It’s a new year, and many people, such as myself, make resolutions to attain things like better health, habits, life choices, etc. So, one of my resolutions this year— well not really a resolution, just an objective— is to clean up my diet a little bit. Because, oh boy, the foods I’ve been eating have been MESSY!
So, uh, huge mythology fan here. I am obsessed with mermaids, and when I stumbled across some mermaid art, it provoked some thoughts in my mind: What do mermaids eat? Is it just kelp, seaweed and fish? But I wouldn’t want to imagine one of my favorite mermaids, Ariel, eating her best friends, Flounder and Sebastian! How easy is it for mermaids to lose weight— do they even need to worry about such things? Are mermaids always healthy, and can obesity exist within the mermaid race? Although these creatures are in fact fictional beings (or perhaps not), thinking about these things keeps me awake at night.
So, based on personal bias and perspectives, I’m going to list things I believe a mermaid’s diet would consist of. In general terms, when I say ‘diet” I just mean what someone habitually eats. And in doing this, I hope that maybe I can attain a balanced and healthy diet, and try to eat like a mermaid myself for a day.
So let’s categorize the mermaid’s diet by the main food groups.
Proteins
Protein includes foods such as meats, poultry, beans, nuts, etc. They are essential to the diet. The only access that mermaids have to those things would be shellfish and fish. Fish is full of protein; salmon is a very good example of this. Some other great examples are:
Sardines, tuna, anchovy, shrimp, crab, lobster, clams, mussels and scallops.
These are quite standard, right? Now, what if we’re getting creative? I know some cultures that thrive off eating some unique seafood cuisines like:
Sea Urchin, octopus, squid and sea cucumbers.
So the problem with this is technically all of these creatures are living things, like how cows and chickens are! We as humans eat them, but if mermaids are half-fish and these creatures are well … fish, is this cannibalism? That wouldn’t be the case because Sharks are fish and sharks’ main diet consists of small fish. For whales and dolphins, this isn’t the case because they are mammals. But, then again cows are mammals, and humans are mammals…
Anyways, I’m running into loopholes. Let’s just say that mermaids eat fish (sorry Flounder and Sebastian). Maybe some of them practice vegetarianism, who knows?
Carbs / Grains
Uhh, we can’t grow wheat underwater. The only form of carbs they would be getting is from fruits and veggies. SO, NEXT — !
Fruits & Vegetables
This is slightly easier but you don’t get as many options here as you would with proteins. But, these are mermaids, we don’t know what they eat. Some foods that can be seen as vegetables or fruits can be:
Kelp, seaweed, algae, sea moss, sea lettuce and sea grapes.
Yes, it’s not very diverse but honestly, I’m a fan of things like seaweed and kelp myself. And, who knows, maybe mermaids have a tolerance to plants and species that may be poisonous to us.
Okay, so, do they eat all of this food raw, or do they cook it like us? How would they do that? My guess is … underwater geysers. These geysers spew out hot water up to about 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Phew, that’s hot! Let’s hope that mermaids have access to these boiling systems because I would hate to be eating raw fish my whole life.
So, to all my readers, do you think this would be an accurate depiction of the mermaid diet? Basically, fish and kelp? Maybe me as a human can feast on some seaweed salad and some raw salmon (but I’m allergic to fish). This could also make for a great restaurant idea, right? Well, thank you for reading, I hope this tickles your brain like it did mine. Bye! Keep it cute!