Back when war was a regular occurrence in this world, Munchlax were also known as the scorched earth pokemon. The term scorched earth derives from before the domestication of Munchlax, when armies would literally burn harvests to deny invaders or rebels food and force them into surrender. But many crops can take time to burn, fires can be seen from afar, and peasants more fearful of scorched earth tactics than of losing the war took up cultivating Rawst and Occa berries, which are impervious to flame.

When Munchlax were first domesticated, scorched earth was an ancient strategy known only to military historians, but these pokemon brought back hunger to warfare. This tactic was rediscovered when a commander brought along his Munchlax for battle, but its enormous appetite devoured much of the army's rations, so after a mutiny it was let loose upon the countryside to feed. With their undefended fields picked bare by a single pokemon, the rebel farmers sued for peace, and a brutally effective tactic was born.

Munchlax soon became a staple in the armies of those few countries large enough to feed them in peacetime. Unlike Snorlax, whose enormous appetite (although enough to often bankrupt a trainer) is tempered by lengthy periods of sleep, Munchlax are awake as often as humans, and spend the whole time eating like Snorlax. Many called them a double-edged sword, and held that they were as effective on one's own people in peacetime as on one's enemies in war.

In this peaceful era, Munchlax are all but extinct. A few scientists keep them for research, and a few billionaires own them as exotic pets, but the overwhelming majority of breeders (and many worried trainers) do not allow Snorlax to hold full incense under any circumstances, lest they lay a Munchlax egg.