It certainly did, it's hard to get a significant surplus just with husbandry, that happened when in synergy with agriculture (crops to feed animals, their manure to fertilise crops). That's why I think Field and Corral dynamics could be less dull.   So is food for food, but if one is going to represent that icon with many types, not doing so for the others might look inconsistent as a design choice. Of course wood still refers to wood, stone to stone, and metal to metal, just that there are (currently) many sources of each.   What do you even mean by that you "couldn't possibly explain why the food icon is of flesh if killing animals for their flesh is bad"? Are you going to tell your kids all ancients were vegetarians or vegans? It's not the game that is unreasonable!

I plan to teach my future kids it’s bad to kill whether human or animal. I would like to play all major free culture video games with them. But while farming and building a wonder I couldn’t possibly explain why the food icon is of flesh if killing animals for their flesh is bad. The game does not offer a reasonable choice .   People still eat meat for a variety of reasons but I hope we can all agree that teaching our children to avoid meat if possible is for a better future ! 

I don't fully understand this point. I think there are more important things to address than vegan sensitivities in a real-time strategy game about ancient civilizations. But perhaps, from a historical perspective, agriculture could be considered a foundational milestone in the rise of great civilizations. I'm not sure whether it played a more significant role than animal husbandry in this regard, but that would be a valid (and strong) argument in favor of changing the icon.   Ideally, it looks good, but from a design perspective, I don't think it's a good idea. Keeping the iconography simple is important to avoid making things unnecessarily difficult to read. It’s also worth considering how this would look on smaller monitors. Regarding the design of resource icons in general. Personally, I think they are quite consistent with the actual resources players gather from the map. Wood for wood, stone for stone, metal for metal. I don't think there's much to gain from overcomplicating these kinds of GUI elements. It sounds like a good fit for a specific mod aimed at creating a simulator of ancient civilizations.

That’s up for interpretation ! Who is to say the villagers are unpaid and have no property ? The idea is just they aren’t allowed weapons ! It would also be interesting and fun if soldier units could capture/convert villagers immediately instead of killing them !

That would look too much like food, I meant fibrous vegetation used to make useful stuff. I proposed the "Fibres" resource some time ago in fact ("Fibers" now that I've learned US EN should be used), but that could just be included in wood in a… non-edible vegetal way.   Aha you want slavery then! (I'm not vegan though).