People who call themselves vegetarians but still eat fish and chicken...?

Question

I don't understand when some fish say they eat fish and chicken, but still consider themselves vegetarians. Aren't fish and chicken living, breathing creatures? Lets hear your argument if you have one.

Answer 1

Right, so this is the 22nd answer and NOT one fishy person has answered.

This is always the same. You get lots of them saying "i'm a fishy-veggie" or something in other answers but when it comes to standing up to be counted, they all disappear.

We've seen this bevaviour many times over the past 18 months in this forum.

I guess they have no answer.

A vegetarian eats no merat, fish, poultry nor slaughter by-products.

Its been that way since 1847 when the vegetarian society defined the word for the Oxford, Cambrdige and Collins English dictionaries.

I heard someone call them selves a "dictionary vegetarian" to me this morning. Why should vegetarians have to do this ??

Answer 2

Some people think that vegetarians don't eat meat. This is true, but obviously an incomplete understanding. They don't realize that it's more complex than that (vegetarians don't eat stuff that requires killing an animal to obtain). These same people think that animal flesh is broken into different categories: poultry, seafood, meat, game, etc. It's a relatively common mistake, especially if you've got a culinary background. (From a culinary standpoint, different types of animal flesh are categorized differently because they are prepared differently. You wouldn't cook "fish" the same way you'd cook domestic mammals ("meat"), and you wouldn't season "game" the same way you'd season "poultry," just as examples. Basically, the distinction is appropriate there, but not in other applications. I also think some people are trying to get across the idea that they're strict in their dietary choices, or they are trying to express the idea that the dietary choice is based in more than simply taste preference. A lot of people don't realize that birds, fish, and other "lower" animals are able to think and feel, etc. I do'nt know why people are embarrassed or ashamed of saying, "I don't eat red meat" or "I'm a pescetarian," but apparently they are. Nobody is going to misunderstand "I don't eat red meat" (it's also easier to say than "I'm vegetarian" at least in terms of syllables). The same goes for "I'm pescetarian." Even if someone asks, you can just say, "I eat fish, but no other meat."

Answer 3

I agree with Phoenomagus; militant vegetarians often have no tolerance for the flexibility of the human diet and social dietary choices. I would no sooner tell someone what they can and cannot call themselves than I would tell someone how they can or cannot worship (not that we do not have plenty people who do that, too).

Personally I do not consider bird a vegetarian food but sea food is a very arguable point. Different people draw the line at different points, and the term "vegetarian" in common usage has come to be a by-word for "I have a special diet, please do not assume to choose my meal".
Some vegetarians consider milk, eggs, and honey acceptable, others consider only organic, free range eggs acceptable, and still others consider the production of milk, eggs, and honey just as bad as meat.
Many refuse to have any leather including in uniforms for school. Others are more pragmatic and say it is the meat-eater’s fault the animal died but the leather is just a side product.
Some vegans are so strict that they will not drink beer because microbes (yeast) were killed in the making of it; then again so think that is taking it too far.
Some vegetarians are so militant that they consider all non-vegans "fakers" even if they do not eat chicken or fish.

We are privileged to live in a time and world where we have such variety and knowledge of diet. We can choose a balanced diet of meat free products and truly try to be meat free if we choose, but that does not give us the right to come down on someone else who, for all we know is doing their current best to avoid eating dead mammal.

BTW: Many militant vegetarians are aware of but are totally intolerant of the fact that the Anglican Church (Protestant) and the Muslim religion both do not consider fish as a meat. In fact both of those wide spread populations have it on the authority from their god that seafood is not an animal (nor a plant but in the category of "something different").

ADD: Is a starchetarian truly a vegetarian? Grains may not be animals, but neither are they “vegetables”. I have known plenty of vegetarians that did not like vegetables (LOL).

Answer 4

Vegetarians do not eat animals. Period. And if these chicken and fish eaters expand the definition of the word "vegetarian" to include their particular dietary preferences, they are rendering it completely meaningless. I applaud any efforts in the direction of vegetarianism, but people shouldn't call themselves vegetarian if they eat dead animals; it just causes a lot of unnecessary confusion amongst the greater population.

Answer 5

Some people insist they are vegetarian and eat fish and/or chicken. They aren't vegetarian no matter what they say. They can find other people who agree with them but real vegetarians do not accept them as fellow vegetarians.

Answer 6

I was raised around meat eaters. But they were depression era parents. Meat was a luxury. We only ate what we caught or killed. Mostly we ate beans or greens and cornbread on weekdays. Fish Friday (If caught)maybe fried chicken on Sunday.Mostly we ate a lot of tomato/ baloney sammys or peanut butter jelly sammys with Koolaid.Folks in India eat fish and chicken but they abstain from cows for religious reasons.
It would not hurt to eat an all vegetarian diet for dinner once in a while. A big old pot of red beans and rice without the sausage would be good. My granny used to put bacon drippins in the beans. And serve that with buttermilk cornbread,some sweetmilk and Apple pie for desert. What kind of vegetarian would that make me? A plain old country bumpkin most likely. Gee I didn't even realize it till now.

Answer 7

I think it's absolutely ridiculous. Eating fish or chicken is no different from eating beef or pork. It's all dead animals, there's really no difference. Those people are NOT vegetarians and need to come to terms with that and if it's such a pressing issue for them they can eliminate ALL meat from their diet. After all it must feel kind of bad to claim you're something you're not.

Answer 8

If they eat fish and chicken, they are not vegetarians. They can say what ever they want about themselves, but that doesn't make it true.

Answer 9

Actually vegan is the term for people who eat only vegetables. I was at one time a lacto-ovo vegetarian, because I ate milk, cheese and eggs in addition to vegetables. There are many varieties of vegetarianism, it depends on what you like. Going vegan is a huge life decision, and sometimes it's hard to let go of meat entirely, which is why there are so many variations.

Answer 10

I don't understand them either. If they eat fish and chicken they are not vegetarians, they just don't eat beef and pork. I think they just like being called vegetarians because they think it's cool.