Fish Eating "Vegetarians"

I feel the need to ask but how can someone call themself a vegetarian if they consume fish ?


"Vegetarians" who eat fish, why do you do it ?

They're pescatarians and they don't believe the fish suffer when they suffocate..

Oh so that's what their called.
I still don't get it .

What makes fish so special

well i wouldn't really call myself a vegetarian, but i avoid all meat except for tuna and sushi(on occasion i might eat turkey). this is why:

1. fish is low cal as compared to a fatty calorific steak.

2. i don't really like the taste of chicken, ham, beef etc, but i really love tuna 

3.  tuna is good for you, why not eat it?

Tuna is high in mercury though.. o_O

i eat fish...for several reasons.  first off, i grew up eating chicken and fis, but no other meat.  my dad was a macrobiotic (hence no chicken, but lots of fish) and my mom was just health-conscious.  i've never had a hot dog, and i tried to eat a hamburger twice - the last time i ate about 3 bites, and then spent the next two days puking. 

why i eat fish?
first off, my reason for giving up chicken was based largely on the practices of the "meat industry" (as opposed to the fishing industry).  i like how it tastes.  i eat fish about 4 times/month, and i always have a boost of energy afterwards.  i try to avoid fish that is being overfished, and support fishing techniques that cause less environmental harm.

to be honest, i see nothing wrong with eating meat in moderation.  i see something wrong with it when we waste parts of the animal, eat far more meat than we need, and abuse animals in our farming practices (such as hormones).  i've considered eating organic, free-range chicken again...but only if i cooked it at home, and frankly, i'm happy to keep it out of my kitchen.  i rarely cook fish at home either.

i'll only label myself a "vegetarian" when i'm talking to people who are big meat eaters.  for example, over the holidays, i visited my grandmother at her retirement community.  every night for dinner, there is a main course option of fish, meat, or whatever special they want.  her friends couldn't understand why i didn't try the veal...but when i said i was a vegetarian, they all said "oh, good for you.  it's so healthy."  or something to that result.  past times when i said that i only eat fish, they kept urging me to try the porkchops ("one bit won't hurt you!").

hope that helps somewhat... 

Original Post by snotbubblez:

Tuna is high in mercury though.. o_O

 it's all about moderation.

1) simply because i can't relate to fish as well as i can with other animals
2) out of convenience when i'm eating out. at most restaurants, if i don't eat fish, i'm pretty much stuck with a salad.
3) i don't consider myself a vegetarian, just a health-conscious person who's cutting back on meat. i don't know why other people do.

I applaud people for trying to be healthy and eat less meat but when it comes down to it they are in no way vegetarian. They are still omivores but just making slightly healthier choices than folks that eat red meat.
This post isn't meant to offend but this is just a pet peeve of mine.

Vegetarians, vegans, pescatarians, omnivores, carnivores.. whether a person eats meat/fish/dairy or not they can be just as healthy as someone who doesn't. The world is obsessed with labelling everything.

Original Post by sunkissedbliss:

Vegetarians, vegans, pescatarians, omnivores, carnivores.. whether a person eats meat/fish/dairy or not they can be just as healthy as someone who doesn't. The world is obsessed with labelling everything.

If people don't want to be labeled, fine.  But if they choose to use the label 'vegetarian' in reference to themselves, shouldn't they actually be one, or at least aspiring in that direction?  

 

Fish are animals and eating them is an active choice, so why lie about it?  There's nothing wrong with the label 'pescetarian' if it fits.  It's not a judgement call, it's just a factual label based on food choices.  

I completely get it if people aren't eating meat out of taste/texture concerns. Fine then eat fish (but not too much see reason below).

What annoys me is when people say they don't like killing animals/industrial production of meat/it is better for the environment and then eat fish.

1. the way fish are killed can not possibly considered humane, just because they don't have fur or feathers, doesn't mean they don't feel surely

2. Fish farming is really really bad for the environment, it involves using fish meal that is caught from the oceans, can lead to bred fish escaping into the environment.

3. Currently the world fish stocks are chronically depleted. Eating fish is completely unsustainable. Especially fish like cod, tuna, etc. If we all wanted to do something good for the environment in our dietry choices, not eating as much fish  would be a good first step. Currently Government is not listening to scientists in allocating fishing quotas, and rather than the drastic cuts required to ensure that fish will continue to be a sustainable food stuff, is allowing the catches to continue. THe oceans are in a deplorable state.

As a friend who is a legal expert in the international environmental law relating to the oceans/marine systems signs off all his emails with,

"Eat dolphin, not tuna. More environmentally friendly, just as much mercury."

Why do "vegetarians" eat fish? I, previously a vegan for 10 years, recently ramped down to vegetarianism, allowing myself to eat fish for health reasons. For the 10 years as a Vegan, I was eating entirely too many carbohydrates. In fact, I developed heart problems and my cholesterol and triglyceride levels went way out of whack. I now have a pacemaker, and take medication for all of my blood and coronary problems. Recently, my cardiologist told me that I need a substantial amount of omega-3 in my diet to help combat my coronary problems. I told him I had started taking omega-3 tablets. He said that wouldn't be enough. I needed more or would have to take a lot of pills. I then found out about flaxseed oil tablets, but my cardiologist informed me that while they had higher omega-3 levels than fishoil tablets, flaxseed oil is assimilated differently, and while it was good, it wasn't as good as the real thing. As a result, I added fish to my diet. Do I like it? No. I became a vegan because I didn't believe in eating anything with a centralized nervous system. That meant meat and fish. But I was nutritionally way on the wrong side with all of the carbs I was consuming, and the lack of protein and omega-3 in my diet caused problems. While I eat fish, I try to limit my consumption, and I continue to take the fishoil and flaxseed oil tablets, and have been ramping up my consumption of tofu and tempeh, which I ate as a vegan, but nowhere near the correct proportions with regards to the carbs. This is the one thing I would warn Vegans about: watch the carbohydrate intake! So, this is why I, as a vegetarian, eat fish.

i'm in the same boat as aasil... i'm comfortable calling myself a pescetarian but around some people, mainly my grandparents they don't understand what i can and can't eat now so its easier just to say vegetarian.

for me i think its a transitional stage.. i havent eaten beef, pork, chicken, turkey etc in over 2 months and maybe eventually i will cut out fish.. i think its hard for alot of people to instantly eliminate all these things from their diet

Along the same lines, how can someone who eats fruits and grains call himself a vegetarian? I just don't get that, at all!!

Along the same lines, how can someone who eats fruits and grains call himself a vegetarian? I just don't get that, at all!!

xD I got a kick out of this.

It's stupid to label yourself based on what you eat; or anything else for that matter. I nearly cut out all red meat (I have it only a few times a year) and when I do eat it - it's 96% lean ground sirloin or extralean bison. I do like fish now though; I just tried some for the first time last night. Needless to say, I'll be eating fish more often and meat less often now.

But I do agree that it's idiotic to think that fish are any different from say...chicken or cows.

I'm a pescaterian, though it is very very rare that I ever eat fish, maybe once a month. I eat it because I don't eat wheat, dairy eggs or meat, therefore don't really have a wide variety of choices! It is the one thing that gives me most protein, and it gives my boyfriend a chance to eat something meat related once in a while when he's pissed with my awkward diet!

 

The reason I stopped eating meat was because of the way I felt about the welfare of animals and the way they are treated, it put me off the taste, texture, smell, anything related to eating meat. But it didn't put me off eating fish, I can't help that! Now I have very strong feelings towards animal rights, I feel disgusted when my friends eat non free-range, organic meat, but yes, I do still eat fish - though only organic fish.

 

I know this makes me a ridiculous hypocrite, but like I said, I can't help that! I'm not going to stop eating fish because people think I'm a hypocrite and being a hypocrite is wrong. I get bored with trying to explain myself and the reasons why I don't eat one thing but I do the other.

As a vegetarian who does not eat any flesh I must admit this is a pet peeve of mine as well.

A label exists for the sake of simplicity. It is a shorter way of saying "I  do not eat meat, flesh, etc."

This is not an argument about the health benefits of fish, or the ethical implications of eating them. It is about how one defines vegetarianism.

Vegetarians do not eat fish. If you eat fish, you are not a vegetarian, you are someone who does not eat red meat and chicken. In the same way that someone who hates vegetables and will only eat one or two types is not a carnivore, a person who eats the flesh of a living, cogniscent, (albeit not particularly intelligent) animal is NOT a vegetarian.

People who do eat fish and use the vegetarian label are making my daily interaction difficult. I can't stand it when people ask me if I eat chicken or fish after I tell them I am a vegetarian. Also, if the label keeps getting muddied I am going to end up sending back the "vegetarian" fish that I get at weddings and on airplanes. 

Tomatoes aren't vegetables -- they're fruits -- but I'd bet most people calling themselves "vegetarians" still eat them....

Other than some randomly argumentative posts, this has been an interesting discussion so far.  I am a pescetarian.  I don't believe fish don't suffer when they die, so it's a little silly to say that all people who eat fish believe a certain way just because they do.

It seems to me we've had an awful lot of posts the last few days questioning why people eat the way they do.  I don't know about the rest of you, but I weary of explaining that to people constantly.  If I went around asking every person who drank soda how on earth they could do such a thing, or if I asked every person who drank coffee how they could justify the caffeine intake and the environmental impact, well, I'd be pretty darn unpopular.  It's ok to be curious, but don't expect people to be happy about explaining their reasons to you.  No one owes anyone else an explanation about why they eat what they eat.

I eat chocolate, so am therefore a chocolatarian. w00t!