Aaaaaaand there we go. Selkie’s “food allergies” are actually carnivorism. I have to admit, I find it funny how Todd is just now reasoning this out when most of the readers assumed she was carnivorous, or at least meat-preferring, right off the bat based off of her pointy teeth. Pat yourself on the back, you know who you are. 😀
Fun side fact: Selkie’s dialogue in the last panel is taken from real life. When I was about Selkie’s age myself, my aunt convinced me to eat a slice of pizza that was covered in black olives. I chewed it a bit, spat it out onto her good carpet, and accused her of trying to poison me. XD
There is also a Fan Art update today as well, courtesy of Rain:
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Than you, Rain!
Today's edition of the Secret Commentary is empty, because Dave failed to come up with something for it.
I actually doubt that being carnivorous equals poison. For instance, felines and canines are carnivorous, yet they do eat some plant foods. It is necessary for them to get a little of the essentials this way.
I can’t speak for Selkie’s species, of course.
They are probably fine with seaweed or something. Selkie could eat sushi but not salad.
Hehe, yep, saw that coming. Kinda silly how they listed it as “food allergies”, though I suspect it’s just to make sure any potential parent (or caretaker at the orphanage) wouldn’t confuse it with “doesn’t want to eat her vegetables”.
Cats eat grass and plant material to clear the stomach and bowls. They cant digest it and ether puke it up or it comes out the other end practically the same chewed up mess it was when they swallowed.
Brilliant, Holmes.
“Fun side fact: Selkie’s dialogue in the last panel is taken from real life.”
Aha! So when you were a kid, you added an S to the end of almost every word! Heh heh, couldn’t resist.
Wait a minute, He knows she isn’t human? On one hand, yeah, but on the other, are there any other non-human types out in the world, and sufficently “normal” that the media isn’t all over them? Or does she create a bit of cognitive dissonance that prevents others from going “what the hell!!”? Or am I thinking too much for this?
Obviously it’s Sunnydale Syndrome.
That just cracked me up lol.
That comment just made my night.
I get the feeling their species (and possibly others) are known to exsist alongside humans. might have racial tension or something of the sort, but i very much doubt that the universe in the comic and our own are the same.
Well OF COURSE the cheese is yucky. I’ve never known ANY kid who likes -as my five year old niece calls it- stinky cheeses. I can’t blame them, I mean, jeeez. How can y’all eat something that SMELLS like that? Gross, seriously gross. =P
When I first tasted cheese like that – a small bit – I thought “ew, yucky”. Then ten minutes later I was back in the kitchen cutting off another slice. If it’s your thing, it grows on you XD
Different species is a decent metaphor for the generation gap. Combined with a near-religion (vegetarianism) coming in contact with something it can’t account for, about as worse case adoption scenario as you can get.
although until the weekend note was posted stating as such, I just assumed she was human with a skin condition and not an entirely different species.
@stevegallacci: You’re probably just overthinking it a bit 🙂 The fun thing about webcomics (or comics in general) is that they dont necessarily have to make sense or fit in with our perceptions of normality.
I love Selkie’s reaction to the stinky cheese XD She reminds me very much of my sister (who is more carnivore than anything else herself). I hope poor Todd can cope with his new little carnivore 🙂
Good call, Selkie. Bleu Cheese is nasty.
I accused my mother of trying to poison me when I was little and she fed me green beans.
Come to think of it, I’m 22 and still accuse of her of that.
Guys, I just looked up bleu cheese and found it’s made with mold. I know mold’s not in the same clade as most plants, but I am now VERY WORRIED.
Tasty. Don’t care.
yes, cat’s and dogs, while carnivores, do eat some plants for digestion. Hoever, let’s remember that she’s a fish girl. While she might have some mamalian traits (mammory glands) She still shares more with fish than with humans. I’ve had a few different fish tanks, and yes, there are some fish that only eat meat, as well as some that only eat plants.
Her food “alergies” are within reason.
Little-known fact: wolves are actually near-omnivorous. They can’t digest grains, but they will choose to eat fruit. They’re apparently a problem for melon farmers. I’m not making this up!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gray_wolf#Diet
On behalf of females everywhere…
NO CHOCOLATE????? My poor little Selkie!
Yep, no chocolate. But don’t worry she has her own comfort foods; they just lean more towards the savory than the sweet.
Kipper Snacks!!! 😀
I was thinking sardines… roll open the can, pop a few bite-size morsels. Salty, not terribly healthy, but probably very tasty for her 🙂
I wonder if sushi could be a comfort food for her. It kind of is for me, and I CAN eat chocolate. It even comes in vegetarian varieties for Todd! To Rain: Pretty fan art! To everyone again- time to go out to eat!
Now, now, sardines are very good for you. They’re high in omega 3’s and deliciousness.
I bet Selkie would love the fuck out of pet kibble.
…what?
How allergic to plants is she? Can she still have small amounts on her food as seasoning? Gravy?
Small amounts of seasonings and processed/broken down items like barbecue sauce, taken with meat items, won’t cause a problem.
I vow that I will be (one of) the first to create Todd fanart!!
I don’t know about anyone else, but when I was that age, I loved bleu cheese, and my favorite salad dressing was Roquefort.
My son is also suitably odd – he’ll eat tofu raw and his favorite ice cream flavor is green tea, but he hates French fries, I guess we are raising him right. 😉
(And I, too say “Oh my gods”, but it is due to a weird sense of humor and polytheism, not a speech impediment.)
Okay … I have to ask this RB; What species are you and your son? Not eat french fries??? LOL
Oh my god, this comic just keeps getting better and better. She’s just so damn cute. 😀
(Just though I should mention that there’s a minor spelling error in the first panel; I think you meant weirds, not wierds. >.< Bah. Sorry.)
Odd thing that just occurred to me. If the bleu cheese smelled like a dead rat to her, wouldn’t that be more appetizing (being meat, and all)?
Nah, she’s inclined towards fishy things, remember. And most top-tier carnivores tend towards fresh meat. An already dead rat – who knows what killed it?
Does she even have lips…?
lol, Selkie reminds me of my older brother. He wont eat onions or mushrooms and claims their poisonous and he’s 26! While I’ll eat juat about anything but tropical fruit.
so first off, I LOVE THIS COMIC! 😀
anyways i was wondering have you said anywhere how old Selkie is?
I don’t think I have directly mentioned it anywhere, now that you mention it.
She’s eight.
Yeah, you’ve said how old she is. At the orphanage, she said she’d been there since she was five, and her friend went “Wow, three years?”
It just occurred to me: the bleu in bleu cheese is mold…which is a plant… IS it poison??
Actually, it is not a plant; it is a fungus. Fungi are sort of half-way between plants and animals, which is why fungal infections are so hard to get rid of – things that kill fungi tend to be equally harmful to animals.
Which, I think lends credence to her really hating the stuff. All the mold has to be is just enough plant-like to partially trigger her ‘allergies’ and then you’ve got her spitting bleu cheese all over the kitchen.
Umm….Me with Ketchup, same story as the author.
Ha ha:) “Sunnydale Syndrome”
Dave> You no likeys black olives?
I no likey any olive, really.
I’d accuse you of trying to poison me if you fed me bleu cheese too. X-P Personally, I think bleu cheese was a horrible trick played by some French chef on some Englishman. I imagine a dialog like this in a French kitchen a long time ago …;
“Mon dieu! Zis cheese has gone bad! Pfaugh! It stinks! We must throw it out!”
“Non! We must have zee cheese for our wealthy English customer (whom we greatly dislike after zee 100 years war!). Eh, use zee spoiled cheese, we will simply tell him it is a delicacy!”
Come to think of it. This is probably how we ended up with escargot too …
First off, LOL @ BarnOwl’s comments! Secondly, bravo Selkie! If I could only eat meat, I’d be a very happy man. There’s a lot of vegetarians at our college who give me grief for eating chilli dogs and cheeseburgers. Bah. I don’t give THEM heck for eating grass, I mean salads. 🙂
I did, but that was me being bitter about the “your diet is terrible for you” comments. Especially ironic given how much the one smoked.
Totally agree with Barn Owl! By the way, that is so funny! But, of course, most likely true. My parents tell me that I would eat snails in the garden, and they would have to take me inside before I digested something containing poison, but even today I would not eat bleu cheese or escargot if you paid me all of Bill Gate’s money in cash. Fact: Bleu cheese stinks. Another Fact: For some strange, not known reason, my mother actually LIKES bleu cheese.
A friend of mine offered me a big bowl of rice once, and proceeded to sprinkle blue cheese all over hers. I thought, I’m a daring individual and like weird things, so why not try this too. I even popped it in the microwave, curious if blue cheese melts…
that was a horrible idea. It just spread it through the whole bowl… it was moldy rice personified… *shudders at the memory*
I feel the same way about bleugh cheese >>
For someone who obviously got through college, Todd isn’t exactly quick on the draw now, is he?
Doesn’t seem that way.
Read through the comic last night, and am now making why way through for comments. Must say, it is very, very enjoyable. I love the story so far, and can’t wait to see Selkie and Todd going and growing together.
I’ve a pair of questions: first, will Selkie need to ingest a fair amount of organ meats to acquire nutrients, since hot dogs don’t have much beyond protein. Also, a lot of my favourite fishy snacks (pickled herring and sardines, yum) are preserved in various mixes; brine, wine, onion juice, etc. Will she have difficulty eating those?
She’d love organ meats! As for the vegetable based mixes, she would be fine as long as she as eating primarily meat. Any trace vegetable products would be largely ignored as long as there was enough meat to cover it.
‘Course, now all I can think about is my favourite all meat recipes…
Hey! I’m on my second read-through, having only recently discoveredthis story. Will post again when I get back to the end, but I wanted to share thus here:
My aunt teaches chemistry classes in highschool/collage, and one of her running gagsis to convince her class that parmacine cheese(spelling?) is actually based on dried, ground up cows vomit. The smell of the stuff lends credit to the suggestion. 😀
Sounds like she is an Obligate Carnivore…. as opposed to a regular Carnivore.
The difference between the two being that the Obligate Carnivores can ONLY eat meat…. whereas a regular Carnivore just MOSTLY eats meat.
Just for example, I’m a Carnivore because almost everything I eat is either meat or things wrapped around meat.
I’ve always loved Provolone, and would eat slices by themselves. I bought it pre-sliced.
The first time I bought a brick, when I unwrapped and smelled it, I thought “Oh, hell no, I’ve been enjoying this?”
Strange how some things that smell horrible can taste good.
Still not experimenting with strange stinky stuff, though.