Talk to me about pescitarianism

[BootMaker]

I understand veganism, I understand vegetarianism.

I do not understand pescitarianism.

Explain it to me.

OP I don’t normally point out spelling errors. But if you are going to start a whole thread on pescatarians, you could at least spell it correctly 🙏

I'm just baffled as to where the idea arose, though, that fish isn't meat.

Person 1: "I eat fish but not meat"
Person 2: "I eat pork but not meat"

OK, so you both eat meat, then, but choose to eat only one kind of meat - which is, of course, entirely your choice.

Amongst those who present their choice to eat fish but no other kinds of meat as an ethical choice - especially the ones who criticise and look down on other meat-eaters for having a different meat preference - it just makes me think of the middle-class folk who will show such judgmental disdain for the disgusting alcoholics who single-handedly drink a 24-pack of Stella every day, whilst they simply find that three or four bottles of fine wine on their own every single evening 'helps them to wind down after a busy day'!

Came from Latin and religious custom - fish on Friday etc. it's just convention.

But op is being unreasonable for sure

An ethical question for those who don't eat meat or fish for ethical reasons - how do you reconcile the number of small animals that die in the ploughing of fields to produce vegetables with your ethical vies on not eating meat/fish. Or the number of insects that die when the farmer addresses insect problem with the growing of vegetables e.g. pesticides or other forms of addressing insect infestations.

Is the ethical stance more about the consumption of the animal rather than the killing of animals/insects?

People eat what they eat for all manner of reasons.

I'm vegetarian. Originally for ethical reasons as a teenager, but nearly 40 years on, honestly, it's just habit. Meat is simply not something that I would think to eat - I no longer miss it and wouldn't want to start eating it again because I think it would be bad for my health and bad for the planet. Plus it's expensive and I don't know how to cook it.

If I were to argue that I'm still motivated by ethical reasons now, then I would have to go vegan. I really respect people who do, but I like cheese and yoghurt and eggs too much to sacrifice them entirely. I do try to eat more plant based meals where I can - I figure it doesn't have to be all or nothing.

DH is pescatarian. He eats vegetarian meals at home but sometimes has fish when out and about. He was raised veggie but then lived in a country where they put fish/fish stock in everything, and it was just easier for him to adapt. He has never had any desire to eat meat as well, so he doesn't. He doesn't claim that his pescatarianism is a moral stance, it's just about what he chooses to eat and what he chooses not to eat.

I have another pescatarian friend who eats fish on the basis that she would be willing to catch and kill a fish herself, whereas she doesn't think she could kill and butcher a cow or a sheep etc. I guess there is a logic to that.

I also know former vegetarians who have chosen to start eating fish because they think it's good for them. And meat eaters who have given up red meat because they think it's bad for them.

I think lots of us make fairly arbitrary choices about what we eat, really. Lots of meat eaters would choose to avoid eating horse or rabbit for example. And in the UK, nobody would eat dog or cat etc. Mainly because we feel a stronger sense of affinity with those particular animals, I suppose, but perhaps some pescatarians feel a sense of affinity with cows/sheep in a way that they don't feel an affinity with fish?!

As long as people aren't lecturing others on the superiority of their choices or preventing others from eating what they want to eat, I can't see that it matters, really?

I’m more interested in the ‘gotcha’ mentality that would prompt that question.

It’s on a par with the kind of ‘That carrot died for your dinner’ witticism I associate with a certain type of middle-aged man.

I'm vegan. 70% for health, 30% for ethics. However if I was 100% health motivated I'd be a pescatarian as a plant based diet plus fish is as good as it gets. Fish being such an efficient way of getting so many important nutrients.
That 30% won't pipe down though, so I eat more seeds than any reasonable person could ever wish to.

I think for those who do it under the guise of caring about animal welfare, it is this.

I can see the logic, although it is flawed.

Cows/pigs have the same nervous system as us and aren't too dissimilar to us. Their faces don't look so different. They have legs, walk on land, breathe air, have ears and eyes in similar places etc.

Fish and other water-dwelling animals are very different to us in comparison.

You don't need to be looking at what's occurring in the world today, or a century ago, to work out that humans do not like differences.

This is very 'playground' logic.

What do you think the animals omnivores eat, are fed on?

I'll give you a clue. It's roughly 80% of all vegetables/crops that encompass that 'number of insects' and 'small animals that die in the ploughing of the fields. No, the ethical stance isn't just about the consumption of the animal, but lack of consumption cuts down on all of those deaths.

I am not a genius by any stretch, but I don't find that so difficult to understand and if I did, a quick google would've clarified it for me.

I appreciate that we generally think of meat as different to fish, but this isn't helpful when it comes to understanding vegetarians. A vegetarian does not eat fish but because we generally do not think of it is as meat, some people think they do and will serve it up at a dinner party etc. This isn't helped by some people calling themselves a vegetarian but actually being pescetarian.

I also don't fully understand it, to me meat is flesh, the body of an animal. Fish fits into that category for me.

And I agree about the drinking example! I had a heated conversation with someone recently who said how only 'chavs' drank during the day (he was trying to be nasty about one of my friends who was at a BBQ or similar, and had posted a photo of him and his friend with a bottle of beer in his hand).

I said that I was pretty sure the aristocrats at the races with a glass of bubbly in their hands were not 'chavs'. What's the difference? And I am someone who rarely drinks alcohol during the day unless I am at a wedding or something, I just don't understand why one is okay and one isn't!

People can choose to eat what they want? Not sure how you're struggling.

I'm a pesce. I love fish and seafood and don't enjoy meat.

It's basically for people who agree with the lyrics to the Nirvana song 'something in the way'.

Apparently they do though. I just think a lot of people find fish easier to digest and meat too heavy. I could easily be pescatarian. If it wasn't for pork and chicken?!

pescatarians are just like non-binary people to me. People who want to make themselves sound more interesting without having to put themselves out too much.

And @SpringAndSunshineIsHere

Haven't you both missed out potted shrimp?

That's nonsense it could just be because they don't like meat but they like fish!
I know several people who eat fish and not meat they don't make a big deal of it. It's just what they like to eat. I don't see the problem.

I am a chef and have been an omnivore for the majority of my life. Barring 11 years of stubborn vegetarianism from the age of 10 when I wanted to be different way back when.

I am currently cooking a metric fucktonne of meat at work and it’s put me off. So I am not eating meat but I am still eating fish and seafood.

For me, it is simple- I’ve gone off meat. But I have not gone off fish and seafood. Anyone looking any deeper into my diet than that has their own issues I’d say.

It is not something I discuss with people on the daily either so you’d probably never know.

i have tried octopus in the past but it’s not for me.

Would you say that about people who eat meat but not fish? Because that covers a significant % of British people….

I eat a pescetarian diet... I'm happy to be preached to by a vegetarian or vegan who is contributing to suffering less than myself, but preaching to pescetarians when you eat fish and seafood yourself is ridiculous.

Just to add i eat fish around once a month so its not a case of having it daily if thats what you are worried about. I dont eat other seafood.

Agreed! Apologies.

Exactly, fish is meat, it's flesh. I understand preference, I don't understand a weird moral equivalency that doesn't count animals that live underwater as animals.

People on this thread have talked about fish being 'free and wild' but the vast majority of fish and shellfish people eat is farmed.

I wouldn't eat farmed salmon, the only fish I eat is wild and line caught, and I don't eat it often because good fish, as with good meat is very expensive. I buy mackerel and sardines as regular fish. I don't buy salmon or bass or other than treat time.

Occasionally other fish such as sea trout in season and John Dory and turbot Cornish catch.

Prawns, brown shrimp are the native prawn and delicious and sustainable, mussels are generally rope-grown and a bit flabby, clams are reliable and oysters should obviously be only eaten in the R months when natives are in season. Langoustine are from northern waters around the British Isles and are lovely, if not brutal on the thumb.

I don't actually think the vast majority of people really think about where their food comes from.

And I love cod but it's problematic in terms of stock, haddock and hake are great firm white fish caught in our waters.

As an island nation we don't love fish as much as we should, mainly going for the farmed stuff, most of our excellent catch is sold to mainland Europe, we have an amazing cold water stock that we should enjoy.

But flabby farmed salmon and imported prawns seem to be the choice.

And I haven't even spoken about cephalopods who are generally as intelligent and as social as your average dog and are highly social.

So yes, I don't understand pescitarianism.

Lots of people have given you reasons for pescatarianism other than simple ethical arguments about animal rights, so how is it that you still don't understand it?

And why are you continuing to misspell it?

For me I don’t eat meat as I strongly dislike it - mainly for the texture, but do eat fish, occasionally.

That is very fine! 😂 👏 👏