To ask why so many "vegetarians" eat fish?

[Housewife2010]

I think I may now describe myself as a vegetarian who eats meat! I don't eat any shellfish or much fish so surely it all evens out!

Brilliant piece of spelling policing there. Personally, I'd give it a few more years before settling on a spelling. I went to dinner once with some Hindu colleagues of DH's who didn't eat eggs and told us that vegetarians who did were called 'eggetarians'. I liked that one.

Vegetarians don't eat meat-
Nothing with a face or a relative!

I try not to argue with people about it nowadays as it can really wind me up!

DontWorry - My spell checker on my tablet doesn't have "pescatarian" in it. It's trying to correct it to sectarian. Or secretarial if I misspell it as pescetarian. That doesn't help me to get it right when I'm unsure how many a's and e's are supposed to be in it in the first place.

Perhaps other people are having the same problem? It might partly explain the poor spelling that's troubling you so much?

I'm a pescatarian (although I always think that sounds more like you only eat fish and nothing else). I just tell people I don't eat meat and it never seems to cause any confusion.

Was it Madonna who said that, although she didn't eat meat, fish were too dumb to worry about? That's about how I feel! I do only eat sustainably sourced fish. Unless you count the McDonald's Fillet of Fish, which probably has half a chicken's butt in as well. Oh well.

I used to be vegetarian for many years. Now I'm pescatarian. I still say I'm veggie sometimes because it's so much easier. I wouldn't expect to be served fish!

I get why people find this annoying, because clearly I'm not veggie. I used to find it annoying when I was veggie. However, if this really bothers people beyond the extent of mild irritation, then I think perhaps they need to get a life!

My ex-veggie (now pesky! ) DH is very about the notion that vegetarians eat egg!

Do you know what? I am a vegetarian. I don't eat any animals. I also avoid by products like gelatine.
Yes there are holes in the argument and I'm sick of people pointing those holes out. For ethical reasons I drew my particular line in the sand. I don't quiz people on threads about meat eating threads. Why don't you stick a squirrel in the slow cooker?
I stick to the generally accepted definition of vegetarianism because I feel that's an acceptable compromise. It's a personal choice and none of anyone's business. Do people crack on about abortion on every birth control thread?
So if you describe yourself as a vegetarian who eats fish then you aren't vegetarian.
If you describe yourself as a vegan who eats Ben & Jerry's? You aren't.

Kamp. Free range only. It's like eating a hen's period not their baby.

I know giddy, but try telling that to DH. He is Indian, and veggies there just don't do eggs.

Having said that, you might now have put me off eggs for life!

Why is fish meat not included in the definition of "meat" that everyone seems to be using? If I say I don't eat meat, I mean I don't eat any kind of meat or meat by-product, so I don't eat fish, chicken, horse, dog, frog, insects, crustaceans etc etc. No meat of any kind. I would be really surprised if I said I don't eat meat, and then I was served something with fish in it, at a restaurant or at someone's house.

Go out, get drunk and have a kebab, after that you're forgiven anything!

I don't think anyone has said it's harder, just more accurate.

Loads of people have said "I eat fish but I call myself vegetarian because it's easier". But none of them have given a compelling reason as to why that's easier than saying "I eat fish but not meat".

They don't. Idiots who call themselves vegetarians when they aren't eat fish.

Why is fish meat not included in the definition of "meat" that everyone seems to be using?

Pretty sure it stems from Catholicism where fish 'meat' was classified differently so Catholics could eat it when they were supposed to be abstaining from flesh. I could be wrong though, can't be bothered to google it at the moment!

I don't think for the purposes of this thread that anyone minds what people eat - and anyway, many people who do follow one particular diet or another often fall off the waggon and eat something that diet doesn't include. That's not a problem at all, and is between the person involved, their conscience and their stomach.

The only problem arises when they strongly advertise themselves as eg, vegetarian, and then routinely, with the people they have advertised their status, eat something that very obviously isn't, and don't think it compromises their status as vegetarian.

That then leads, as many people on this thread have already said, to the "but it's only got a little bit of ham in it!" situation, which many vegetarians have had to deal with from time to time. If I am cooking for vegetarians I don't even use Worcester sauce, as it includes anchovy - that's also the kind of thing you have to pay attention to if you are trying to respect someone's diet. It's irritating if you've carefully done all this and then they eat half the prawns on the table, and some cooks might be disinclined to take so much care the next time. Which sucks for the next actual vegetarians to come along.

EGGS ARE NOT HEN PERIODS.

They are eggs. You know, like human females make eggs too?

A period is shedding of womb lining.

culture I mean I don't eat any kind of meat or meat by-product, so no dairy or eggs? You are a vegan?

fulltothebrim, I'm a vegetarian... not a vegan. By "meat by-product" I meant things like gelatine, rennet, etc. Things that come from a slaughtered animal. Fundamentally I don't want to eat any dead animal or any part of a dead animal.

I am well aware that mass egg production involves the mass slaughter of day old male chicks, and am activley looking into ways to avoid consuming mass produced eggs. Ideally I would love to have a few chickens, but this isn't currently possible.

I am also aware that male calves are slaughtered to facilitate the dairy industry, for veal and so on. Avoiding milk is trickier as I'm not wild about the available substitutes, again, I would love to be in the position of having my own cow/goat to solve that problem!

Why, are you a vegan?

culture - but even your definition of a " meat by-product" is not clear.

Logically I would assume that a meat by product include things like eggs, dairy, honey, shellac etc.

I think it's clear. Eggs/dairy don't come from slaughtered animals.

We buy organic eggs and dairy products because the welfare standards are higher. Or we buy from local farms where the chickens and cows have names :)

don't come from by product - all quite wooly terms.

"By "meat by-product" I meant things like gelatine, rennet, etc. Things that come from a slaughtered animal. "

Ok, "by-product" was a stupid choice of words. Please try and forget that I ever used that phrase, and instead substitute in my clarification - nothing that comes from a slaughtered animal. If you have a handy short version of that, do let me know.

Ooh, vegetarian top trumps. Love it!