Is Fish Really A Meat?

Question

Ok, while fish are animals they are not considered meat. There seems to be huge debates on this. Vegeterians can eat seafood and still refrain from meat ex. beef, lamb, pork... Most vegeterians are not for the moral side of it and choose to not eat meat mainly for diet/health reasons so eating fish, an animal, is not a problem for them.

The vegans on the other hand who use no animal products whatsoever don't eat fish as well because it is an animal.

Another thing to prove that fish is not meat is that if you are a Catholic and you're not supposed to eat meat on Fridays during Lent you are allowed fish/seafood. If fish was a meat then the law would be against fish too.

Answer 1

I know I shouldn't come in here... but here I go.
Problem is that the definition of meat in common use to vegetarians differs somewhat from that in academic dictionaries and in legislative texts (food, health, hygene, processing etc). It is even only in some more recent legislations and amendments that chickens and other fowl are encompassed under meat legislation.
This is why I believe there is some confusion about fish with vegetarianism to non vegetarians and indeed to some who count themselves as vegetarians... Like it or not, fish is not technically meat. That is the academic and authoritive view and cross reference this if you don't believe me. Marking me down will not change this simple fact.
However, the fact that vegetarians do not eat animals every bit as true and far less open to confusion. A fish is an animal, and although it may colloquially have meat it is not the correct usage of the word.
Not sure the quaint usage of "anything with a face" is too helpful either... someone is bound to reference an insect that is eaten in some obscure part of the world that doesn't have a face... but it would however still be an animal and so would not be eaten by a vegetarian.
Vegetarians don't eat animals... simple, straightforward and unambiguous. It is also lends itself less available to arguement from smart alecs who want to stir things up.

Answer 2

Meat is Muscle. Yes it is. Organs like liver are technically not meat, but heart is an organ and still muscle. Catholic church decided you can't eat red or white meats two whole days before communion, but that fish was okay as long it was a whole day before (communion Sunday fish on Friday is okay). So as for convincing those (Catholic) people, you can tell them that they can't eat any meat on Saturday; they don't follow that rule anymore; making eating only fish on Friday ridiculous.

Answer 3

Real vegetarians don't eat animals. All vegetarians I know choose not to eat animals for spiritual reasons or general compassion and fish are animals.

People who eat fish and seafood are not vegetarians, not even "pathetic vegetarians"; I don't care if they call themselves vegetarians. They are wrong--just look up "vegetarian" in any dictionary. I can call myself Jewish because I like bagels--it doesn't make it a fact.

My inspiration for vegetarianism comes from Hinduism which is thousands of years older than Christianity--I don't care if Catholics say fish "isn't meat"; fish are animals. Whether they are red meat or plentiful makes no difference; an animal is an animal.

My wife's family are Hindus and mostly vegetarian. None of the of the vegetarians eat fish; Hindus don't ask the Pope for advice on how vegetarianism should be defined any more than a Catholic would ask some Hindu guru how to define the Trinity.

Answer 4

Of course fish is meat. It is meat just as much as poultry, pork, or beef is meat. It must be caught/restrained, butchered, and cooked in order to be eaten. Fish have a central nervous system, organs, flesh, and skin. There is no way around it - fish are animals, and animals are meat.

And those who believe fish do not suffer the way most farmed livestock does, well you are correct only to a point - wild fish live their lives in complete freedom, but the way in which they are caught is far from humane. They suffer from decompression when they are yanked from the depths of the ocean to the surface in nets, often causing their swim bladders to rupture and their eyes to pop out of their heads. Those that survive that are left to suffocate in the air. Many are gutted while still alive. And that's not even the whole story.

And then there are farmed fish. Someone above me already explained some of that lovely ordeal.

Answer 5

Vegetarians cannot eat seafood.

Its been that way since 1847: Vegetarians do not eat meat, fish, poultry nor slaughter by-products.

http://www.vegsoc.org/fish

Only in some poeples minds is it "seafood", to me its "sealife"

Claiming you are a vegetarian and eat fish causes a lot of confusion for those people that are actually vegetarians.

You will not find any respected vegetarian society that says veggies eat fish.

Please do not disect the definition of "meat" just so you can eat fish. If you want to eat fish, help youself, just drop the veggie tag and be happy with your choice.

Can you read "exsft" answer please. See the phrase "pathetic vegetarian". Its YOUR FAULT we get branded with that tag.

You must be REALLY off the mark when i find myself agreeing with "exsft " ;-)

Answer 6

Vegetarians eat no animals - fish are vertebrate animals that live in water. They have a brain, nervous system and pain receptors all over their bodies and so are just a capable of suffering as any other creature.

Many species of wild fish - including cod - are threatened with extinction due to over-fishing in the oceans. Then there are those that are ‘farmed’. Salmon, trout and other species suffer enormously in the crowded, underwater cages on fish farms in which:
* Infections and disease spread easily
* Many become infested with lice, which eat them alive
* Farmed salmon are killed by being clubbed on the head and then having their gills cut so that they bleed to death
* Many trout are condemned to a slow, agonizing death, left to suffocate in air

Furthermore, fish act like a sponge, soaking up toxins present in our polluted oceans such as mercury and dioxins. They also tend to go off very quickly. That stench at the fish counter in stores is the smell of the fats turning rancid!

Answer 7

I know there is debate over this, but honestly I just think it's people trying to rationalize doing what they want to do. People want to call themselves vegetarian but they don't really want to give anything up.

Chickens are not vegetables. Fish are not vegetables. Chicken is flesh. Fish is flesh. Just because it's not "red" meat, that doesn't mean it isn't the flesh of a murdered animal.

Answer 8

You've answered most of your own questions, really.

Speaking as an omnivore, I can only comment on what I know, and what I'm told. Vegetarians who include fish/seafood in their diet presumably do so not because fish are (or are not) animals. They do it because fish are not raised in an inhumane way. Compared to cattle, pigs or chickens, fish tend to just live their lives unaware of their surroundings. They don't feel confined or unhappy because fish are incapable of such feelings. Eat, swim, reproduce...that's what fish think about.

As for the religious implications: I believe there was some mention (in the Bible) having to do with "animals of the land". Fish have always been plentiful, Biblically speaking (think about fish and loaves of bread), and therefore not subject to "fasting" rules.

Answer 9

Vegetarian—There are several categories of vegetarians, all of whom avoid meat and/or animal products. The vegan or total vegetarian diet includes only foods from plants: fruits, vegetables, legumes (dried beans and peas), grains, seeds, and nuts. The lactovegetarian diet includes plant foods plus cheese and other dairy products. The ovo-lactovegetarian (or lacto-ovovege-tarian) diet also includes eggs. Semi-vegetarians do not eat red meat but include chicken and fish with plant foods, dairy products, and eggs.

Answer 10

It depends on where you come from but fish is still a meat it could be considered white meat i believe but meat comes from everything, mammal meat, fish meat, poultry meat, and even fruit and vegetable meat.