Today I read an article on BBC, The rise of the non-veggie vegetarian and it really struck a cord with me. I’m a vegetarian. To be extremely specific, I’m a lacto-ovo vegetarian. I don’t eat meat but I will consume dairy and egg products. I love cheese and eggs and see no need to give them up. It was a process over many years for me to become a vegetarian and I did it for personal health reasons.
The article points out the misuse of vegetarian by people who consume fish and/or seafood. Those people are pescetarian, not vegetarian. Unfortunately it’s become very common for people to say things like, “I’m a vegetarian. Oh yes, I eat fish.” Which is extremely frustrating. For about 6 months I would occasionally eat shrimp, lobster or fish. Never during that time did I claim I was vegetarian, because it was not true. I gave up all meat over a year ago and feel comfortable saying I’m a vegetarian.
The very common misuse of the term vegetarian has made my personal life slightly frustrating. When I tell people I’m a vegetarian, I’m often asked “But you eat fish, right?” This gets old fast. It doesn’t take me long to correct them to the fact that I don’t eat any meat, but why is the assumption that I would eat meat? I used the term vegetarian!
I really wish people who eat some meat would stop misusing the term vegetarian. I couldn’t care less that they eat meat, I just don’t like the assumption that I do.
I’m a very rare pescatarian (like maybe 2-3x a year) but I have always refer to myself as vegetarian because explaining pescatarian to already closed-minded people (as is my experience) would come off as extremely high-maintenance around here; being vegetarian here is weird enough. I can see why that could be frustrating to others, but it’s part of my identity so it’s not something I’m going to change.
Doing something is always better than nothing. I’ve had people tell me that they just don’t eat red meat. To me, that’s kinda like “well whoop-dee-doo”, but when I think about it, they’re just trying to identify with me. I don’t feel the need to correct them when they’re on the right track toward vegetarianism or veganism.
I guess I see why being asked about fish gets old, and if a true vegetarian wants to call me out at a restaurant or in a social situation, that’s fine (this happened to me in France). But it seems to me that it’s better to take the opportunity to educate true meat-eaters on the definition than split hairs with someone who already “gets it”.
Interesting article though!
I’d never thought about it from the ‘other’ side 😉 I guess if I ate fish/seafood that rarely, I might refer to myself as a vegetarian for simplicity. Since the fish/seafood would probably be quite planned.
And I’d never call anyone out on this. I so sorry to hear that happened to you. My sister was a militant vegetarian for a while and it drove me mad. Being vegetarian was a personal choice for me. My husband still eats meat and I have no problem with that.