Who considers fish and eggs to be vegetarian and why?

Answer 1

I am lacto-vegetarian, so I don't eat eggs (or fish).

However, the American and English definition of "vegetarian" has always included eggs since the word was invented in the 1800s. The term "vegan" was invented later to refer to people who don't use animal products at all.

The original vegetarians from India generally use dairy products but not eggs. However, they did not invent the word "vegetarian"--they were following the Hindu/Jain/Buddhist principle of Ahimsa (non-violence) and not eating meat was part of this. There does not seem to have been a word specifically for "vegetarian" but it was generally understood that people who were of the priestly caste (Brahmins) would abstain from eating animal flesh.

Some people call themselves vegetarian and eat fish; I hate that because fish are obviously animals. At least eggs are kind of ambiguous since it is not a fully formed animal (and never will be if it isn't fertile).

The idea of saying "fish is not meat" is apparently based on ideas from the Catholic Church that don't have anything to do with the original concept of vegetarianism. The semantics of that don't really make any sense because the point of vegetarianism is to not eat animals; and vegetarianism was not invented by the Catholic Church.

Answer 2

Fish, no. The definition is very clear abut this and has been so since 1847.

Its only the recent spread of unmoderated internet information that has introduced the idea that veggies eat fish, the trend will calm down. If it doesn't, vegetarians will move to a new word

http://www.vegsoc.org/fish

Eggs are considered vegetarian. Eating eggs from a commercial source DOES directly mean the death of 20% of the laying population every year. I think many veggies do their best to reduce egg consumption or they buy from hobby farms where the hens are not rotated after a year.

An egg will never be a living animal, its the husbandy of the hens, rotation of older birds, and dispatching of cockerals that are the issues.

Chickens are probably the most abused of any farm animal

Answer 3

Any seafood. No matter how small has nerves, thus any pain that they feel no matter how insignificant is there. So I definitely consider fish to be meat and thus not vegetarian. Eggs on the other hand are subject to the cruel treatment of the chickens while laying the eggs. The eggs themselves are just an unfertilized egg, no baby chicken inside.

Answer 4

The issue is with the word "vegetarian".

Vegetarianism is the practice of a diet that excludes all animal flesh, including poultry, game, fish, shellfish, and slaughter by-products (such as bacon, sausage, etc).

Lacto-vegetarians will eat dairy.
Lacto-ovo-vegetarians will eat eggs and dairy.

Veganism excludes all animal products from diet and in some definitions from attire also, whether or not the production of clothing or items has involved the actual death of an animal (dairy, eggs, honey, wool, silk, down feathers, etc.).

But NO vegetarian considers fish to be vegetarian - fish are animals.

Answer 5

Eggs are vegetarian-friendly simply because no animal had to die for me to eat the egg although egg laying chickens will most likely still end up on someone's plate eventually.
Vegetarians don't eat fish.

"What happens when the hens cannot have anymore eggs?

After twelve months, our egg-laying ability starts to decline. Hens are then considered “spent” and so are sent off to slaughter. Their brittle, calcium-depleted bones often shatter during handling or at the slaughterhouse, usually end up in baby foods, pet foods, soups, pies, school diners and other processed foods in which their bodies can be shredded to hide the bruises from customers."

Answer 6

Unfertilised eggs are vegetarian. Fish are not. I know a lot of people think of fish as veggie but i can't understand why.

Answer 7

I don't and here's why:

Neither fish or eggs grow out of the ground. They may derive nurishment from plant life, but they are not plant live. Real vegetarians only eat plants (vegetables, fruits, roots, legumes), hence the term vegetarian.

Answer 8

Eggs are vegetarian. They are not animal flesh.

Fish is not. It is animal flesh.

This is not a question of opinion, but a verifiable fact.

----A vegan.

Answer 9

Fish are dead animals. Clearly not vegetarian.

Eggs are a single, unfertilized cell discarded by a living animal. I do consider that vegetarian.

Answer 10

Eggs are and fish is not. No animal flesh. The eggs are unfertilized and would never hatch.