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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be annoyed when "vegetarians" eat fish?

293 replies

purpleandpink · 28/01/2011 12:29

It cannot just be me who finds this irritating?

Someone who eats no meat, but does eat fish is a pescetarian. As a fully fledged vegetarian it bugs the HELL out of me when people say "I'm a veggie, but I eat fish" Or even worse "but I eat fish AND CHICKEN".....Angry

The problem is there are now so many of these "fish eating vegetarians" that people seem to assume all veggies eat fish, and when I eat out and ask what veggie choices there are, I get offered fish and the "true" veggie options are limited to perhaps 1 or 2 dishes.

I have no problem with people eating just fish but PLEASE do not call yourself a veggie when you clearly aren't one! I don't know why people do it, whether they think it's trendy or they are just lazy or confused about what they are.

I know this is a BIG rant but it really really annoys me. If I am a veggie and someone ask me "do you eat fish?" I practically rip their heads off (which I know is unreasonable but there you go Wink )

But AIBU to ask that people only call themselves vegetarians if they actually are one???

OP posts:
mizzundastood · 29/01/2011 19:53

MrsCuldesac

DH doesn't eat the hens after they have died naturally as he says they are too old (5 yrs approx) and the meat would be tough and horrible. I think 'meat' birds are very young?

Plus he's too squeamish and freely admits that's a bit hypocritical (likes his meat prepacked in plastic)! I'm the one who disposes of them and I'm bloody well not plucking them etc! It would also be a bit like eating your pet cat.

instantfamily · 29/01/2011 19:56

"vegetarian crispy duck" in a chinese restaurant is most likely tofu with duck taste. I never tried these items in a buddhist restaurant I once went to in china, but the chinese cuisine can apparently work miracles with tofu to make "vegetarian fish/duck/what have you"

Mists · 29/01/2011 20:03

I don't even know how keeping chickens works let alone the ethics involved.

Honestly I'm such an ignoramus Blush why do they lay eggs? I presume they are unfertilised but do you need a cockerel to ensure that eggs appear like you need to have had a baby to ensure that milk is produced or is the egg-laying process like ovulation in women?

I do know that the more expensive happy eggs are bloody gorgeous compared to the insipid eggs I was given as a child but that's all.

The eggs we buy sometimes have little feathers in the box and that is usually a guarantee of tastiness so I'd hope it was also a sign that the chicken was happier than a battery one.

mizzundastood · 29/01/2011 20:19

lol no cocks necessary - chickens ovulate like us! The cockerel does the fertilising so don't have one especially if you have neighbours.
We rehome ex-battery hens and it's really easy. Feed them, water them and clean them out once or twice a week (depends how many you have) just like a guinea pig or something and they'll repay you with the BEST eggs you'll ever eat. Plus obviously kids love the unusual pet.

See here if you're interested. The more the merrier!

www.bhwt.org.uk/

(ok now I sound like a crazy person - I'm not trying to sell anything I just love the campaign honest!)

countrybump · 29/01/2011 20:20

I think a vegetarian who eats fish is called a 'fishandchypocrite'

Punkatheart · 29/01/2011 20:22

Chickens are easy. No you don't need a cockerel - hens laying eggs is indeed the equivalent to women ovulating. Egg produced.

Feathers in the box doesn't mean anything - most poor battery hens lose most of their feathers from feather-plucking. But free-range eggs do seem to taste different.

Meat birds are weeks old only - you can't eat an old hen. Plus once you call them a name and cuddle them - well it doesn't feel right....

Once you have a pet chicken, you react in even more horror at the conditions in which battery hens are kept. Chickens enjoy dustbathing, perching, the sun, cuddles - none of which they have in a battery cage.

Mists · 29/01/2011 20:38

So I was a bit right then?

Would love to keep chickens but we're in a Housing Association place so not sure it would allowed...

DS is autistic and very motivated by animals. He is a better veggie than I am, only has breast milk, some cows milk but no eggs, cheese, fish or meat. Or chicken Grin practically vegan apart from the milk.

If I could get him to eat eggs I'd be very happy because there are lots of things you can do with them.

mumsgotatum · 29/01/2011 20:42

If someone is a 'strict' veggie then surely they wouldn't eat eggs

Mists · 29/01/2011 20:52

Eh? A veggie doesn't eat flesh, surely? Fish and chicken are flesh.

The term "vegetarian" doesn't mean that you have to eat purely vegetables although in practice on menus you usually get the vegan option.

A vegan in my understanding eats no animal products including eggs or cheese or milk from another species.

CornflowerB · 29/01/2011 21:26

At Christmas my ex-veggie pescatarian brother had lobster while the rest of us had goose. So I asked him, philosophically speaking, what was the difference between eating a goose and a lobster? He said 'I don't like the taste of mammalian flesh'.Confused Then he said 'I realise a goose isn't a mammal.Hmm So I said 'No it's a dinosaur'.Grin Then we had more wine.Smile

NoHunIntended · 29/01/2011 21:42

LOL @ fishandchypocrite! :)

zipzap · 29/01/2011 22:01

I hate fish. Will eat a little now for health benefits but not when younger.

Used to have arguments with self-styled 'fish eating vegetarians' at school that if they called themselves that, it meant I was a 'meat eating vegetarian'. Grin Which is obviously just contradictory and wrong, and also in the same vein - they were wrong.

Which they didn't take very kindly to, nor did they want to call themselves pescetarian Hmm They liked to think of themselves as nice and worthy because of being veggie even when they weren't...

germum · 29/01/2011 22:03

I haven't read the whole thread.

I call myself a fish eating vegetarian when I am invited for dinner etc and a vegetarian when I am a at a buffet etc and I can't recognise half the food.

I really don't know why this is so unreasonable. It's all about making life simple.

Everyone has their own reasons for their dietary choices. For me, it's a combination of hating the taste of meat since I was a small child together with acknowledging the health advantages and political issues surrounding meat.

There is quite a difference between meat and fish emotively. Most people are able to go fishing and catch and eat a fish. Few would be able to slaughter a cow or lamb and then prepare it to eat. I find this a little hypocritical.

But mostly I think I'm right in assuming that fish does not require as much energy to make it as meat. I read once that you could fed 10 times as many people if you ate the food that was meant for meat rather than eat meat. Does that make sense?

NortyNewNew · 29/01/2011 22:16

germum your dietary intake is for you and you alone to justify to your own conscience, not IMHO for other to judge.

The thread isn't supposed to be a Veggie vs Vegan Vs Omnivore discussion, just the objection to people calling themselves vegetarians when they are not, as you are not. (Neither am I BTW)

theborrower · 29/01/2011 22:24

Not read whole thread, but YANBU

As someone who was vegetarian for about 20 years until I started eating fish about 2 years ago (was just craving it and gave in... Grin ) I am always careful to say to people when they ask if I'm veggie "No, I used to be but I'm not any more - I eat fish now, but I still don't eat meat."

It always used to bug me too if people said they were veggie when they weren't or if people asked if I eat fish (or chicken!!) (when I didn't) - people just don't seem to understand what being veggie is! The number of times I had to explain...

DaisyChainGang · 29/01/2011 22:29

Question: can you be a vegetarian if you don't eat meat but you also don't eat vegetables at all? Sincere question -- have been trying to figure this out... long story...

thisismyboomstick · 29/01/2011 22:38

Doesn't pescetarian mean one who only eats fish?

theborrower · 29/01/2011 22:44

DaisyChainGang - if someone doesn't eat meat and doesn't eat vegetables, what do they eat? Confused Sounds like a fussy eater to me Grin

DaisyChainGang · 29/01/2011 23:04

theborrower exactly! She eats only bread and quorn, but calls herself a vegetarian. Hmm I'd say it's more of an eating disorder...

jugglingjo · 29/01/2011 23:11

Just been out for the evening to Chinese buffet style restaurant with friends.

Decided to be a cheerful peskytarian, mainly vegetables, rice and noodles, but a little bit of fried fish, and a few spicy mussels.

Had a great evening !

Perhaps that's the way to go for me. Vegetarian at home with my veggie family, and pescetarian when out with friends.

( By the way my spell checker, in common with many people, doesn't seem to know word pescetarian - or haven't I hit on the right spelling yet ? The pesky one was a joke ! )

BuzzLightBeer · 29/01/2011 23:22

Nobody gives a shit about your dietry choices germum, but you aren't a vegetarian if you eat fish in the same way that you aren't a woman if you have a penis. It's a word that has a meaning already, you can't change it to suit yourself.

TiggyD · 29/01/2011 23:49

Does being a vegetarian mean that animals are not allowed to eat you? Doesn't seem very fair if they can.

Catnao · 30/01/2011 00:52

Not being funny - I read the first few pages...pescatarian is ridiculous, as is leather for a "vegetarian".

I eat meat and fish.
My son eats neither.

When he said that he was uncomfortable with eating another living creature and told ne why...well - just fish or chicken wouldn't have cut it.

I also think pescatarian is totaly hypocritical - not sorry for fish then?

PS If my son was asked to eat fish or chicken , he would polityely decline.

He's ten and I have had to learn how to provide a nutritious diet containing no animal foods,.

Cadpat · 30/01/2011 03:02

I get your point. DH and DD are pescitarians, and I always make sure that that's what they are known as, to the extent of correcting DH in public Blush

Confuzzeled · 30/01/2011 06:15

Oh please, can I just hand out a few sainthoods!

People do what they can, it's a personal choice and my choice has nothing to do with you.

People like you give vegetarians a bad name, because your so bloody angry about it. I tell people I don't eat meet, my children and dh are veggies. But as soon as I do this I get attacked by people saying your not veggie if you eat fish. I don't claim to be veggie, I eat fish very rarely when I go out. I don't see why I have to give a long explanation for my food choices. I find some veggies get more annoyed with people who only eat fish than those who eat all fish and meat.

If you then get into the byproducts of meat and people who claim to use no animal products then they need to get an education. Meat byproducts are in everything, even printing ink, most vegetarian and vegan cookbooks are printed with inks and paper that contain animal byproducts.

So unless you go live in a cave and weave your clothes out of hemp then get off your bloody high horse.