When Did Fish Become a Vegetable?
Opinion
Over the years, restaurant servers have suggested fish when I told them I’m vegetarian, and many vegetarians have told me they eat fish. Are these people genuinely confused? Do they not see the fish as animals because they look so much different from cows, chickens and pigs? Or do they want the “vegetarian” label without having to give up fish? Whatever their reasons, can we all agree that fish aren’t vegetables?
Unlike vegetables, fish are sentient — able to feel things. When caught on a sharp hook that pierces their faces, they experience pain. When dragged out of their home in nets or by hooks, they suffocate — just as we would if someone held our heads underwater. Why would we inflict that kind of pain on someone? For sport? For a plate of food? Is it really worth it?
While hunting evokes a negative response among many people, fishing does not. In fact, many view it as a wholesome family activity. But it is far from wholesome. Fishing is a blood sport; it is hunting in the water. So, if you oppose hunting, then shouldn’t you oppose fishing and consuming fish? If you’re not convinced that fishing is inhumane, please read more.
The idiocy in this post and comments are quite astonishing. Firstly, fish do not have the developed brain functions to feel pain such as mammals do. Secondly, their brain structures are vastly different than any other mammal, they are also proven to not even being self-consious. Plants are also living, breathing, eating specimens. I am in no way suggesting that fish are vegetables but I am however appauled by your lack of research . Fish are not sentient beings, assuming you even know the definition of which. Yes technically people who eat fish are not vegetarians but pesco-vegetarians.
Its an oxymoron, eating fish is eating meat, its eating sentient beings.
When Ron Swanson said so.
I always compared it to someone jumping on a trampoline and calling themselves an astronaut. Just not quite there…..
I also think people who eat cheese and eggs should not be called vegetarians. Those things come from the bodies of animals, bred into existence to be exploited and killed by humans.
What you’re thinking of is a vegan. Vegans do not eat any animal biproducts. Vegetarians just don’t eat the flesh (or something that requires death of the animal to be made like gelatin) of another being. All in all though, who really cares? Each person can eat whatever diet they want, it doesn’t have to be labeled unless they want it too.
They should probably call themselves pescetarians, defined as: “one whose diet includes fish but no other meat”
I call myself ovo-lacto-pesco vegetarian, as I include eggs, cheese and seafood in my diet, but no (land) animal meat
Why do you feel the need to use “vegetarian”? Why not just say you don’t eat land animals (giving yourself one descriptor instead of four)? This seems to be the very issue the article is addressing.
If you have to qualify a one-word label with three extra words, maybe find a different label.
When I first became a vegetarian, I did still eat fish. But then I realized that fish are not vegetables, they are animals, and I was conveniently ignoring that fact. Conclusion, if it has a face, and two parents, and swims around, it’s not a vegetable. Now when I hear people say that they’re vegetarians, but they eat fish, and also chicken, I ask them what they mean. A chicken is an animal, so is a fish. If you eat them, that’s your choice, but you’re not a vegetarian. Vegetarians do not eat meat.
I have heard this too…people saying they are vegetarians and yet they eat chicken and fish. I don’t know why they want to label themselves as vegetarian. What they need to say is that they abstain from red meat. It’s ridiculous that they consider themselves vegetarians!
It’s a great question. I actually used to think that you were a vegetarian even if you ate fish because almost every vegetarian I knew ate fish. They also seem to get pissed if you tell them they’re not a vegetarian if they eat fish since fish isn’t a vegetable. LOL! At least they are eliminating meat, but I don’t think they should call themselves vegetarians. I’ll point them to this article, thanks Donny!