People who call themselves vegetarian, but eat seafood?

Question

Why are they calling themselves vegetarian? After all it is flesh.
I even noticed that some restaurants are calling some of their fish dishes vegetarian.
I thought that if you call yourself vegetarian, then at least one should know what it is.

http://www.vegsoc.org/info/goingveg.html

Answer 1

The correct term for eating only veggies and seafood is 'pescatarian'. Unfortunately it's a little known word and probably too difficult for many people to remember, so they just say 'vegetarian'. Also, a lot of people would say "what's that?!" and they get fed up of explaining it every time.

Personally, I don't like a lot of meat, or to eat too much of it, so I just say "I don't eat a lot of/like meat" and people always say "So you're a vegetarian!" When I say no, I like bacon and fish they say "Well you can be a vegetarian who just eats bacon and fish as well." Uhhh, No!

Answer 2

My dad does this and I've always had a bit of an issue with it; so I asked him.

He says that he will eat fish because it is not the eating of meat he objects to but the way that meat is obtained. He believes the commercial meat/slaughtering business is inherently cruel, which I probably agree with - despite efforts being made into stress free abbatoirs the only way to make a slaughterhouse into a happy place is to remove the "S". Fishing on, the other hand, usually means that the food was taken from a natural life in the wild and did not suffer unduly before dying. This is of course debatable.

Oh, and I just love to eat meat by the way. Does this make me a hypocrite or do i need to ask my own question?

Answer 3

I think a lot of this stems from a Catholic upbringing. Remember the 'no meat on Friday' rule? Catholics eat fish on Friday. I think fish is not considered meat by many people. I don't call myself anything that is concerned with the way I eat. It's just the way I eat not my identity. But as a rule I eat vegetarian until I start feeling weak and then I go for some sushi. I find my body gets more of an advantage from raw fish. Since I eat it to stay healthy I practice 'flesh eating' in the most efficient way possible.

If it lived it is meat.

Answer 4

She's no longer a vegetarian. The Vegetarian Society coined the be conscious in the 1840s to communicate with a individual who would not consume flesh and that they have by no skill time-honored fish-ingesting as component of the definition of the be conscious vegetarian. Pescetarian is a greater moderen be conscious coined to define somebody who might quite be vegetarian, yet eats sea creatures. Eggs and milk are a private call. some vegetarians consume them and a few do no longer.

Answer 5

I agree with you. I guess the word has spread so vastly that people think it's a fact just because someone said so. It's sad that there is so much ignorance in a country like ours.

PS: Hitler was not a vegetarian. He had stomach problems and had to give meat up for a short period of time.

Answer 6

The definition of "vegetarian" is someone who doesn't consume meat OR fish as well as products derived from animals. Someone can be a vegetarian by conviction, so he might also refuse to wear clothing made out of animal furs. But a lot of vegetarians just don't like meat! They balance the proteins they lack by eating fish or seafood. By the way: This is also much healthier!

Answer 7

I agree with you !

I am a vegetarian and the number of times someone has said 'but you can eat fish cant you?'

of course not - fish has also been killed to be eaten and is flesh of an animal so cannot be considered vegetarian

the argument about eggs and cheese / milk goes on though....

Answer 8

I'm confused too, I have heard in the past that some people stop eating farmed meat because of the way it's reared, stating seafood etc isn't farmed, but if you're vegetarian that's exactly what you should be.

Answer 9

I had this trouble when on hol in America - they simply didn't understand that chicken wasn't a vegetarian option! Ditto fish.

I think people who do eat these foods sometimes call themselves demi-veggies, but why not just say they don't eat meat?

Answer 10

I agree - I would be annoyed if I ordered a vegetarian dish at a restaurant and it turned out to be fish!

Steve Ronin - fish do not reproduce asexually!! Didn't you learn this at school?! Although they do not have souls, they are still living creatures, as are birds and insects!