Pescetarians?

snowflake954

glevinso wrote: »

Fish is meat. Sorry but no "conference of bippitiboops" or whatever is going to take away the fact that it used to be a part of an animal. It was a fish muscle. Just like a slab of beef.

Actually in Italy it's not. Fish is not considered meat here. In Latin meat is "carnis" which means mammals and birds only. In english meat is any animal flesh. I had this explained to me in a "Lenten Thread" on MFP. If you go to a restaurant in Italy, the meat and fish menus are always separate. Makes sense since in Italian meat is "carne" out of the Latin, and fish is "pesce" hence pescatarians. Therefore to many people, fish is not meat--for cultural reasons.

jeccawest91

snowflake954 wrote: »

glevinso wrote: »

Fish is meat. Sorry but no "conference of bippitiboops" or whatever is going to take away the fact that it used to be a part of an animal. It was a fish muscle. Just like a slab of beef.

Actually in Italy it's not. Fish is not considered meat here. In Latin meat is "carnis" which means mammals and birds only. In english meat is any animal flesh. I had this explained to me in a "Lenten Thread" on MFP. If you go to a restaurant in Italy, the meat and fish menus are always separate. Makes sense since in Italian meat is "carne" out of the Latin, and fish is "pesce" hence pescatarians. Therefore to many people, fish is not meat--for cultural reasons.

We also have seperate menus from meat and fish in most restaurants here anyways.

glevinso

I really don't care what people do or do not eat. However words have meanings, otherwise there is no point to language. We might as well just all grunt at each other. I simply take issue with using a religious definition of "meat" especially when it is used to smooth over someone's ethical issues with eating an animal.

(I have no ethical issues eating animals, I am simply stating this for those that do)

snowflake954

glevinso wrote: »

I really don't care what people do or do not eat. However words have meanings, otherwise there is no point to language. We might as well just all grunt at each other. I simply take issue with using a religious definition of "meat" especially when it is used to smooth over someone's ethical issues with eating an animal.

(I have no ethical issues eating animals, I am simply stating this for those that do)

But you see Italy is a catholic country for milleniun, and seeing as Italian comes out of Latin, this explains the "religious" definition of meat and fish. And that is why these beliefs and customs still exist. It may bother you, but it has a logical explanation. There are many languages in the world, with words that have many meanings. I find it wonderful myself. I am not doing this to argue with you, but when this was explained to me, it all made sense and perhaps someone else will find it interesting. By the way--I like your posts.

mantium999

jeccawest91 wrote: »

Again, your reply has nothing to do with my topic. I'm only cutting out red meat and birds. I'm still going to have dairy products and eggs in my diet. So unless you are following a pesceaarian diet and have some pointers or want to talk about life following this diet, then great, stay and let's talk. I didn't create this board to let people try to convince me to change a lifestyle choice that i have chosen. If i decode to switch political parties or a religion are you going to try and convince me otherwise as well? I'm just finding what every one has done to my topic very rude and inconsiderate.

Actually, the post by jddnw has everything to do with your topic. You said cutting foods because of saturated fats and cholesterol. That link is related to your comment. Learning how to educate oneself is a good tool to have.

LadyFencer

My American Heritage dictionary defines meat as "the edible flesh of animals as distinguished from fish or poultry." The third definition includes fruit, eggs, and nuts. You've probably heard of nut meat. I believe that older definitions include all non-liquid foods. That would include references to "meat and drink" in the Bible. I just read in the recent Blue Zones book that Seventh Day Adventist studies show pesco-vegetarians live the longest. (Adventists get studied a lot because they're mostly vegetarians or vegans and abstain from alcohol.)

lemurcat12

jeccawest91 wrote: »

OK first off i did not say vegetarian. Being a pescatarian means not eating land animals. Mainly because of the both saturated fats and cholesterol. This was not supposed to be a debate on becoming a vegetarian. I'm choosing to opt out of red meat and birds from my diet. Again i never said anything about becoming a vegetarian.

No, you absolutely didn't. Your post was perfectly clear. It's the later poster who we are disagreeing with.

I haven't said a thing against what you are doing either. People make their own health and ethical choices on this.

lemurcat12

snowflake954 wrote: »

glevinso wrote: »

Fish is meat. Sorry but no "conference of bippitiboops" or whatever is going to take away the fact that it used to be a part of an animal. It was a fish muscle. Just like a slab of beef.

Actually in Italy it's not. Fish is not considered meat here. In Latin meat is "carnis" which means mammals and birds only. In english meat is any animal flesh. I had this explained to me in a "Lenten Thread" on MFP. If you go to a restaurant in Italy, the meat and fish menus are always separate. Makes sense since in Italian meat is "carne" out of the Latin, and fish is "pesce" hence pescatarians. Therefore to many people, fish is not meat--for cultural reasons.

It's a language issue. Italians obviously have no say over what an English word means, and the English word "meat" is not limited to land animals. There is no way "meat" culturally does not include fish (let alone chicken). I'm Catholic and the Friday Lenten restrictions don't apply to fish, but that doesn't mean fish aren't animals and thus included in the English word.

That's why it's nice that we have a perfectly good term like pescatarian and people who eat fish shouldn't claim to be vegetarian.

LadyFencer

Ok- actual tip: If you like sardines at all, mash up a can with a little mustard and green onion. Eat on crackers or toast. Yum.