To be annoyed with "vegetarians" that eat fish

[exBrightonBell]

If you eat fish then you aren't a vegetarian - it's as simple as that! I'm a vegetarian and it pisses me off when I say so, and the next question is "do you eat fish?" Er, no, because I already said that I'm VEGETARIAN. It's just lazy and it causes confusion for actual vegetarians.

Now I appreciate that the term pescetarian is a bit of a clunky term that is unlikely to be used. But it IS the correct name for the fish eating brigade.

I know some vegans who eat eggs if laid by their own (rescue) hens in their garden, they feel slightly guilty about this but their ethics of causing no harm mean they feel it is ethical.

DH (also vegan) would not eat those eggs because his belief is that the product of the animal belongs to the animal and thus we have no right to take the eggs in the first place.

People have to make their own ethical decisions and you can tie yourself in knots over them. I would imagine most vegetarians who eat fish, are not veggie for ethical reasons in the first place.
I also don't see the problem for 'proper' vegetarians, just clarify I am a vegetarian and I don't eat fish, it is not like it is difficult to eat veggie most places these days. Anytime I eat out I have to clarify what I do and don't eat (vegan but most people don't know what it means)

DH and DS2 just say ' I don't eat meat, fish is ok and dairy' simply because its too confusing to try to put labels on as people have different understandings of veggie/vegan/pescatarian etc. DH is a long term non meat eater not for cruelty reasons but for economic. years ago he found out that the world could produce enough food to feed everone in it if they did not raise animals on arable land for meat. since then he stopped eating it and both DS's were raised this way until they were old enough to make their own decisions. me and ds1 are carnivors

nothingisasbadasitseems fish is NOT meat maybe you are the thick one

I am a pescetarian (even spell check doesn't recognise the term!), but will often say I'm a vegetarian because I will be able to eat a vegetarian option but almost certainly won't be able to eat a non-veggie option. I only eat fish because I have become allergic to so many things since turning veggie that I was finding it impossible to eat out or with friends unless I made some concessions for preference over potential anaphylactic shock.

However, I have NEVER come across a restaurant where the vegetarian option is fish, never been offered fish as a vegetarian option unless I have specifically mentioned that I eat fish and never met someone who assumed vegetarians eat fish either. I don't know anyone who is confused about vegetarianism and what it entails as a result of my eating fish and I can only assume that those who complain about the use of the term vegetarian in place of pescetarian are often more concerned about theoretical problems rather than actual ones.

Vegans do not eat any animal products, that is all there is to it. If they eat eggs from hens in their own garden, they are vegetarian, albeit ones with better ethics than most other vegetarians.

Bessie, fish is meat. Meat is the flesh of an animal as food.

'Pescatarian' does not imply anyone eats more fish than they do, but calling yourself a vegetarian when you aren't one is surely presenting a more inaccurate picture?

If you eat fish, and call yourself a vegetarian, you just sound ignorant.

Meat is the flesh of a mammal fish are not mammals

No meat is the flesh of an animal as food. Not just mammals. Chickens aren't mammals but their flesh is classed as meat, no?

i was at wi last night and had a hard time explaining to the catering-as-a-living demonstrator that i couldn't eat the pastry she had made because it contained lard.
"oh i didn't realise you were that strict"
it's LARD the animal had to die to make it - that's not strict that's vegetarian!
\FFS

Lentil and Bessie, forgive me, but you both sound a bit too tied up in words. Who cares what "meat" truly is? There is no true meaning inscribed by the Lord Of All on a stone tablet. Words mean whatever we/society want them to mean. In some countries, poultry is not considered meat. If you find yourself in one of these places, it is best not to huff and puff about semantics, but simply say what you don't eat.

The UK, thankfully, is definitely not a place like that. There are veggy options on pretty much every menu, although one can get rather sick of veg lasagne and mushroom risotto. Being veggy in the UK is a walk in the park.

The Meat Products Regulations define meat as the flesh of any mammalian or bird species

Bessie, in how many homes have you seen Meat Product Regulations sitting in a magazine rack in the loo? I don't know how far we'd get if we referred to a government code every time we needed to do or say something in our daily lives.

OK then turn it around.

In what way does a fish fit the definition of vegetable?

Jins, er? I am not sure I understand what you are referring to.

I was wondering if Bessie can explain what a fish is seeing as she has demonstrated it is not meat

Aaaa, I get it. I don't think Bessie meant to say that fish is a veg, however. She was just arguing that it's not meat. Not being meat does not make fish a vegetable.

Meat is the flesh of a mammal fish are not mammals

pictish - if you were offered fish about 5 times in total, you were very lucky.

I have lost count the number of times I've had to clarify what a vegetarian does and doesn't eat.
I've already clocked up one this year, and it's only the 4th January!

Every time I go out, I have to ask what the pastry or the soup is made from and what the roasts were cooked in, whether there is gelatine in the pudding etc.

nothingisasbadasitseems save your patronising comments for when you know what you are talking about. I do not agree with you that fish is meat. Fish is fish. Meat is as defined earlier.

... Fish is a living animal not sure what else you would class it as?... you kill it, sometimes fillet it and then eat it's flesh...

It's meat as defined above

But I guess we'll have to agree to disagree...

nickel, I agree that the problems you face are annoying, but surely they have more to do with a general lack of education of what is or not vegetarian (e.g. many people do not know that not all cheeses are vegetarian) than with the pesky fish-eaters referring to themselves as vegetarians? Gelatine and lard have little to do with fish.

At a course run by my previous employer I made a complaint that the vegetarian sandwiches provided included tuna and prawns and were therefore not vegetarian. The course leader argued that they were vegetarian, she knew this because she was a vegetarian and she ate fish.

I pointed out that I also had colleagues who did not eat certain types of meat or seafood for religious reasons and would normally consider 'vegetarian' options to be ok, but she still couldn't see the problem.

Autumn - i was referring to pictish's post from further up the thread - the fish argument has been going on in the meantime - i was talking about the original point - at the time I posted both my comments I hadn't read the full thread.

I didn't mentrion fish because I wasn't talking about fish.

fish is meat.

The Vegetarian Society defines a vegetarian as someone who eats "neither fish, flesh nor fowl" rather than "...meat " in order to avoid these confusions.

anyway, they do have a lot to do with the definition of a vegetarian - if you eat fish, you're not a veggie, and if you eat gelatine or lard, you are also not a veggie.
they don't just go to the pig "ooh, could you drip a little bit of fat here in this bucket for me?" or to the cow or pig "ooh, can I just have a little scrape of your bones for my jellybaby?"
no, they have to kill the animal to get it - so just like isinglass, if you eat them you're not veggie.

YANBU, you are not a vegetarian if you eat fish.

For the 12 years I was a vegetarian, the immediate question I was always asked was, "Do you eat fish?" I initially thought it was an incredibly stupid question, but considering how much misuse of the word vegetarian I've come across over the years, I can see where the confusion comes from!

For those who use the term vegetarian for ease of use, and therefore diminish it's meaning, can you please instead say to your host:

"I am a pescatarian; I only eat fish."
"I eat fish, but not other types of meat."

Thank you.