“Are they food?” Animal Crossing fans debate whether food-themed villagers are plants or animals

Some food themed Animal Crossing: New Horizons the characters make players scratch their heads, wondering if they are animals or something else entirely. The franchise has more than 400 types of villager designs, all based on animals such as cats, dogs, deer, various birds, crocodiles and several other types of animals. However, some residents of the Animal crossing Franchises are unique because they are food-themed.

The choice of gastronomic design raised an important question for Animal crossing Reddit fan and user ProdigoFit6692: “Are they food!?” The Redditor asked this question to other players, calling out several villagers who look more like plants, desserts, and other food items than animals. They ask other fans if they “I think villagers like Tangy and Ketchup are actually a cat and a duck respectively, or are plant-like creatures that feed [the] shape of animals.“The issue sparked a discussion among players about the nature of these unique villagers.

Animal Crossing fans debate the true nature of food villagers

Are Spicy, Meringue, Ketchup and the rest more food than animal?

The consensus in the comments on the Reddit post appears to be that these are villagers named after the food and drink they look like. Editor voncatensproch points out that there are other animals named after foods in Animal crossing that “do not necessarily look like the food,“like Anchovy and Cherry. However, other villagers are not named after the food they resemble, such as Zucker, who looks like a takoyaki ball. Tangy's official quote does not clarify the matter, as she is cited as saying, “They say cats hate citrus fruits. THIS REALLY HURTS MY FEELINGS!“

The discussion takes a much darker turn when some fans point out that as long as someone is not vegetarian or vegan, then any Animal crossing villager is technically food. On a sillier note, the Redditor lists Tia among the “food-themed” villagers in the original post, asking if the villager's elephant is actually made of porcelain or if she simply looks like a teapot. “Don't eat Auntie,” exclaims Redditor Mei-Lin11“She's a teapot, that's not food.“

Our Take: Several Animal Crossing Characters Have Confusing Designs

What we really want to know is what's up with Penelope

Animal crossing is full of its fair share of oddities, from robot octopuses to dogs wrapped in bandages. Some villagers are so associated with their designer accessories, like Puck's helmet, that it's almost impossible to recognize them without their iconic items. Others, like Coco, are simply confusing. After all, what is Coco? Part gyroid, part coconut, perhaps?

But what I really want to know is what's the matter with Penelope. I met Penélope for the first time when I dove head first Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp completeand nothing seemed wrong at first glance. But then I looked closer and noticed that she has a big pink bow instead of ears, and her official description says: “We want to believe that Penelope simply has unusual bow-shaped ears. The alternative is too disturbing to contemplate.“Now all I can do is imagine Penelope's ears popping. And thanks to the original creator of the Reddit post, I now want to take a little bite of Tangy in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, just to see if it tastes like the citrus fruit it looks like.

Source: ProdigoFit6692/Reddit, voncatensproch/Reddit, Mei-Lin11/Reddit