to not understand why a 'vegetarian' would eat fish?

[EccentricaGallumbits]

sorry. a thread about a thread about a thread. bad form I know.

really though. why? I've never understood the point. Could anyone enlighten me?

Not read the whole thread, but will reply to the OP with my experience.

DP and I have recently "gone veggie" because we do not like the way that animals are treated and eventually killed in the meat industry. We can't afford to eat organic, free range meat so made the decision to cut meat out of our diet. We did start having chicken, free range but not organic, but since "going veggie" i have not enjoyed eating it so have cut it out completely.

We eat fish because we have less guilt i suppose about eating something that has lived a good quality of life, free, before it was killed. We have discussed eating game and yes, i don't think i would have a problem eating wild pigeon and rabbit, however its not readily available so wont go out of my way to eat it. Also, have always been wary of game being un rotten, iyswim, and again, its expensive - i suppose i could go and shoot it myself and i would feel less guilty about doing this than eating factory farmed meat.

So are we strictly vegetarian? I guess not, we just don't eat meat - but whats in a name? Does it matter? I think we do have to recognise that we are omnivorous and fish is a good way of getting vital nutrients. I also think if the meat industry wasn't the big pile of chemically pumped mistreated animals then i would be happier about eating it. I am certainly not overly sentimental about animals, i just think that all living creatures are entitled to a decent quality of life and i don't feel that farmed animals receive this, or that i can't garauntee this enough to myself to feel comfortable eating something that may have suffered just so it can be on my plate.

I get really irritated by people who call themselves vegetarians but eat fish. A. because it's not true - they ain't veggies B. because they give the rest of us a VERY hard time with people trying to feed us fish 'because it's vegetarian, innit?'

If you want to eat fish, fine, but invent your own description, don't nick ours!

(I used to avoid leather but have given up as it's just too darn hard to get comfy shoes - assuage my conscience with the 'byproduct' line and the fact that at least I'm some way down the path towards ending cruelty to animals, even if very far from perfect.)

But cookielove, not all vegetarians give a chuff about animals dying.

Some don't like the taste of meat.

Some think it's unhealthy.

Some live with veggie partners &/or family & can't be bothered to cook separately.

So not all veggies are going to object to leather, or experiments on animals, or circus animals...

Imaynotbeperfect,do you check labels to ensure that you aren't eating farmed fish if I may ask?

(Oh, and the fact that my granddad was a shoemaker so it'd be a bit disrespectful to avoid leather completely. Although that one is the kind of moral reasoning that gave the Jesuits a bad name, tbh.)

Who cares, as long as none of them ever come for dinner at my house.

RavenAK if you read my earlier post you will see that my comments about veggies and leather only refers to those who choose not to eat because they believe killing animals is wrong, cruel e.t.c, so your just repeating someone else point.

i find it quite difficult to buy shoes especially in the Winter which have no leather in them which wont fall to pices after a few wears i am vegetarian i dont eat fish or gelatine products but i do love dairy and eggs i would never have a leather couch or my friend is a veggie and she has one and when i sit on it it gives me the creeps but as kat2907 says we are all hypocrites somewhere along the way

so annoying i agree

totally fake too

more annoying to be continuously asked if you eat fish

'come to supper saturday'
'love to - be warned i am vegetarian - but happy to eat normal meal minus meat'

silence

'do you eat tuna?'
'errrr no...'
'salmon?'
'no'
'chicken?'
'no'
'oh you are really strict'

screeeaaaaam!

No thunderduck, we don't - maybe being a bit niave there. Should we be? I mean, are fish factory farmed - are their welfare issues? Serious non sarcastic question that has crossed my mind before.

Yes there are welfare issues in regards to farmed fish. And yes many fish are farmed. Farmed fish usually have ragged tails and fins, and often have patches where scales have been rubbed off due to overcrowding.

There are also other issues involved, including the vast amount of feed they consume, often other smaller fish, which is contributing to a depletion in the numbers of fish in the sea.

People call themselves vegetarian and still eat fish because it is an easy label - saves a long explanation. Who in the catering trade knows what a pescatarian is?

A long explanation? I eat fish but not meat or poultry?

And apparently many in the catering trade have no idea that vegetarians don't eat fish, considering that fish is often offered as the vegetarian option.

It will continue until people who eat fish but not meat stop saying I'm vegetarian. I'd like the salmon please.

It is to save a long explanation.
For some people the meat eating is about the quality of life the animal has before being killed......and fish (often) are swimming about happily in the sea/river before getting caught, rather than being 'farmed' in the same way pigs/cows etc are.
And for other people not eating meat can be about the actual texture of the flesh in your mouth (fish is often quite soft and flakey and not so chewy, fatty)

With all due respect, etc. etc., deciding what to call your chosen diet is your problem, flock. But you've made it mine. Us actual veggies get so much hassle from people who appear to be convinced that fish qualifies as a 'vegetarian' option thanks to fish-eaters confusing the issue.

Make up your own ruddy name, don't nick ours!

Paisley, see Thunderduck's post a few minutes ago. If you think fish ain't farmed and don't suffer from mis-treatment, you are deluding yourself.

I live by the sea, so I do see where its coming from here as we do mix with a few fishermen.
I guess it depends what sort of fish you're eating....I'd expect say salmon to probably be farmed.

Fine if you are eating local (wild) produce and you know the guys who catch it. But what about sustainability? Do you eat cod? And tuna - whole other load of issues about the treatment of factory workers in the 3rd world there... that's even without getting into the cruelty argument.

I can't remember the last time I ate cod and often just skipjack tuna.

I eat all meat btw....not just fish. I'm not a fishetarian. I was just pointing out that the quality of life can often be better for the fish.

paisley, sorry, got side-tracked there, not trying to convert you! Just puzzled by the idea that eating fish is better in animal welfare terms to eating animals.

Is that as in goddam pesky tarians

Another term that would be good to describe us -- who occassionaly eat fish and/or poultry is flaxetarian, (I think that's the term) but you see..... it has to come with a really long explanation then..... followed by why we eat meat 'sometimes'.... So a good term that I will keep to is Semi-Vegetarian because I eat fish / poultry once in a while. That way, we can keep vegetarian term for our 'true' vegetarian friends who do not eat meat of any kind

What edam said.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary - the definition of a person who eats fish and not meat is in fact a 'Demi vegetarian' as a pescatarian actually just refers to someone who eats meat (so it also refers to people who live solely on fish).

"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."

I am veggie, my children are demi veggies. I let them have fish, but not meat as the fish I buy are wild and one of my major concerns about meat production is not the actual slaughter of the animal, but the treatment that the animal is kept in before it is killed - even organic chickens are often debeaked etc. As I cannot guarantee the welfare of the animal prior to slaughter, then we avoid eating meat. Fish on the other hand is wild, so even if the slaughter is not nice - at least I know it didn't suffer at the hands of humans its whole life. I know technically that means I should give my children wild rabbit and deer I suppose, but I just stick to the fish for them.