when vegetarians eat chicken?

[AMAZINWOMAN]

I know so many people that say they are vegetarians but eat chicken on a regular basis! They can't be true vegetarians then if they eat it!

One friend ate chicken in a restaurant-but had vegeterian gravy!

Why can't you 'murder' an animal? They suffer and have emotions and some species understand some words.
If you decide its intelliegnce then we could eat people with mental disabilities?
Animals also mourn - elephants, whales, Cows recognise other cows and mourn when their calves are taken away.
Murder just means taking life because you're bigger/stronger and can. If it isn't necassary, its murder.
How sentient does one have to be before its murder or are you speciest?

Although understanding human language isn't any big deal really.

It's ridiculous, I have a friend who doesn't like the texture of what she calls 'proper meat' she will eat chicken and fish, but doesn't call herself a vegetarian!

I don't even bother mentioning I'm vegetarian in restaurants anymore as I always either get offered fish or, at the other extreme, only salad (some people seem to think vegetarians only eat veg and don't eat pasta, rice, pulses, cheese etc.). I now ask what dishes don't contain meat, ham/bacon (oddly, often not considered as being meat), or fish, I find it so much easier.

If you eat anything that was born you are not a vegetarian.

I used to be hardcore veggie, but now eat chicken and fish. mostly as I don't want to eat pigs etc, but don't care about birds or fish . I did tell people I don't eat mammals, but that just confuses them!

I am NOT a veggie, but sometimes it's easier to say I am and eat the veggie option.

Is it because people are fussy but don't think they will have their tastes adhered to if they are seen as 'fussy eaters' whereas those who are vegetarian/vegan/allergic etc are more likely to be catered for?

I know that when I ask not to have tomatoes on things (I rash up if I eat raw ones) often I will still get tomatoes, but if I inform the kitchen/waiting staff that I am in fact allergic they make more of an effort.

It is up to everyone to make their own choices i guess on what they will and won't eat.

I quite happily call myself a vegetarian cos i don't eat any animals at all.

There are a lot of people though who would eat fish or chicken but nothing else - it's up to them.

I'm not snooty about the use of the 'V' word if they want to.

I'd say that taking the life of an animal in a brutal or barbaric way constituted murder TBH. I certainly wouldn't be comfortable with doing it.

Eric, its not being snooty. Why say 'vegetarian' if you're not? It would be like me saying 'I'm a ballet dancer' cos I've seen it on TV. Its inaccurate, a lie and gives people fasle impressions.

Ha! It's like saying you're teetotal but go out on the lash every now and then!

I'm a bit late to this one but it drives me mad when people say I am a vegetarian but they eat fish, chicken etc.

My husband has been a vegetarian for 20 years, a real vegetarian, he eats nothing that previously had a face or pulse. I, however, am not, I eat most things legalbut I don't feel the need to jump on the bandwagon when people ask him why he made this food choice. Why do people think it is 'cool' to make themselves out to be different by labelling themselves. Insecure idiots in my book.

I am a strict vegetarian (married to a complete carnivore), eldest dd is now vegan. I have been veggie for over 36 years, and have got "stricter" as I became older and more aware of what I was eating.

I don't preach to other people about what they should or shouldn't eat. The problem I have with people calling themselves "vegetarian" when they really aren't, is that it makes life so difficult for me when I eat out, or even at extended family gatherings. I am so sick and tired of having to explain that, as a "proper" vegetarian, I do not eat fish.

I remember telling one restaurant, in a jokey effort to explain what I could eat, that I wouldn't eat anything that had had a mummy or had a face. I could have wept when told, "oh, so you can have chicken then."

I know one "vegan" - she won't eat anything that has breathed air, so will eat fish. Eh??

i have been veggie since i was a very little girl and the amount of people that have tried to encourage me to eat meat is unbelieveable esp when i was pregnant and even now cos im bf people seem to think im not getting all i need to nourishmy baby esp my MIL and have even been made fish and chicken dishes when iv gone for dinner as she thinks that veggies eat fish and chicken but that is just not a vegetarian, she is very offended when i dont eat lol

First I knew that fish didnt breathe .

You can see why it would be confusing. They are so alike.

This is why I don't talk to people about it - I also get people trying to get me to eat meat and feed it to my son. Why is it as soon as you abstain from anything people try to trip you up?

So I don't talk to anyone about it, because I don't think I'd be able to contain myself.

ive even had people tell me something is veggie when i can clearly see that it isnt, my gran does it all the time with homemade soup, i can see the bits of ham floating around in it lol

I do know people who eat fish and chicken but not other meat, as they are vegetarians because they are worried about the amount of resources animal farming uses. Presumably chicken and fish farming are less wasteful? But I take your point - they should just say "I don't eat red meat' or whatever. Perhaps they think its just easier (for friends who are catering etc) if they say they are vego?

I have often thought I would like to only eat meat that has been humanely slaughtered and reared, but how would you say this to friends at a dinner party? "sorry, I wont eat that meal because it was inhumanely killed"? Maybe vego is just a socially acceptable way of saying something else?

needmorecoffee, you can't "murder" an animal because murder by definition is the killing of another human being. It cheapens the concept of murder to apply it wrongly like this.

I hope we can all agree that killing and eating a severely learning disabled person and killing and eating a cow would not be the same thing - without there being any need to resort to an intelligence test.

I might have some discomfort about the killing of sentient animals to feed me but not so much that I will stop eating meat and I have no intention of apologising for it. I am happy to respect the choice of those who choose not to eat meat on any grounds whatever.

The "Meat is Murder" argument, for example, inhibits me from supporting PETA where I otherwise might. I would be prepared to support opposition to the use of fur in fashion but I can't support an organisation that employs such inflammatory language about the eating of meat.

I do not eat meat, but do eat fish. Now according to the OUP, it is technically known as a demi vegetarian (not a pescatarian, which the OUP notes is a new trendy name for it, but is "invented"!). But tell people you are a demi veggie, and everyone goes "what?" so it is just easier to ask what the veggie options are rather than specifically citing the type of veggie that I am.

From OUP website...
"How do you describe a person who does not eat meat, but eats fish?

The word demi-vegetarian appears in our file with the sense 'a person who eats fish but not meat', but this is not obvious as the meaning of the term, and some self-styled 'demi-vegetarians' may eat poultry and avoid only red meat.

The invented terms pesco-vegetarian and pescatarian are increasingly common, and clearer in meaning. The most practical option is usually to state a person's eating preferences in an explicit phrase."

That definition of 'murder' is of course, speciest and human-centric. And that to me is the problem. We see other species as ours to use and abuse. Some we keep as pets, others are dinner.
To me, murder is taking the life of a sentient being.
There's no real way of killing an animal that doesn't cause pain and suffering. So causing suffering just because something tastes nice? Someone who enjoys toturing your pet would be seen as not very nice but its his 'pleasure'. Why is that different to causing suffering and death for taste 'pleasure'?
If you don't need to cause suffering to live, then why do it?

Vegetarianism is having the freedom of choice. We have freedom of speech thank goodness and we also have the freedom of choice. No one person should be made to feel bad just because of what they eat. No one has the right to tell you what you should and should not eat just because they think they know best in this world.

DH does not eat ANY meat/fish etc on moral grounds but would never ever try to sway my decisions in life.

To me its like religion, everyone is welcome to their views just don't think that anyone wants said views rammed down their throat or challenged, just because they don't agree with you.

i wonder which fish it was who said death by suffocation on the deck of a ship was neither 'slow or painful'

sick of vegetarian menus offering fish and being made to feel 'dificult' when going to dinner and people ask 'do you eat fish'

hate to use the phrase but feel it is quite apt here - 'i am vegetarian - i dont eat things with a face' simple!

Well said CharlesandEddie.

I get sick of having to explain the whole 'no face' thing. I said that phrase to a friend the other day who was devising menus for a group weekend away and the response was 'so no potato then, they have eyes'..... hmmmm, how funny, there goes another rib....