'veggies don't eat fish' friend fall out

[mrsfuzzy]

i'm a veggie i eat dairy produce, but no fish and meat nor have i done since i was a young child, i met a new friend three months ago and she asked about becoming a veggie which she was proud to tell everyone about but she still eats fish, i said that veggies didn't eat fish and that shell fish etc are 'banned' by the veggie society. i like her but she's got a bee in her bonnet and refuses to speak to me, we didn't argue about it about it at the time, i don't understand.

There really are a lot of stupid people who assume that vegetarians will eat fish though. DSIL was really traumatised by eating a "vegetarian" dish with stealth anchovies in it - she felt like I would if I'd found out there was dog shit in the beef stew. And in a dinner party situation, where there isn't any choice, it can get really awkward if the host proudly produces a salmon steak for the veggies.

When I became vegetarian my SIL asked me if I "was going to be the kind of vegetarian that still eats pork and chicken" because that's what she does. It's this kind of ignorance this really annoying.

For those who have said its 'easier to call yourself vegetarian because no one knows what a pescetarian is' you should educate them as to what one is and educate yourself if you think you are a vegetarian but eat meat or fish that's the only way society learns.

Why the need to label yourself at all? I don't get this. I'm a pescetarian, but I don't tend to discuss it with anyone else because what I choose to put into my own body is my own business, and quite frankly I don't understand why anyone else would be interested in what I do or do not eat.

BreeWannabee don't you ever go to friends houses for dinner? It's polite to tell your hosts what your dietary represents are I find.

It comes up when having dinner at other people's houses, or when eating out with a group. Luckily for me I'm the bossy one who does the donkey work for organising everything so I get to pick anyway

I'm vegetarian and was served a salmon steak at a dinner party by friends of my parents' once (everyone else had beef steak). I thought they'd put someone else's plate in front of me so asked who I should pass it to. It all got a bit awkward. I had salad in the end! I wouldn't have been able to stomach eating it, even to be polite.

I don't eat meat and haven't seen fish offered as a vegetarian option for about a decade and I eat out a lot. Where are you all going? It happened a lot when I was a child but that was in the seventies.

I do get annoyed with, "oh you're vegetarian then (no I didn't say that) do you eat fish (sometimes) a- ha! but why one and not the other, eh? (why are you so fucking rude?) " when we are trying to enjoy a meal which hasn't even been cooked by these people.

I sometimes think some carnivores feel paranoid, as if I am judging them and are determined to pick apart my ethics. No I am not, I'm just ordering the fish or the veggie option and not haranguing you about why you are choosing beef over the pork.

"Can I just say...people calling Vegetarians "veggies" is bloody annoying me for some reason! Stop it! It sounds silly!"

Tee hee, good luck with that

Can I ask a serious question?

Do those of you who are vegetarian choose to be because you don't agree with the treatment of animals in our food industry?

If so would you eat an animal you were 100% sure had been humanely reared and slaughtered and all parts used?

I am only asking as there are a few shouts of 'hypocrite' going around

Oh and I do realise it is none of my business, just being nosy

For heavens sake just enjoy the food on the planet which is there for human consumption.I don't understand these veggie people who deprive themselves of the most gorgeous foods in the world of which we were given teeth to chew on.It is obvious we were born to eat meat and fish .Why would somebody want to deprive themselves of that beats me.

I don't care what anyone eats but it is simply as thick as Quorn mince to describe yourself as a vegetarian if you eat fish.

Debs75 I'm answering on behalf of my dd who is vegetarian. No she wouldn't, for her it's not so much the ethical treatment of animals but believing that a living creature shouldn't die for her to eat.

Debs, to answer your question. For me, I lived opposite a village butchers with slaughterhouse as a child. It was unpleasant. The noise, the smells etc.

When I was old enough I looked into the meat processing industry in general. I decided then to not eat meat. I later stopped eating fish, and do feel extremely hypocritical about my (modest but undeniable) dairy consumption since the dairy processing industry is just as bad (IMO).

But, as I said earlier, that is my point on the scale at this current time and I don't feel the need to justify/defend/apologise/brag or do anything else about it. I don't judge anyone else's choices. It's a simple choice that I make based on my preferences and I accept everybody has the right to do the same.

Oh and also, after 10 years meat free, if there was a way to create meat in a lab with no death or cruelty involved (at any stage) I wouldn't touch the stuff because I just don't consider it food anymore. It doesn't disgust me, it's just non-food. Like plastic or wood.

I don't eat meat, but I eat fish. I really don't care what others eat and I am always slightly amused that others care about my diet.

I don't eat meat, but I eat fish. I really don't care what others eat and I am always slightly amused that others care about my diet.

Just out of interest, what is a vegetarian who eats eggs but not dairy called? (Other than 'bloody awkward') I tend to call myself vegan but technically I'm not as I've not quite given up eggs yet.

Btw, if you drink milk, from an ethical standpoint, you may as well eat veal. I haven't touched dairy since I found that out.

Thanks for answering. For me when I was a teenager I didn't eat meat as I thought it was cruel. I have spent time in farms throughout my childhood and looking back them experiences didn't marry up with how meat eating was portrayed by many vegetarians.

As I say I eat almost anything now and I love a good rare steak. I would give up for health reasons not ethical or moral ones now.

Egg-laying breeds of chickens have the males killed at 1 day old (they are generally auto-sexing breeds, meaning that the males are different coloured to female chicks. Eggs involve the dispatch of male chicks, just as milk involves the dispatch of male calves. I don't really see a moral difference between eating rennet-containing products and eating eggs.

BUT so what? I'm not vegetarian, I eat meat; I don't see the big deal with where others draw the line.

Except "vegetarians" who also eat intensively-reared poultry. THAT I find irritating. Not my business, no, but still really....annoying.

As a long term vegetarian this is also one of my pet hates.

Going to a restaurant in this country it's not normally a problem (except I refuse to use the Chinese takeaways near us that have half the vegetarian section with oyster sauce). I find it's more of a problem if there's a buffet and I'm asking what I can eat, or if I'm in a restaurant abroad where nothing seems vegetarian, or I can't translate the menu. "Do you eat fish then?" NO "Well a lot of veggies do" "Well they aren't vegetarian then" ................

I don't think I'd fall out with someone about it but I would definitely point out to them that they are not vegetarian.

If someone doesn't want to use the term pescetarian surely they can just say they don't eat meat but they eat fish.

I've often been asked if I eat fish when I've said i'm vegetarian. Its annoying but I've got used to it.

I've actually started to doubt my vegetarianism lately. I have never actually liked the taste of meat or fish, to me its like chewing my own arm! So when I was old enough to cook my own food my mum stopped trying to get me to eat meat. I also used to ask which animal it came from and couldn't get my head around eating a sheep or whatever.

I've never actually thought too much about it over the years, to me meat isn't something I'd ever consider eating and that just seems normal. I assumed I'd bring my DCs up as vegetarians until they were old enough to make their own decisions. But DS was quite a picky eater and it was difficult to get him to try new foods, and he also became very anaemic, so when he actually asked if he could try some ham I thought, well if it means he has a more varied diet I'll give it a go. Also at kids parties, the DCs often grabbed a sausage roll or whatever and I didn't want to be running around snatching things off them! And then I thought, well the sausage is there, its already been cooked and it'll either get eaten or thrown away so what difference will it make if my DC eat it?

I've also started to think, especially since breastfeeding, that drinking milkactually seems worse than eating meat. And as i'm coeliac I don't think I can cope with limiting my diet even more by becoming vegan as well!

I'm not quite sure of the point if my post! Just my musings about, even though i'm certain I'll never eat meat, i'm doubting the value of vegetarianism unless you go the whole hog (excuse the pub) and become vegan.

Pun not pub!

Dontyouknow,

Loads of takeaways use vegetarian oyster sauce, its made from mushrooms and not even pretend oyster essence or anything like that.