The ‘Delicious in Dungeon’ guide to keeping ecosystems alive

The first season of Delicious in Dungeon is officially wrapped up! As the party dives even deeper into the dungeon, now is the perfect time to discuss the dungeon itself. An important topic that Senshi brings up throughout the series is maintaining the dungeon ecosystem. It’s a major part of his character that we get glimpses of throughout the season. Understanding what exactly it means to keep such an ecosystem alive is important to understanding Delicious in Dungeon.

How Delicious in Dungeon’s ecosystem works

“Stewed Cabbage/Orcs” and “Kelpie/Porridge/Broiled with Sauce” are the two episodes where Senshi mentions the importance of the ecosystem specifically. Senshi makes it clear that everything that he takes to survive in the dungeon, he does something of equal value to make up for it. 

In “Stewed Cabbage/Orcs,” Senshi reveals that he uses the golems to grow vegetables for himself and to trade with the orcs. To balance this out, he cleans up the bathrooms on that dungeon floor. Additionally, he uses this wastewater to fertilize the gardens on the backs of the golems. Meanwhile, in “Kelpie/Porridge/Broiled with Sauce,” Senshi explains to the party how important it is not to recklessly kill monsters in the dungeon. When Marcille performs an offensive spell that blasts all of the bladefish to death, there is a possibility that it will cause an imbalance with monsters higher up on the predatory scale. Without the bladefish, these monsters will search for prey on different levels of the dungeon. 

These two episodes in particular highlight how delicate the dungeon ecosystem is. Small changes in the environment can throw the entire balance of the dungeon in disarray. Think of the Red Dragon attacking the orcs when there was absolutely no reason for it to even be on that level of the dungeon. It only attacked the orc camps because of the lack of food lower down in the dungeon where it normally resides.

The circle of (dungeon) life

Now you might be wondering: Kayla, this isn’t science class! How do I wrap my head around this? Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered! Let’s use a meme to break it down.

We start as Laios, hungry and confused. We’re not sure what to do. Then we turn into Senshi, still hungry but making a plan. Once there is one, we move on to Izutsumi in a pot because now we’re cooking! But, we use too many things in the dungeon without replacing them in some way. This leads us to the trio of shock and horror at the realization that there is no more food. We end up back at Laios, hungry and confused. Worst of all, we end up looking like Chilchuck in the center of the circle—angry.

It might be silly to think of it this way, but breaking down a bigger concept into something more manageable makes it seem less daunting. Using the Dungeon as an example, we can even break it down further. 

Think of each floor of the dungeon as a pyramid. At the lowest level of this triangle are producers. These are plants and crops that produce energy and/or mana. The next level is all about primary consumers. To think of it in dungeon terms, this is where your slimes and bladefish are. These predators aren’t the big guns by any means, but they are important when it comes to secondary consumers — now this is where things start getting intense. Secondary consumers include kelpies, mermaids, and the like. These monsters can put up a fight. Species in the primary consumers and producers levels are often their meals and help control their population. 

Finally, at the very top, we have the tertiary consumers, more commonly known as apex predators. This is where monsters such as the Red Dragon and Kraken are located. These species are the top of the top, the best—or worst—monsters in the entire dungeon. They don’t discriminate between the monsters on the lower levels and simply consume them, mana and all. 

Caring for the ecosystem is not just a fantasy

What’s even more amazing is what the Delicious in Dungeon ecosystem reveals about our own. Now, what does all of this have to do with our own ecosystem as humans? Quite a lot. Among others, humans are considered tertiary consumers. Humans consume both vegetables and animals which makes us some of the biggest consumers around. This is turning into a huge issue regarding the production-to-consumption rate. In layman’s terms, we’re running out of resources quickly.

A great example of this is overfishing. A large portion of humans consume fish—myself included—and while catching fish isn’t bad in and of itself, we are catching fish at a higher rate than fish can reproduce. As the number of small fish gets smaller each year, animals higher up on the pyramid such as sharks have to find food elsewhere. This imbalance of the ecosystem causes other issues too. Areas with coral reefs, an already endangered species, will dwindle even more and cause a loss of life for species that rely on those areas for habitats. 

If you thought you were getting through this article without a mention of factory farming, you were wrong. Factory farming puts a huge strain on natural resources such as land and water. According to Farm Sanctuary, one pound of beef alone uses an estimated 1,581 gallons of water. That’s equal to 100 showers for the average American. Additionally, the waste runoff from these farms pollutes the local rivers and air. The lack of regulations in the sector allows factory farms to dump manure from the animals into various ecosystems, destroying everything that lives there. 

Both of these are symptoms of an even larger issue: overconsumption. If you’ve never heard of that term before, it simply means that humans are consuming more resources than we’re about to produce whether it’s food, oil, or even water. Overconsumption is killing animals for no good reason. Did you know that a quarter of all animals raised and killed for food are never even eaten? This leads to a lot of food waste that would otherwise not be taken from its ecosystem in the first place — or even better, not forced to live their lives on a factory farm only to die in vain. 

How to be like the Delicious in Dungeon party

Solutions to these issues to balance our ecosystem aren’t easy to think of. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as Senshi reusing wastewater for the gardens on the back of the golems. Overconsumption is as American as apple pie and we’re running out of resources whether we like it or not. 

I’m not a scientist, just a girl who took a few classes on this in college. I don’t have the solution ready for you and if I’m being honest, I’m not sure if there is a one-size-fits-all solution to bring our ecosystem back before it’s too late. But, like Senshi, educating yourself on this issue is a great starting place. Getting involved in your local community efforts will help grow your own appreciation of the world around you, just as Senshi appreciates the dungeon.

We can also cut back on our own overconsumption, and it’s easy to start. Reducing how much meat you eat each week or using alternatives to driving your car if available are small things you can do on an individual level. Be like Marcille, and leap out of your comfort zone when you get the chance!

Maintaining an ecosystem might seem like a vague concept for a lot of people — and to be fair, it is an overwhelming thing to learn about. But, keeping an ecosystem balanced is the only way humans can keep our home safe. Global warming, overfishing, factory farming, deforestation, and even fast fashion are things that are throwing our own ecosystem into chaos. This delicate balance is something that only we can maintain and we should take a page out of Delicious in Dungeon to keep our own ecosystem thriving. 

Delicious in Dungeon season one is available now on Netflix.