if those individuals weren't upset about the cannibalism do I have the right to generalize it to other Choya?

No. Food is food. Choyas eat choya, and in fact you actually get recipes for choya meats from choya. Most other races don't really see them as sentient beings, and more so as a slightly intelligent animal.

@"AgentMoore.9453" said:Food for thought:

! You can actually offend a Choya Chief by eating Choya innards in front of him during one of the Path of Fire instances.!! Cactus Table: This table contains different types of cactus. Some of it looks like it could be edible.! Try some cactus.!! The flavor is almost refreshing, if a bit bland. There don't seem to be any ill effects. The choya chief looks a little upset, however.! Leave.

THE CHOYA CHIEF IS NOT ANNOYED THAT YOU'RE EATING CHOYA. HE'S UPSET THAT YOU CALLED HIS DISH A "BIT BLAND".

@MisterCheshire.4029 said:No. Food is food. Choyas eat choya, and in fact you actually get recipes for choya meats from choya. Most other races don't really see them as sentient beings, and more so as a slightly intelligent animal.

I know they are sapient, as do some of the locals. What foreigners think of a species they've never met is inconsequential.

Also the cannibalistic Choya we meet are not necessarily representative of all Choya.

Would you feel guilty about eating a Sylvari? NO! Of course not!

In fact, take some of that Choya blood and spritz it on a roasted Sylvari-on-the-cob...pure bliss. And if you don't know what part of a Sylvari is on a cob, you don't know what living is like.

@Lord of the Fire.6870 said:Same goes for harpy and orc meat

There are charr in Ashford forums that talk about the flavor of harpy.

Also, charr who have been cut off from supply lines have eaten human prisoners during the war.

Edit to add another thing;

You can even wear a human skull as an accessory in one starting charr hair style...

I don't think you should feel bad about eating choya, but I think that Malomedies would weep x3

@Daniel Handler.4816 said:

@MisterCheshire.4029 said:No. Food is food. Choyas eat choya, and in fact you actually get recipes for choya meats from choya. Most other races don't really see them as sentient beings, and more so as a slightly intelligent animal.

The most peaceful village of Choya you meet is Canabalistic. I think it's fair to say that most Choya don't care where their food comes from. Neither should you.

as sylvari main: eat the choya. It is probably good. Or not. Who knows? Please taste it. It is after all just another plant.

I prefer asuran prodigies. But they are hard to get - whenever I try to get to the asuran nursery in Rata Sum, I end in a cell. Not fair! I want my share of that tasty all you can eat buffet!

This whole deal reminds me of the weird relationship the player has with Skritt. Sometimes we're helping them build a rocket or gather food, talking to them about their hopes and dreams, and sometimes we're literally exterminating them by the dozens because an asura said he doesn't want "vermin" hanging around in the woods. Like they weren't even doing anything. We just show up and burn their house down.

As a Charr I feel its about the same as eating human or skritt.

Probably should. They appear to have rudimentary intelligence and a culture, the ability to differentiate between friend and foe, etc. Given those factors you probably shouldn't eat them because they're a little more than animals/monsters.

Have you even came across "Dance with the choya to assist Tebb's research" event in Domain of Kourna? I have no regrets about killing and/or eating them. They are EVIL.