to be annoyed when "vegetarians" eat fish?

[purpleandpink]

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".....

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 )

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

YABU it's a ridiculous thing to get annoyed about.

And if someone calls themself a pescatarian everyone just thinks "NOBBER"

It's obviously time for !!

Trouble is that non vegan/vegetarian/pescetarian people have no idea what a pescetarian is. Try putting it as your diet option & you would seriously get a reaction.

I tend to state that I don't eat meat - I then get the vegetarian menu - which is fine for me as I can eat everything on it.

If I tell someone I am vegetarian I know that I will be able to eat what is given to me.

I have also never come across someone who thinks that chicken is part of a vegetarian (or pescetarian for that matter) diet.

YANBU

My dd has a friend who's mum feeds her fish- and I've never seen her stop her from eating sweets which blatantly contain gelatine! Also wears leather shoes. I think this is fine if you are doing it solely for health benefits, but when it's claimed to be on moral grounds you might as well not bother.

Love the mitchell and webb sketch.

I do so love David Mitchell. He can come round here and eat my cat if he wants.

I had a Vegan friend who didn't like any veg (even potatoes) she lived off of plain rice/noodles/couscouse/lentils with a selection of spices and Bananas (the only fruit she would eat)

She didn't get invited to many dinner parties! I always invited here though mainly becuase its easy to do Chilli or Curry for everyone else and put a big bowl of spiced Rice on the table so she could have something to.

It doesn't major league irritate me but it does make me want to do an eye roll, so YANBU

at "it takes the piss out of real vegetarians".

Don't they just say it for convenience - so they don't get served kidneys on a plane or something?

I feel you ABABU ( are being a bit unreasonable )

I'm about 98% vegetarian. My DH is a strict veggie and has been for years. I don't feel as strongly about it as him. But we've decided to bring up the children veggie. They are now as strict as him !

Occasionally though, when out with friends, I might be tempted to choose fish. I really enjoy fish, and I've caught and killed fish without finding it completely morally unacceptable. I can't imagine killing a cow, pig or sheep though.

I'm thinking there aren't really enough words to describe everyone on the vegan, veggie, pescatarian, omnivore, carnivore, spectrum.

Maybe we need more easily understood words for all the variations, like the famous saying that Eskimo's have seven words for snow ( different types presumably ) The current terminology is rather a mouthful, and not easily understood by everyone. I think that's the main reason why people say they're veggie even when some may disagree.

Very occasionally over the last fifteen years I've eaten a sausage roll or pork pie ( eg last week I went to the Post-office for lunch and almost all they could offer was a sausage roll so I went for that , I also once ate some chicken when my god-mother cooked it for lunch at hers ) but with a less clear conscience. But lets not focus on the 1 to 2% of non-veggie eating hey ?

It's just not the most important aspect of my life, though I completely understand and respect those who do want to take a firm stand on it, and for whom it is always a matter of conscience.

PaisleyLeaf - always say you are a veggie on a plane - you get served first.....you also will not get dodgy lumps of unidentifiable meat...

[GRIN]

I think I am bored with the word vegetarian.

pescatarian. not battered through overuse. yet

lol at the david mitchell sketch

YAB a bit U

We eat fish, but not meat, & have come to realised over the years that not everyone is educated, or English speaking enough to know what the hell a "Pescetarian" actually IS,

so I tend to choose which term I used depending on who I am explaining myself to, not technically correct, yes, but if it gets me understood & I get the food I want, I don't really give a flying one

No idea why my grin didn't work - but forgot to say - you have to preorder it.

Thinking on it further.....PESCETARIAN wouldn't actually be correct either, as it implies you eat only FISH, .......perhaps Peski Veggi might work better

I am going to become a bananatarian - I won't need to explain then. I may develop a face like a chimp, though.

Or in my case, a face even more like a chimp.

The thing that annoys me is that when it happens to come up that I'm a veggie, women always say "Oh, I don't eat much meat either," without fail!

It's not quite the same as taking a moral or ethical stance, is it?

Why do you eat fish but not meat?

Drives me nuts!

YABU

And you come across as angry, aggressive and easily irritable. Is it lack of Omega3?
Should veggies be just as cross at you calling yourself veggie when you are lacto-ovo-veggie??

I am lacto-ovo-pesco-fruito-nuto-graino-pulso-berryo-veggie-tea-coffee-chocolaterian.

If you have problems with people understanding you, tell them you are vegan, only eat dairy and eggs :o

YANBU. It's not really about what other individuals choose to eat, it's about how certain perceptions impact on your menu choices. At my last works canteen the 'vegetarian' option was fish at least two days a week. They didn't display a menu in advance so I never knew which days to bring in my own food! I've also seen V for vegetarian next to fishy items in some cafes. Which at least lets me know I might wannt to give them a swerve.

I part, because I can catch, gut & prepare a cold blooded animal without it putting me off eating it, where as I couldn't a warm blooded creature......also fish is FAR easier for us "Hummans" to digest than meat, & often contains more valuable nutrition

I have to confess, this has always been irrationally irritating to me, too. A vegetarian who eats fish has always seemed to me as someone who 'doesn't want to eat the fluffy ones'.

Nice one, UnquietDad.

I descrie myself as vegetarian mainly out of habit. I turned veggie age 12, and only started eating some fish when I was 25 and pg with DD1. Something about pregnancy and breastfeeding makes me need more protein, and I start craving fish. Since then, have continued eating small amounts of fish.

However, I have a severe allergy to shellfish, so I always describe myself as vegetarian. "I don't eat meat but do eat fish except shellfish which will kill me" is just too cumbersome. friends do sometimes get confused about why a me, a vegetarian, has made salmon en croute and is tucking into it, but I only eat fish I've cooked myself, so I can make sure no shellfish juices have contaminated.