To be sick of people thinking vegetarian eat fish

[Dearaugust]

Also, people who eat fish but not meat calling themselves vegetarian!

When people find out I’m vegetarian, a lot of people ask me if I eat fish. If I ate fish, then I wouldn’t be vegetarian! It wasn’t a big deal really, but an incident has happened recently where I was choosing a meal for a wedding and there was only meat options and a “none of these due to dietary preferences” option. So I ticked that. The person then contacted DH (it’s his friend who is getting married) and he explained I’m vegetarian. A few days later she said not to worry, they have sorted a fish meal for me. So he’s now had to go back to her again saying I don’t eat fish. What a faff!

I honestly thought it was common knowledge that vegetarians don’t eat fish. But apparently not because i get asked it a lot.

It is comparible not because of the content but the theme of it.

'I'm teetotal ' means 'I don't drink alcohol. It doesn't mean 'I don't like going out drinking but I like a glass of wine at home'.
It could result in someone bringing you a bottle of non alcoholic wine when you'd not like that..or someone never offering you wine at a dinner party or something.

'I don't smoke' means 'I don't smoke'. It doesn't mean 'I don't smoke cigarettes but I like a cigar at special occasions'. This could be confusing for people.

Vegetarian means something.. and as a pp said, unless the dictionary definition of it changes, it's important for it to be used correctly.

FFS catch yourself on 🙄🙄 No one is saying that murder/smoking etc are comparable activities to eating meat or that eating meat is a crime.
What they are saying is that if you do anything - no matter what it is - a little bit, you can’t then use a label which suggests that you don’t do that thing AT ALL. Vegetarians do not eat meat, at all. You do eat meat, even if only on a rare occasion, therefore you are not a vegetarian.

See now I'm also mostly teetotal, in the same way I'm mostly vegetarian. It's safe to assume I'll happily not drink or eat meat, but on rare occasions I'll have a drink or eat some chicken. It doesn't affect other people in any way because I'm not saying meat is vegetarian or wine is non-alcoholic (though of course there are AF versions).

Is it that hard for you to comprehend that 'mostly' means that someone occasionally isn't following the rules of said thing?

It doesn't always work that way though.

If someone is a vegetarian they should feel confident that when asking for a vegetarian option, their food is indeed, a vegetarian meal.

Allergies are a different example, but if someone is allergic to seafood and orders the vegetarian option, they should again be confident that this option is safe for them.
If people were clear on the definitions, this would not be a problem.

'I'll have the vegetarian option ' is fine to say, if you eat meat usually but just don't want to on the particular occasion. That harms nobody.

'I'm a vegetarian' then eating fish, is the reason some of these occurrences are not uncommon. If folk used the pescetarian word more often, it may help people know what it means.
If you'd rather not 'I eat fish, I don't eat any other meat' is fine too

'Vegetarian' when you eat fish/chicken/whatever and just not other types of meat, is not fine.

See also rather expensive 'naice' restaurant in London where the caeser salad had a big 'V' next to it..I can see how that could cause someone an allergic reaction.

If you work in catering, you should at least have some basic knowledge about food.

If you ask for the vegetarian option it should be meat free, because that's what vegetarian means. It's also ok to say you mostly eat vegetarian but sometimes have meat, if that's what you do. If anything that's further clarifying that meat isn't part of any vegetarian meal. By meat I mean any animal flesh, including fish and sea food.

The arrest made the local paper I think?
The owner bought us pizzas and other takeouts after her rampage. We didn't get much work done for the rest that day apart from answering calls and emails.

She also had the audacity to attempt to take the firm to an industrial tribunal after all that!

So you obviously didn't read my post immediately below this one where I corrected my typo?
Too ready to rush in and argue? 🤣

Yes, agreed. It's just using the wording correctly. Not doing so causes issues in many different ways.

I don't have my crystal ball on me at the moment, apologies. (I did not know you planned on editing your post).

Mostly vegetarian isn't incorrect.
I mostly don't eat meat, I occasionally do. I don't think it's a vegetarian meal when it contains meat.

I went to a wedding a few years ago where the 'vegetarian' meal was fish and the 'buffet' was bacon sandwiches which left the genuine vegetarians with nothing to eat. The reception was held miles from anywhere which gave people no option to leave and get food. As we all had to stay over people were absolutely ravenous and the whole day was excruciating.

If you occasionally aren’t following the rules of something, you can’t then use a word to describe yourself which suggests that you are someone who permanently adheres to those rules. Vegetarians don’t eat meat. You do. There’s no issue with that, just don’t use a word that suggests that you don’t eat meat at all. What’s the issue with saying ‘I rarely eat meat?’, which is what is true in your case. Why the need for a label that doesn’t apply to you?

I am mostly vegetarian - that describes exactly what I am. I've never claimed to be completely vegetarian. I rarely eat meat means exactly the same thing but, imho, comes over as a bit preachy sounding, as if meat is somehow evil. It's my choice, it doesn't affect you.

I corrected my typo at 6:40, dear. Immediately below my original post.
Unfortunately we can't all be as perfect as you.
Have a lovely day arguing with strangers.
I'm going to work. 🤣

You really cannot comprehend that I hadn't seen it? I'm already at work. Have a good day.

The mostly vegetarian thing, I don't think is anywhere near as potentially harmful as saying you're a vegetarian when you eat fish, or other types of meat. The description works. It doesn't change the definition of something or cause confusion.

Get off MN then you skiving scoundrel. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
(Yes, that's a joke).

It does affect vegetarians, because people who use the term incorrectly are why actual vegetarians have to clarify that we don’t eat any meat.

True, but you look a bit of twit asking to speak to the chef to enquire whether your vegetarian quiche has any seafood in it.

Of course she can.
It means she doesn't subscribe to vegetarian identity, but lives mostly vegetarian reality.

It gives people around her important information both about her preferences (vege) and about existence of exceptions (if they see her with meat, or need to ask about a potential exception).

And you can’t be ‘mostly’ something that you either are or aren’t.

I'm not using anything incorrectly.
I'm mostly vegetarian and mostly don't eat meat. The rare occasions that I do meat are clearly when I'm not mostly vegetarian. I don't claim to be vegetarian while eating a juicy roast chicken.

I wonder if we'll see "suitable for vegetarians" on tuna sandwiches in the supermarket? According to some on this thread this would be OK.

You definitely can be mostly something.
I'm not sure why you think it's not possible.