What The Mandalorian Reveals About Yoda
Yoda is a mysterious man. Prior to the Disney+ series The Mandalorian, we knew a few facts: he's a Jedi, he's got pointy ears, he's green, and he's extremely old. Sure, we eventually got little details about his self-imposed exile on Degobah. We are aware that, while in CGI form, he can flip around in the air and go toe-to-toe with the likes of Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) and Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid).
However, beyond his interactions as a leader and mentor, we know very little about Yoda. And as an extension of that, we know virtually nothing about his species, either. For decades the only other member of Yoda's race we see in the Star Wars films is Yaddle, who also briefly sat on the Jedi Council. All Yaddle really makes us aware of, though, is that Yoda's race has at least two genders.
It's interesting what people will dwell on now that the Child, a.k.a. Baby Yoda, has come into our lives thanks to The Mandalorian. How long are Yoda's people considered children? How long do they live? How much of their Jedi ability is immediately available to them?
Recently, people have been wondering something else — what exactly do Yoda's people eat? Now that we've spent more time with one of them in a post-Mandalorian world, we may finally have some answers to this hard-hitting question.
Yoda is probably vegetarian, but are all his people?
Prior to The Mandalorian, we didn't exactly have a lot to go on with regard to Yoda or his people's dietary habits. At one point we've seen Yoda eat something we'd define as the galaxy-far-far-away-equivalent of a veggie stew. As a result, people figured that, since Yoda was diminutive and not really predatory in behavior, he might be a vegetarian.
Even before the Child floated onto the scene, there was some debate as to what Yoda ate because of the inconsistency in his appearance over the years. Depending upon the film or cartoon he appears in, Yoda's teeth look a little different. Sometimes his teeth almost human, while others they seem decidedly sharp.
Over on the sci-fi StackExchange, folks tried to craft a scientifically accurate answer to this dietary question. "His teeth look very human, if well worn, in most scenes," said user Invisible Trihedron. "Herbivores tend to have more prominent molars that allow extensive grinding to release nutrients from tough leaves and other plant matter." They went on to remind us that nowhere in Star Wars canon is Yoda seen with teeth which match that description. In short, "Yoda could be an omnivore" is the conclusion.
Having now watched ten hours of the Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) and the Child trot across the universe, we can more or less confirm that Yoda's species is omnivorous, since we've seen Baby Yoda eat frogs, eggs (so many eggs), and even spiders during the series. Therefore, while it's possible that Yoda himself may have eschewed animal proteins and lived a vegetarian (or even vegan) lifestyle, his species is perfectly capable of consuming things animal, vegetable, and maybe even mineral.