Trope Workshop:Eating is Optional

This is a Trope Workshop page, still under consideration for creation. Help out by editing the current page, or leave a comment on the Talk page. Trope Workshop Guidelines

When a supernatural being does not need food to survive. They may have been humans once upon a time, but have transcended their mortal limitations. Despite not needing to, they may still choose to eat. Perhaps because they still enjoy the taste or need to masquerade as a mortal.

In a more unfortunate scenario, the being suffers from hunger, even though they eating is not necessary for survival. Leaving them forever starving, trapped or imprisoned, can be used to torture them in a Fate Worse Than Death. Such beings vary in sentience or intelligence, with some being mindless man-eaters. This trait can be used to make monsters more horrifying, as they do not have an excuse for their consumption.

Eating is Optional is a sub-trope of The Needless. See also Eating Machine, and Perpetual Motion Monster. In xianxia stories, it may be referred to as a xian achieving inedia, and is poetically described as sustaining themselves on the morning dew.

Examples of Eating is Optional include:

Anime and Manga

• Attack on Titan: The titans don't need to eat, as it's implied they get all the energy they need from sunlight and because they don't even have digestive organs. But they still eat humans and only humans, just to vomit what's left of their victims after a few hours.
• Death Note: Shinigami are needless, but Ryuk still enjoys eating apples whenever he can.
• Dragon Ball
  • The Namekians, a race of plant-like slug people, only need to drink water to live. However, Piccolo is seen eating fish and Senzus.
• Genshin Impact: Qilins are said to sustain themselves on the morning dew.
• Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: It's mentioned that full-body cyborgs don't need to eat, but novelty food and drinks are made for those who want to recapture the experience.
• One Piece: Brook is kept alive by his devil fruit, but claims that milk helps him regenerate his bones.
• A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality: Han Li and other xians eventually achieve inedia through cultivation.
• That Time I Got Reincarnated as A Slime: Rimuru does not need food, but as a former human, still indulges in it. He had to overcome his inability to taste anything first though.

Literature

• A Song of Ice and Fire: Melisandre conceals the fact that she does not need food, and comes off as Forgets to Eat.

Oral Tradition, Folklore, Myths and Legends

• Chinese Folklore
  • Qilin are said to sustain themselves on the morning dew.
• The Bible: After resurrecting, Jesus ate with his disciples to prove he was real and not a ghost or vision.
• In Classical Mythology, gods don't hunger or thirst.

Western Animation

• Castlevania (2017): For vampires, food is considered an indulgence, since they only get nourishment from blood.