Vegetarians, do you eat fish or geletin??

These are two things i've heard vegetarians eat, i'm new to vegetarianism and i don't know what to think!!

Both of those are your own choice, and how strict you want to be. For myself, I don't eat either one, since fish is still meat and geletin is derived from animal connective tissue.

Helloo,

I'm a vegetarian and i don't eat fish and I rarely eat gelatin, but if you want to it's your decision. One of my best friends is a vegetarian and eats both. There's even a name for a vegetarian who eats fish, a pescetarian.

congratulations for becoming a vegetarian and good luck!

 

I have been vegetarian for 4 years and just recently started to eat fish.  For me, I stopped eating meat because of the factory farming that I find so disgusting, so since that doesnt occur with fish I have been eating recently, so many new fish options!  mmm... sushi :)

Original Post by morganbclaw:

I have been vegetarian for 4 years and just recently started to eat fish.  For me, I stopped eating meat because of the factory farming that I find so disgusting, so since that doesnt occur with fish I have been eating recently, so many new fish options!  mmm... sushi :)

 Hate to break it to you, but actually many fish are in fact, farm raised.  Unless you're only eating wild-caught fish, in which case you're adding to the over-fishing problem.  The label will usually say which fish you're eating, but farm raised can be a lot worse than wild-caught.

Thanks everyone i was thinking of maby just eating salmon, and i think i will find it hard not to eat geletin so i will just cut down on it, i'll probs end up not eating it atall in a few years time!!

Original Post by fluffydragon:

Original Post by morganbclaw:

I have been vegetarian for 4 years and just recently started to eat fish.  For me, I stopped eating meat because of the factory farming that I find so disgusting, so since that doesnt occur with fish I have been eating recently, so many new fish options!  mmm... sushi :)

 Hate to break it to you, but actually many fish are in fact, farm raised.  Unless you're only eating wild-caught fish, in which case you're adding to the over-fishing problem.  The label will usually say which fish you're eating, but farm raised can be a lot worse than wild-caught.

if you are looking into your fish choices then you can find wild caught fish that are fished responsibly. there are several method that do not harm the environment or the balance of it's ecosystem.

for example. trolled and line-caught fish are caught on a boat with line and hook like fishers would do many centuries ago.

there are also trap caught shell fish which are also a very environmentally sound option.

i recommend eating wild Alaskan because the fish caught there is also lowest in pollutants.

I don't condem anyone for being a vegetarian, or vegan or pescatarian.  I worked as a deck hand on a commercial fishing boat off the Oregon coast many years ago.  We were "long- lining", meaning that several hundred feet of line were set out with hundreds of hooks that were baited with squid.  We were fishing for Ling Cod, and other native Oregon fish.  On occasion, we would catch something called a "skate".  Skates resemble a manta ray or other winged sea creature.  I had never seen one before (I was a novice at the time).  When we brought a skate up on deck, the captain of the boat came down from the flying bridge and cut the "wings" off the skate, and threw the remains back into the ocean still alive!  Here, this creature is defenseless.  The logic from the Captain was that it would become Crab bait, hopefully increasing our crab yeild when we came back to harvest from the crab pots.  If that isn't cruel, then I don't know what is.  If you ever see something labeled "mock" scallops, be aware where that came from.  Little circles of flesh were punched out of the wings resembling scallops, and in many cases were sold as real scallops to the unsuspecting consumer. 

If there is one thing I can't STAND and I will never be its a preachy vegetarian/vegan.

I'm a pescetarian but to me, pescetarians aren't exactly vegetarians.

Original Post by morganbclaw:

If there is one thing I can't STAND and I will never be its a preachy vegetarian/vegan.

morganbclaw, it seems to me that you are attacking the aforementioned statement. I don't think mommakitty is being preachy; in fact, I can't even tell if mommakitty is any type of vegetarian. She is simply stating facts -- sharing her experience -- to correct some of the mistaken logic that people are following with regard to fishing methods and "moral" choices. People should not, after all, defend ideas or make "moral" choices based upon erred information or ignorance. I believe she is simply trying to help our fellow commentators to not be dupped; her tone seems to be nonjudgmental. They can do with that information what they will. Maybe, such fishing strategies or marketing deceptions don't bother them.

Ironically, however, your very statement makes you a preachy person because it implies so many strong, negative opinions. If you really didn't have an agenda, you wouldn't post such a comment.

To stephannalee: Personally, I don't consider anyone who eats seafood or gelatin to be a vegetarian (both derive from flesh and bone), and I know plenty of purist vegetarians who may take offense to someone who claims to be a veggie but still eats both of those things. But, you don't need to live by a label; if you want to eat them and be otherwise veggie, do so. Every step has its own benefits, and its the attempt for purity -- not the purity itself -- that really matters.

 

 

sounds like someone cant take the facts...

 

As far as the whole thing goes, I agree with what kcm303 said, they are both animal products. I am a vegan, and I am not Personally OFFENDED if people call themselves vegetarians eating these things, the only problem for me is that it becomes difficult for people to understand the needs of erm actual 'vegetarians' and they will give them things with all kind of crap in it...

K as i was origionaly gonna become vegan i won't eat geletin or fish!!

Could someone please explain to me why someone might be offended at another who calls him(her)self a vegetarian and eats fish and/or gelatin?  This type of thing occurs every day in many different ways.  For instance, Christians who call themselves such and proceed to curse, lie and steal in what they think to be benign ways.  Although I find the behaviour offensive (as well as the person), I don't personally take offense. 

Ive been a vegetarian my entire life but no one's food choices offend me personally although I might find the food itself offensive.  What is the point of being so militant as to get angry at another's perceived hypocricy or ignorance?   

Mytoy, I think for some people that take the 'label' and lifestyle very seriously, it can be frustrating to have mixed messages in the public.

For example, in the 'vegetarian' station at my work there are often seafood dishes- which convey to everyone that seafood is vegetarian. I am vegan, and I know the other vegetarians I work with also do not eat fish...however to the non-vegetarians at my work, a lot of them now think that vegetarians eat fish.

I don't get offended, and I do not push my beliefs on others...but I've seen this same discussion so many times in this forum and it seems people get upset about the definition of vegetarianism being clouded and have a hard time with the 'gray area' of what is acceptible.

Thanks, brighteyes82, your response and example cleared things up.  I can see how this might be frustrating.  I'm somewhere between vegan & vegetarian and buffets do mess me up.  Eggs, seafood, etc. - everything must be clearly labled thus I don't go out to eat very often.  Even seemingly vegetarian soups like broccoli cheese, black bean soup or pasta dishes can have a chicken/beef broth base.   Thanks again!

I am vegetarian and i don't eat either.

If you eat fish isn't that a pescetarian ?

I'm sure i can recall researching this for my friend who does eat fish but nothing else

 

:)

if you played "baseball" by the rules of basketball, with a large rubber orange ball, nets, and a court, instead of a bat, a small white hard ball, and a 4-diamond field, would you still consider it baseball?

i'm not preachy about people eating fish or gelatin, but why call yourself vegetarian, when you still eat products containing dead animals? as i counsel people: say you PRIMARILY eat vegetarian, but are still a bit of an OMNIVORE.

if you can be summed up by michael pollen's quote from the 'omnivore's dilemna': "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." then you ARE AN OMNIVORE.

this is pretty simple, no judgments, just facts.

What is geletin actually made out of?, coz i'd give it up if i knew!!!

k don't worry i just looked it up, and its cruel!! and quite discusting!!!

I think that fish is disgusting and it is still very much meat. I used to eat gelatin but now I've cut it out too. I plan on going vegan one day so starting to cut out animal byproducts will help. If you eat fish you are not a vegetarian plain and simple. Is fish a vegetable? No. Call yourself a pescotarian and you won't piss people off. I don't care what other people eat or do, but using the correct label is the right thing to do.