To ask how you can be a pescatarian. Possible Triggers

[Jessiejuju]

So the whole point of being a vegetarian is that you don't eat meat from a living thing so why is it OK to eat fish and seafood. I know it is not classed as meat but it is still a living thing that is dying so you can eat it and is actually cruler than other animals for example chickens simply have their neck broken which is relatively quick as apposed to fish who suffercate when removed from the water.

@Jessiejuju is there someone you know that says they don't eat meat because it's cruel and still eats fish?

@Jessiejuju - but there are people who say they don't eat meat because it is cruel so I guess my question really is why is eating say a chicken cruel but eating a fish isn't?

I agree, it's ludicrous but I still don't understand why you felt the need to mention vegetarians at all as vegetarians don't eat fish. It might have been better just to ask the question about pescatarians who have that point of view.

That said, I've never come across a pescatarian who is doing it on cruelty grounds. Not saying they're not out there, I've just never come across one. It's generally personal taste or health reasons.

You seriously put a trigger warning on for this? Ffs.

Ok. But equally as a vegetarian how can you possibly eat dairy products. The dairy industry can be viewed as incredibly cruel. Cows are impregnated again and again only to have their calves removed from them and sent to slaughter. And yet vegetarians can eat dairy just like pescatarians can eat fish.

You again!

It's probably more a descriptive term than an actual belief as such. Maybe many pescatarians are such because they don't think meat is especially healthy, not because of animal cruelty. But it doesn't really matter though, if they are happy doing what they're doing - why would anyone else worry about it?

My husband doesn't like the taste or texture of meat but likes fish, He says his mum's roast dinner put him right off (she is a terrible cook!). My parents are vegetarian as they don't believe animals should die just so they can eat them. DS (3) and I eat meat.

We've just done our cook off replacing to vegan. It's not the cruelty aspect but in meat (and farmed fish) you have hormones and antibiotics. In fish, they are eating plastic and we have no idea what this will do to us in the future.

We replaced mince with mung beans, chicken in gumbo with roasted aubergines, chicken in curry with chickpeas, chicken in pie with white beans. Much better for us.

You could make the same argument for ethical vegetarians though. The dairy and egg industries are both really cruel and result in the slaughter of animals. People do what they can imo.

Trigger warning 😂😂

Maybe for some people it's about the conditions the animals are reared in. Catching fish that have been happily living in the sea seems better than some of the conditions other animals live in.

It's because more people have an emotional issue with eating something that is furry or fluffy, and has a personality. Most people think fish/shellfish are ugly and stupid and therefore don't care if they eat them.

Some animals are more equal than others?

Catching fish that have been happily living in the sea seems better than some of the conditions other animals live in.

But probably eating plastic, that scares me.

I'm vegetarian because I don't think industrial farming is environmentally sustainable - nothing to do with texture of 'for the animals' (although obviously I do factor animal welfare into my choice).

Reasons for dietary choices differ and some people who don't meat feel that eating fish is acceptable.

I am pescatarian. My reason for this has nothing to do with animal welfare. Sorry.

Well everyone has said it - pescatarians aren;t vegetarians, If someone is claiming to be a vegetarian but eats fish, you can tell them that.
Some people don't want to or can;t eat meat for reasons other than ethical (my dsis has IBS - she can't eat meat but can still digest fish, so technically she is a pescatarian)

I'm a vegetarian - there was no need for your trigger warning - I am aware that people eat meat and fish, I can handle it.

Because in most countries what someone does and does not choose to eat is entirely their own personal choice, and not subject to the control of other people.

Unless you're equally happy to have someone else have a go at you for one or more of your own lifestyle choices maybe it'd be better to just do what makes you happy and let others do the same.

Pesco-vegetarianism is a branch of vegetarianism = plants and veg and fish.

I was an ovo-lacto-pescotarian for a long time.

I stopped eating all animals for a while (vegetarian), but then started to eat fish again. It wasn't really about ethical reasons (I believe the dairy industry is 'worse' than the meat one FWIW), but I did tell people that fish were more 'free-range' than most animals that we eat. It wasn't really an argument, just an opinion. I ate what I wanted and it so happened to have a label.

You can also be pesco-vegan

WTAF is the trigger in this thread?!

Coz fish are wankers. Devour the lot of 'em, I say. Shimmering, gill-flapping bellends.

I can understand the logic of less cruelty:

Fish have v little brain and don't care about their young - in fact they often eat them (On MN, only MILs do that)

Meat and poultry is from creatures that have some thinking capacity and meat animals can care about their young

Most people I know who are vegetarian or pescatarian do it for environmental or personal health reasons. Nothing to do with animal cruelty.

Agree with PP - the dairy industry is incredibly cruel, so I choose not to eat dairy. It's just a personal choice.

I don't see anything hypocritical about being pescatarian for ethical reasons. Just as I don't see anything hypocritical about being vegetarian but not vegan, or being a meat eater who tries to only eat meat twice a week. Feeling unable to do EVERYTHING doesn't make it meaningless to do SOMETHING.

I never underhand why vegetarians eat fish . It's the cruelest of all isn't it starving them of oxygen . I'm a vege trying to be vegan and don't eat any living thing . People are always saying to me it's just fish like they don't matter . I don't get it

@hendricksy vegetarians don't eat fish, that's what everyone's been saying