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.

Plants don't have brains though. So how are they sentient? You can't have cognitive behaviour without a brain.

As soon as parsnips start wandering around/ mooing, I'll stop eating them.

I often say 'I don't eat meat, but fish is fine'. However many people assume that means I'm a vegetarian!

I think there are researchers out there that would argue that plants are sentient though

Well yes, that could be annoying, though I wouldn't really expect it at a commercial place, that seems exceedingly unlikely, and it seems like it's probably uncommon even among social events.

Of course exceedingly unlikely things like this happen but IMO aren't worth worrying about outside of the moment.

Tell them they are idiots?

Plants don't have brains though. So how are they sentient? You can't have cognitive behaviour without a brain.

Sentient isn't the same thing as cognitive ability/consciousness, it's having senses. It's probably as widely misused as 'vegetarian' but perhaps a matter for Pedants' Corner.

@TempestTost - but the OP was complaining about being told she'd be getting fish when she'd asked for vegetarian at a wedding.

I'm mostly pescatarian. I constantly get asked if that means I eat only certain vegetables!!!

The vegetarians I know eat fish.

If I thought dog tasted nice I might try it

I can well understand how vegetarians might find the argument boring but do you understand how boring it is for non vegetarians to listen to vegetarians waffle on in a superior attitude about vegetarianism?

I’d give it a go but DP would leave me!

If an eating establishment marks anything as vegetarian that clearly isn't, it's a good one to avoid.

But this thread isn't vegetarians going around waffling about how superior they are. It's about OP being offered food that doesn't fit the criteria for vegetarian food, because a load of non vegetarians want to call themselves vegetarian without being vegetarian, thereby muddying the understanding of what vegetarian means. Which impacts vegetarians and not the people who call themselves what they're not.

I don't think a single veggie on this thread has said they're superior, or waffled about their reason for being a veggie, or any of that. We just want to be able to trust that when we are offered veggie food, it's actually veggie.

Been vegetarian 20 years,at my brothers wedding my meal was salmon, the mil argued with me that this was vegetarian 🤣 erm no
Her reasoning was the vegetarian she knew ate fish,well they'd be pescaterian like my son was, the venue were mortified when I queried it and cobbled together some tortellini 😐

I honestly cannot understand why you are asking me that question, @Greyish2025. It has no connection whatsoever to the point that I made. 🤔🤔🤔

My point refers to the factual definition of vegetarian, and the fact that someone who eats fish cannot be defined as a vegetarian, because a fish is not a sort of vegetable.

@Oreyt - as above, your ‘vegetarian’ friends who eat fish, are NOT vegetarian - unless they believe fish are vegetables (hint for them- they are not).

FML, I'm sick of it too. I've been asked by virtually everyone if I eat fish. In fact the only people who don't ask me or other veggies or vegans.

And don't get me started at other people's comments about what I eat. I've started stating 'It's rude to comment on others food choices.'

I don't know any vegetarians that talk about their vegetarianism unless someone asks about their food preferences for a function or a set meal.

I get rather tired of the narrative that all vegetarians and vegans need to tell people all about their dietary preferences because it simply isn't true. Maybe it is because I don't judge people for being vegan or vegetarian. I am more likely to swap recipes with them as we do eat a lot of vegetarian food anyway.

But that makes no difference in those circumstances: if they've requested vegetarian meals and you serve them with meals that are suitable for vegetarians (i.e. no meat or meat products), everybody knows where they stand.

Just like if I order a beef dish in a restaurant: it makes no difference to the restaurant whether I sometimes happily eat chicken, fish or anything that isn't in that dish, because it's irrelevant to the case in hand.

On the other hand, if I asked if a fish dish that they offer was suitable for a vegetarian, they would (I hope) tell me that it wasn't as it contains fish, which is obviously meat. I can still order it if that's what I choose, but I am then knowingly and clearly choosing a non-vegetarian dish.

I often eat vegetarian, but I am not a vegetarian, as I also often eat meat and animal products.

Just as long as people know the correct accepted meaning of words and communicate clearly, we're all good.

I eat meat, fish, vegetables, dairy - pretty much anything. I don't care what people choose to call their dietary choices, I only am concerned that if I am catering for them, they will eat what I provide. I have no idea which cheese is considered vegetarian and I don't think I should be expected to work it out. It's easier to just ask what people will and won't eat, because the same label means different things to different people, whatever the official definition of that label is.

Not happening, because the only time I'd really need that information is if I'm in charge of catering or restaurant choosing. If a person eats fish, that expands the available options. That, coupled with the realistic chance that a person claiming to be veggie is using the word wrongly, means it's always going to be in my interests to check.

I'd be more concerned if someone wasn't, considering cats are obligate carnivores!

It is no difference for the meals. However it leads to seeing people from group labeled "vegetarians" (by their choice of meals) happily eating bacon at breakfast.
And noone is doing anything wrong, just the label is shifting between describing "being a proper vegetarian" and "people eating vegetarian meals".

It demonstrates that when it comes to general public (including our chef) the word isn't used for strict vegetarian identity, but for observed behaviour (not eating meat in typical volume & width).

My point is that the word vegetarian have became "the goto word" - so it is often used to make communication about food easier, even if less precise.

Pescetarians don't need fish at every meal, so for the purposes of 2/3 categories classification, they can be grouped with vegetarians, they kind of become vegetarians (member of the vegetarian meal eaters group) for the time being.

My sister eats only poultry, she often goes "as a vegetarian" because it is easier to communicate and sounds less fussy. If it matters, she will explain, but not for one-off 3 categories classification.

A vegetarian does not eat meat, poultry, or fish. I would expect someone in hospitality to know that. It was on the now defunct Air 2000 to the USA. They also ran out of tea bags! The vegetarian meals were served to others. I didn't even get a refund!

This is the first thing that came into my mind too 😂

No, what I meant was that even though you booked a vege meal, it might have been because you preferred it but were omnivorous.
As I said, I book Asian vege, but if there was some problem and they offered me a meat or fish dish, I'd be fine with that (and an apology).
So they gave your meal to someone who just asked for it but hadn't booked it?

I wonder why they went out of business!