Global octopus consumption amounts to 350,000 tons per year and that number is rising.¹ In some places they are planning intensive agriculture of octopus - millions of them ready to be harvested for seafood pizza and pasta, barbecued, pickled.

I used to love pickled octopus and would buy it at the Melbourne markets when I visited. I love seafood pizza with chargrilled octopus. I absolutely see the appeal. But because my husband baulked at the idea because octopuses are so intelligent, I had to put my desires aside and really think whether my tastes were more important than a creature that built gardens on the seabed.

In Galicia and Portugal we'd drive past pulpería, places that serves pulpo (octopus) dishes. I imagined the tentacles writing on plates whilst people gorged themselves on local specialities. Boiled, sliced, drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with paprika.

Arguably, every animal has a kind of intelligence. We are squeamish about eating cats and dogs, because we have bonded with them. Perhaps we don't feel the same about cows and pigs and chickens and octopus.

Or perhaps it's just wilfil blindness. Perhaps we cling to the plethora of excuses why that animal can be eaten and that can't. We can eat cows, but not dogs. A dog might be as intelligent as an octopus, but dogs are pets, so we can eat octopus just fine. Besides, they don't live as long, so they can't be as valuable, right?

I don't think ignorance is an excuse. There's more than one fantastic octopus doco online and 'My Octopus Teacher' is a compelling, poignant one. Watch it. You'll love it.

Their intelligence is unusual because it evolved independently of verterbrate, and thus they have a unique set of cognitive abilities. Their central brain has comparable neurons to some birds and mammals, and two thirds of their neurons are in their tentacles, so they have independant arm control and localised problem solving. They can open jars, manipulate objects as tools, and navigate mazes, and they are capable of learning from other creatures through observation. They remember things, both long and short term, their camouflage skills and environmental awareness is just mind blowing. Some species collect shells or coconut shells and arrange them into shelters, showing planning. They're playful, exploratory, curious. They plan escape routes, anticipate predators, solve problems with many steps - this isn't trial and error, but flexible, creative thinking. Through the sensory input of their tentacles, they can make real time, complex decisions.

I'm not saying that a cow can be eaten because it can't find a way out of a paddock, but I think if a cow was an octopus, we wouldn't stand a chance.

^{Image at my prompting by Chat GPT}

I think we make decisions all the time about what intelligence is acceptable to eat under what conditions, and what we wouldn't - or couldn't bear - to eat. Why vegans and vegetarians are bullied for their compassionate, mindful food choices - no matter how vocal they are about it - I do not know. Perhaps it's because it's easier to demonise others when we are the demon ourselves, blindly partaking in industrial scale animal farming, including the rape of our oceans. As long as we maintain emotional distance - they aren't our pets, after all, and we dont need to see them killed or how they're treated - we can live with it. And an octopus, hell, we aren't going to empathise with something so alien - or something we believe is alien, even though it's been on earth longer than us.

We do tend to bend our ethics to suit our cravings. We justify it with the exoticness of an octopus, their delicacy, cultural traditions of harvesting them in places like Greece. The fact octopus forms a link to their past often justifies their mass slaughter. It's also bloody delicious. Ethics begone - chargrilled octopus with a greek salad is next level! Let alone the economic reason for eating them - some communities argue they wouldn't survive without it.

^{Did you know that octopus are as intelligent as dogs or crows? - image by Chat GPT at my prompting}

Whilst I know it's not as simple as simply ceasing to eat these incredible creatures, I think it's worth rethinking whether we should be personally contributing to the octopus industry, and whether we think our tastebuds are more important than our ethics.

I just can't. I'm always going to miss pickled octopus, but I just can't.

With Love,

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