Can vegetarians eat shrimp?!


Question: Can vegetarians eat shrimp? Or is that like, still considered meat? And do they have pain receptors, like can they feel pain? And how are shrimp killed for food?


Answers: Can vegetarians eat shrimp? Or is that like, still considered meat? And do they have pain receptors, like can they feel pain? And how are shrimp killed for food?

As a self proclaimed vegetarian for the past 15 years I personally consider shrimp/prawns and all other "seafood" to be meat. Please refer to Websters who allows both definitions.

As the son of a BC coast (Canada) Prawn Fisherman and having been raised with the whole family fishing together year round I can experientially answer your questions on the shrimp harvesting and handling. However I never did learn if they had feelings. In my experience I would think of them the same as bugs.

First on shrimp and prawns. Both are crustaceans. Both live in similar environments though often at slightly differing depths (as little as 1mtr variances) As far as most of us are concerned the only noticeable difference is the size, shrimp as the name implies are smaller.

In North America, unless you are lucky enough to live in a small coastal town that fishermen work directly out of we actually mostly eat crusteaceans caught in Asia, Africa and various other areas that labour is cheaper. These crustaceans are almost exclusively caught with the Drag-net method though in some cases farmed.

There are three common methods for harvesting crustaceans, Trapping, Drag-netting, and Farming.

I was raised with the trapping method in which a long line is strung along the ocean floor with trap pods strung along it. An oily bait (preferably haring) is used to lure the crustaceans into the traps. Other fish and shellfish often get trapped as well. after a day the traps are pulled out of the watter and emptied. Any non crustaceans are thrown back. We were producing a high quality product for sale in Japan and so the prawns were sorted for size immediately and stacked in neat rows in a box while still kicking and then instantly frozen in a blast freezer to stop death decay as soon as possible. If the crustaceans are of a smaller size they are sometimes beheaded prior to freezing in which case a person has to carefuly pinch and twist their head off while it is still alive. Alternatively the crustaceans caught in traps can be kept in live tanks like aquarium fish at this point. You may have seen in your grocery store. Both of these methods produce a very high quality product.

Drag-Netting is a method of fishing wherby a massive net is towed behind a boat with the bottom weighted down onto the bottom of the sea bed and dragged along scooping up everything. Crustaceans ar bottom feeders and so are scooped up. This is the only netting method that works with crustaceans as they live on the bottom. Drag netting has been touted by many as an evil method of fishing as it is reputed to totally destroy the ocean floor. Sadly as I have said most of the shrimp and prawns we eat are harvested this way. It also in my biased opinion produces a lesser quality product as the crustaceans are crushed along with everything else dragged off of the sea bed. Crustaceans caught this way are almost always beheaded and often cooked and pealed prior to sale otherwise the damage would be too obvious. This is especially so with the smaller variety's like shrimp.

Farming is a newer method of producing crustaceans and was only really coming into the picture when my father retired 15 years ago. As with other sea life that is farmed their are side effects and considerations that need to be looked at. I would surmise that it produces a higher quality product than the drag netting though not as good as the wiled caught.

Pescetarians can.

It's not meat, but they are a living thing. NO! Vegetarians don't eat anything that has at some point been swimming or walking around.

No they can't eat shrimp because it's animal flesh. Yes, they feel pain (though clams, oysters and scallops don't) and they have their heads chopped off.

Pretty much everything has pain receptors or feelings in one way or another you wouldn't truly be a vegetarian though you would be pescatarian because sea-food still is meat. Shrimp are usually killed by being caught on hooks and boiled or in loads of it in ships and then frozen or boiled as well.

only the fresh and juicy expensive ones, the cheaper ones for the meat eater.

My vote is no. The word vegetarian comes from the word vegetation meaning plants. So stick to the flora instead of the fauna.

Shrimps are in the fauna family not the flora.

No. Vegetarians eat vegetables, fruit, and anything that was basically not a living animal. Yes. Shrimp can feel pain. Shrimp are basically just like any other fish.

No, they can't if you decide to be a pescetarian then you can. Most do not consider these people vegetarians though.

no that's meat

Yes, some vegetarians eat shrimp - it's classified as pesce vegetarian.

Lacto - drinks dairy, eats cheese

Ovo - eats egg products

Pesce - seafood, fish

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From the Vegetarian Society UK & VegetarianEgypt.com websites:

Types of Vegetarian
Lacto-ovo-vegetarian. Eats both dairy products and eggs. This is the most common type of vegetarian diet.

Lacto-vegetarian. Eats dairy products but not eggs.

Vegan. Does not eat dairy products, eggs, or any other animal product.
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:)

Happy New Year!

Shrimp are animals and vegetarians don't eat dead animals.

Here is the definition of vegetarian by the people who coined the word: http://www.vegsoc.org/info/definitions.h...

No they cannot. Shrimp yum. Lol. Only pescetarians can. Yes shrimp is still considered meat because shrimp is in fact an animal.

The dictionary definition of a vegetarian is someone who doesn't eat animals or any byproduct of the death of animals.

Some people ignore the dictionary, call themselves vegetarian and eat fish, chicken, beef, pork or whatever.

It's kind of like if a rock musician plays something and calls it "jazz" but jazz musicians say "that's not jazz by a long shot."

You must be in middle school or something lol.

Shrimp is FLESH.

No... you're not vegetarian if you consume flesh... Seriously.
And yes they do feel pain.

Go read up on it.

vegetarians can eat shrimp because shrimp is actually seafood not meat because it comes from the sea. some vegetarians have pain receptors but you would probably know of it. shrimp are killed for food by just fishing for them and then sold to supermarkets to be left in water or in the open air to die.





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