He doesn't have a problem with eating fish. To me, that's not being a vegetarian. My daughter is vegetarian, but she doesn't have a problem with eating marshmallows or other treats with gelatin in them. I don't eat fish or gelatin, deliberately. But some of my medications are coated with gelatin or composed of gelatin capsules, and I can't do without them. Does that make me less a vegetarian?
2007-11-08 10:32:56 · 14 answers · asked by colder_in_minnesota 6 in Food & Drink ➔ Vegetarian & Vegan
What does it matter what people think or label others as?
Continue to eat the way you do for health. Take your meds. Some meds are required to survive.
Stop taking them and you will be dead and wont have to worry about not consuming any animal product, right? Relax and do the best you can
2007-11-08 12:31:47 · answer #1 · answered by s.p 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Vegetarians don't eat animals or anything the animal had to die to give. Fish are animals. Chickens are animals. Gelatin is not vegetarian.
When it comes to medications, I always asked for a tablet form instead of a gelatin capsule. If I take vitamins or whatever now (i'm not on any medication) i'll make sure they're in vegetarian-friendly vcaps if not tablets.
I wouldn't actively search out or choose to eat gelatin, but if I *needed* a medication and there were no other alternatives, I'd take a gelatin cap.
2007-11-08 11:24:15 · answer #2 · answered by Jessica 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Vegetarian is relative. If you consider yourself a vegetarian and you actively restrict eating animal flesh, you have vegetarian tendencies. But as you point out, cutting some animal parts/derivatives and not others does not a "true" vegetarian make. The short answer is, yes, gelatin is technically not vegetarian, and therefore you are "less vegetarian" than someone who avoids it completely.
However, you're better off consuming that miniscule amount than going without medications. You can ask your doctor if these medications are available in liquid or uncoated tablet form if you want to. Many medications aren't, though, unfortunately. But seriously... you're actively avoiding eating animal flesh and derivatives thereof. You're aware of hidden animal products that others aren't (it could be that your daughter doesn't actually know what gelatin is) and you're thinking about what that means to you. You're doing a great job! Anyone who criticizes your sincerity as a vegetarian is a jerk.
Keep up the good work.
2007-11-08 11:05:29 · answer #3 · answered by Julia S 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If someone knowingly consumes the flesh of an animal, they are not vegetarian.
Fish, clams, shrimp, ants and worms are all animals.
If someone eats gelatin, they are not contributing to any demand for the slaughter of animals, so I consider them to be vegetarian.
Some vegetarians may disagree, but I find eating gelatin to be less harmful than dairy or eggs, so the argument seems petty to me.
No, gelatin is not vegetarian, but I wouldn't think someone of being a liar or a hypocrite for consuming it.
I'm vegan and would never want anything to do with it, but my exclusion of such a product my diet is only symbolic of my desire for a world that is free of animal exploitation.
2007-11-08 10:45:08 · answer #4 · answered by Krister 2 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Just so you know Gelatin is not necessarily vegetarian
Gelatin is an odorless, tasteless and colorless thickening agent, which when dissolved in hot water and cooled, forms a jelly. Gelatin is pure protein derived from beef and veal bones, cartilage, tendons and other tissue. Much of the commercial gelatin today is a by-product of pig skin. Until the advent of commercial gelatin in the late 19th century, jelled dishes were not very popular because housewives had to make their own jelling agent by laboriously boiling calves' feet or knuckles. Their only alternative was to use either the hard-to-obtain ISINGLASS (gelatin from fish air bladders) or CARRAGEEN (a dried seaweed product).
2007-11-08 11:02:25 · answer #5 · answered by northerngirl.geo 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋
There really should be a vegetarian safe alternative to your meds I would see if you could find that. Otherwise you are doing the best you can under the circumstances.
A lot of people put lables on themselves that don't really fit. To me a vegetarian for over 12 years now. Vegetitarian means not consuming any animal or anything that an animal had to die to get or process.
I would buy your daughter some vegetarian marshmellows they do make them.
2007-11-08 12:02:52 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
most marshmallows are made with plant gelatin as it's easier to get. Even many candies are made with plant gelatin which is from locust bean gum.. it's Vegetarian but not Vegan because bees make it just as they make honey! A Vegetarian just doesn't eat meat but eats vegetables and dairy products. Sometimes where meds are concerned exceptions have to be made! I have an allergy to the natural thyroid pills so I take the thyroid that is extracted from a pigs gland! It's cause my thyroid level is too low!
However I don't thing that makes me less a Vegetarian but I sure can't be a Vegan though! Vegans don't go for exceptions. You're no less a vegetarian than me!
2007-11-08 11:08:21 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 4⤋
There are no official definitions of vegetarian. It's a personal choice. 60% of India is vegetarian, and many of them eat fish. But I wouldn't call them vegetarian.
But if you say someone isn't vegetarian because they eat gelatin, that's really stretching it.
2007-11-08 12:43:03 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
To me, eating fish is not vegetarian. It's just not eating red meat. Vegetarian is a no-meat diet- fish are animals too.
2007-11-08 13:56:39 · answer #9 · answered by g33kish 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Fish eater is not vegetarian. Your daughter and you I would see as vegetarian. Vegan is very strict, as far as gelatin and leather clothing and such.
2007-11-08 10:36:15 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋