# Minotaur meat diet?



## ascanius (Jan 26, 2016)

So I have Minotaurs in my WIP and well....  Would having Minotaurs eat meat be iffy, specifically bovine meat?  I'm imagining Minotaurs rounding up cattle for the slaughter and I cannot decide if that would be cannibalism, or if I should even have them eat meat at all.  What do you think?


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## Ireth (Jan 26, 2016)

ascanius said:


> So I have Minotaurs in my WIP and well....  Would having Minotaurs eat meat be iffy, specifically bovine meat?  I'm imagining Minotaurs rounding up cattle for the slaughter and I cannot decide if that would be cannibalism, or if I should even have them eat meat at all.  What do you think?



Seems like very close to cannibalism, IMO, or similar to a human eating ape meat. Minotaurs strike me as the vegetarian type.


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## Drakevarg (Jan 26, 2016)

I'd hardly call it cannibalism any more than, as Ireth said, a human eating ape meat. Though I'd agree that as bovines I'd generally think of minotaurs as herbivores. Though your world your rules, obviously.

I find it kind of odd that a lot of people have trouble making the disconnect in such cases, like why a dog-person owning a dog isn't any weirder or slavery-like than a human owning a chimp. Not accusing anyone present of such, just noting a curious trend.


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## Gryphos (Jan 26, 2016)

Well in the original myth the Minotaur did eat people, so it wouldn't be farfetched for you to make your minotaurs at least omnivorous. As for the whole eating beef thang, I dunno. Maybe minotaurs prefer to stick to poultry.


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## Ireth (Jan 26, 2016)

Drakevarg said:


> I find it kind of odd that a lot of people have trouble making the disconnect in such cases, like why a dog-person owning a dog isn't any weirder or slavery-like than a human owning a chimp. Not accusing anyone present of such, just noting a curious trend.



I think that's a matter of sapience, or sentience, whichever is the right term. Anthropomorphism usually plays a part as well, in the case of non-primates.


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## WooHooMan (Jan 26, 2016)

Cow heads (particularly their jaws and teeth) are designed to eat grass and grains.  Also, cows are incapable of tasting savory things so a some vegetables and sea food wouldn't appeal to them.  They do however like salty tastes.
Of course, that's applying science to fantasy.

I think it would be weird for a minotaur to eat a cow.  Saying it's like a human eating an ape is, I think, a bad comparison.  It would be like a human eating a four-legged creature that had the head of a human.  People naturally put a lot of characterization and sympathy into faces ("eyes are the windows to a person soul", facial expressions and so forth) so if you transpose that to minotaurs, a minotaur would probably be more okay with eating humans than eating cows.  Apes, pigs and chickens are probably fair game to a minotaur.

Also, on an unrelated, personal note: some one congratulate me.  This post got me promoted to "Scribal Lord".


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## Drakevarg (Jan 26, 2016)

I dunno. That would depend on how minotaur-esque a minotaur would perceive a cow's face to be. Humans are naturally adept at recognizing the individual faces of other humans, and have a harder time perceiving individuality or specific emotions even for dogs and cats, which many feel a great deal of empathy towards. So just as humans don't consider an ape's face to look especially human, a minotaur may not consider a cow's face to look especially like their own. Obviously it would depend on the setting, but that's my view on it.

I will admit - with the hopes that the thread doesn't derail into shaming my habits - that I am a furry, so I've got a fair bit of personal relationship with the phenomena and the need to distinguish between an animal and what is superficially an animal-human hybrid.

Also grats, WooHooMan.


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## DMThaane (Jan 27, 2016)

WooHooMan said:


> Saying it's like a human eating an ape is, I think, a bad comparison.  It would be like a human eating a four-legged creature that had the head of a human.



I've heard that sphinx is the ultimate brain food.



ascanius said:


> So I have Minotaurs in my WIP and well....  Would having Minotaurs eat meat be iffy, specifically bovine meat?  I'm imagining Minotaurs rounding up cattle for the slaughter and I cannot decide if that would be cannibalism, or if I should even have them eat meat at all.  What do you think?



I think it would depend on where you're going with them. The original ate meat but the original was a horrific monster that lived in a labyrinth. If you wanted to 'humanise' them then having them be vegetarian could be useful, emphasising their softer side, while if you were going for the horrific monster angle then having them consume something close to 'their own kind' could help play that up.


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## Miskatonic (Jan 28, 2016)

DMThaane said:


> I've heard that sphinx is the ultimate brain food.
> 
> 
> 
> I think it would depend on where you're going with them. The original ate meat but the original was a horrific monster that lived in a labyrinth. If you wanted to 'humanise' them then having them be vegetarian could be useful, emphasising their softer side, while if you were going for the horrific monster angle then having them consume something close to 'their own kind' could help play that up.



Yep. Villain or misunderstood? Decide on that and you'll have an easy answer.


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