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One of the central themes of Zootopia is that the animals have evolved beyond their historical predator and prey ecological roles and now live together.

Given this, is there any information in the film or supporting media (e.g., trailers, interviews, etc...) that reveals what the formerly predatory animals are now eating?

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    We know that they eat popsicles.
    – jejorda2
    Mar 21, 2016 at 19:13
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    @jejorda2 Well yeah and blueberries too but Foxes are more omnivorous than say a Lion or a Polar Bear.
    – DQdlM
    Mar 21, 2016 at 19:15
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    This is a long-standing problem in fiction about anthropomorphized animals. TVTropes calls it Carnivore Confusion, and it's common enough in Disney and Pixar works to have its own dedicated page. Zootopia is already on there.
    – Mason Wheeler
    Mar 21, 2016 at 20:28
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    I the first Madagascar movie, there is a whole story part where Alex (the lion) wants to eat flesh, especially Marty (the zebra). At the end of the movie he eats sushi prepared by the penguins.
    – Goufalite
    Mar 22, 2016 at 9:21
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    Please vote on the Zootopia meta discussion before closing this question.
    – Rand al'Thor ♦
    Jun 13, 2016 at 12:34

2 Answers 2

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In-Universe (seen)

We see carnivores eating;

Fruit smoothies
enter image description here

"Blubber Chef" (which presumably sells blubber-based products)
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Breakfast Cereal (the "Art Of" book helpfully provides a list of ingredients) enter image description here

Doughtnuts
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Pawpsicles
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Blueberries
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Strawberry Mousse
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Blueberry(?) Pie
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Image courtesy of "The Art of Zootopia"

Fish Nuggets / Buggy Burgers
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Spicy Lentils
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Tuna Tartar
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Images courtesy of "Zootopia - The Official Handbook"

Pizza
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Image courtesy of "Zootopia: Welcome to Zootopia"

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Image courtesy of "Zootopia: Hustle Up"

In-Universe (Described)

The film's writer, Jared Bush addressed this issue (via twitter).

Q: Hey, can you tell me what do they eat? What would the carnivores eat? I'm really curious

JB: in Zootopia, carnivores eat plant-based proteins and insects. Bug-burga is their favorite restaurant

Q. What about fishes? Do they eat those too?

JB: in early versions of the movie they ate fish (which weren't "evolved" and didn't talk) But it confused the rules of the world.

For the record, I've added punctuation because it would seem that neither party know how to use it.

Nick doesn't eat meat.

Q. Glad to see no reptiles and birds were harmed in the making of #Zootopia. BTW the chicken was tasty last night

ByronHoward: Nick doesn't eat meat

Via Twitter

And in this linked article, the film's directors offer us a little more info about what you can buy at Bug-Burga.

[Byron] Howard and [Rich] Moore had to create a film where animals could live together, those who would normally be prey and others who would be predators. And in doing that, they also had to solve the problem that the predators still need meat protein and would normally be eating the prey. So the most popular fast food restaurant in Zootopia is Bug-Burga, where protein can be found. Howard said, “In Bug-Burga, you can get a grasshopper shake, cricket chips, or a cicada burger. And it's all viable protein. In one scene where Nick is telling Judy that she'll never be a real cop, you're going to go home and be a carrot farmer, he takes part of a fence and moves it aside. If you look down by his feet, there are Bug-Burga boxes in the litter on the ground.” It is one of the only places viewers will see the restaurant noted in the film.

enter image description here

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    They still eat fish. You can see a fish market when the bunny first goes through tundra town on the train.
    – user20155
    Mar 21, 2016 at 23:33
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    @LegoStormtroopr - How do you know it's not a market for fish
    – Valorum
    Mar 21, 2016 at 23:34
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    Zootopia only includes mammals, it's mentioned several times throughout the film. No intelligent reptiles, birds, fish or amphibians to be found.
    – vastra360
    Mar 22, 2016 at 1:58
  • "Buggy Burger" is on the fish nuggets picture too.
    – user40790
    Jun 13, 2016 at 17:10
  • The Buggy Burger ad includes a level of confusion in its tag line. "Why stalk when we can deliver", suggests the an accepted meal option is to go stalk something yourself, which requires something to stalk.
    – Jontia
    Apr 1 at 9:46
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  1. Since only mammals are seen in the movie, and as stated above, a fish market is seen, it's likely possible that they eat fish as a sort of main meat source, with insects as a filler for protein and other nutrients. Insects and fish are easily bred, and in large numbers, so it would be plausible it is a part of their daily diet. The resource could be made plentiful enough it would rarely if ever run out, even considering how much a mammal, like say a lion, would have to eat to get their needed nutrition, and how many large carnivores there are.
  2. Also, it is important to note real world meat substitutes like tofu, which has many of the same nutritional values of meat.† (Though, you would have to eat a lot of it to compare. Good things animals have large stomachs!) It would also be wise to note that many carnivorous animals can consume and process certain plants, such as canines eating oak‡ bark to help with joint pain. It's more a matter of digestibility than harm to the animal, so it's possible with their 'evolution' they may have simply adapted to eat more plant based foods, more efficiently.
  3. Addressing the issue of animal evolution, if fish doesn't work for canon, one could consider other aquatic species, like mollusks and crustaceans, which are more closely related to insects and plants than fish, lizards or mammals.
  4. From the top of my head, they could be pumping artificial nutrients into special foods, like Bug-Burga foodstuffs, considering insects alone don't hold enough nutritional value for large carnivores.
  5. Or, perhaps, considering this is a work of fiction, one could just say "They eat artificial meat."
  6. This is simply my analysis of what I know in the movie, and my comparisons to real life.

†On the Tofu comparison, I did a little looking around, but all I really got was mixed responses and reports on it... one person's data was different from another's, and this chart didn't match that... so take that information at your own risk, I don't know how reliable it is.

‡I could not find for certain which bark it was the dog ate, but I remember watching a story on it. The owners were confused until someone explained why their dog was eating their tree. I know my dog eats grass sometimes... but sometimes he throws it back up. Every animals is different too, so keep that in mind.

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