[Irish Wolf]

Originally Posted by Varyon

Or it's basically the ultimate example of Conspicuous Consumption, as such demons are literally eating money. I think there was a similar effect in South America, where cacao beans were used as currency, and the upper crust outright consumed said currency as chocolate (typically drinking rather than eating, but the same effect). So lesser demons typically just use souls as currency, but the higher-ranked ones can afford to eat them as a delicacy.

Ah, so similar to the potlatch tradition around the Salish Sea region. When a tribe wanted to impress their neighbors, they'd invite the neighbors over for a huge feast, at which the hosting tribe would go on to burn large portions of their wealth to show off how much they could afford to lose. Some tribes impoverished themselves trying to prove how rich they were.