Pescatarians: Do you call yourself vegetarians?!
Pescatarians: Do you call yourself vegetarians?
Ok.. So I know all the reasoning behind why the hardcore vegetarians claim that Pescatarians "cannot call themselves *real* vegetarians". I have been a lacto-ovo Pescatarian for about a year, but I still call myself a vegetarian because I don't really like to go into detail about the whole thing.
Would you group Pescatarians as a sub-group of vegetarianism? And Pescatarians, do you call yourselves vegetarians to other people?
Answers:
Just relax and call yourself anything you want. Honestly it sounds like you're trying to simplify things for people around you - which is admirable. If it's easier for you, in a social situation, to say "Oh, I'm a vegetarian," go right ahead. Total omnivores can get really confused, really fast, especially if you suggest you might eat "some kind of meat some of the time" and then later they'll invite you to a dinner party where they serve a standing rib roast with no other options because you once told them you eat fish on occasion.
Consider the situation and the people involved and call yourself whatever you feel comfortable calling yourself. You're not choosing an eating lifestyle in order to impress "true vegetarians" or vegans; you're doing it for yourself. You're the only person who can choose your own labels. When you let other people choose them for you it only reflects badly on them and you.
You could always just say the only meat I eat is fish. Sounds pretty simple to me.
The reason why is that fish is dead animal, any flesh from a dead animal is meat even if it does come from the sea or land
But yes pescatarians are a sub-group of vegetanism, as you ban meat of a set kind from your diet, just like pollo-vegetarianism.
It's not about being hardcore or softcore anything, the definition of vegetarian specifically excludes people who eat fish. If you eat fish, you are not a vegetarian, *by definition*.
Just say "the only meat I eat is fish". Please. It's easy, it's simple, you don't have to explain anything beyond that. You might have to explain that you don't eat gelatin or meat broth either, but vegetarians have to do the same thing! Except now we also have to explain we don't eat fish, because of people misusing the word. Please don't do it anymore. :)
And pescatarians cannot be a subset of vegetarians for the same reason - because if you have a group that a defining characteristic is "does not eat fish" you cannot have a subset within that means "does eat fish". They are mutually exclusive. They could both be subsets of meat-restricting diets together, but with their given definitions, they will not intersect.
look at it this way, is a fish a vegetable? No. Its an animal. Vegetarians do not eat animals. Just because it isnt a mammal, does not mean it is not an animal. It angers me that people say fish isn't meat. Its all dead flesh.
In my opinion your not a vegetarian unless you dont eat any meat, its good that you don't eat most meat but fish aren't a veggie "fish are friends not food" lol.
I call myself a Pescetarian when I eat fish with veggies.
I call myself a Vegetarian when I eat meals that are only made from veggies; which makes up 90% of the time.
Vegans can kiss my @$$.
I am not trying to be rude, If I come off that way... I am sorry.
But I don't get it, Fish is meat... fish are animals. Vegetarians don't eat animals... if you don't believe in giving up meat then why call yourself a vegetarian?
I personally don't care for the word "pescatarian", It is just another confusing term made up by meat- eaters so >for some reason< they can call themselves vegetarians.
I agree with Katie G though, her suggestion sounds simple, and not misleading.
as a TRUE vegetarian for 17 years, I agree with some of the other answers.. hardccore meat eaters get confused and try to offer fish or chicken to people like me who tell them we're vegetarian. It's agrivating! Why do they do this? because of people like you who call themselves vegetarian but still eat fish, seafood, or poultry. No offense. As the other answerers said.. simply say "i don't eat any meat except fish." It's simple enough.. by definition you are NOT a vegetarian if you eat ANY kind of flesh or animal product which required the death of the animal. That's why people can still call themselves vegetarian if they eat dairy products or eggs (animal products yes, but not requiring the animal's death to harvest the products. Yes, commercial eggs are unfertilized. They would not have created a baby chicken.) Those of us vegetarians that still eat some dairy and eggs don't go around trying to call ourselves Vegan! Neither should people like you go around trying to call yourselves vegetarians.