is fish meat?

Post Reply New Topic

is fish meat? i've heard people say that only land animals are meat, not fish.

It is.

If you wanted to have a vegetarian or vegan diet, you would not eat fish.

In western cultures, no. Many people refuse to eat land meat products but will happily eat fish.

In the east however, fish is often considered meat. Most vegetarians in Asia will not eat fish in addition to meat.

Depends on where you are as well as what your own personal view is. In my view it's animal flesh but not "meat" in the same way as land animals are.

I don't understand how it wouldn't be considered meat

No, but Chicken of the Sea is chicken, according to Jessica Simpson.

yes.

insects are also meat, as are octopuses and earthworms (if you're so inclined)

any food item composed of flesh from a member of the kindgom animalia is "meat".

the question IS...what is kelp? it's neither a plant, nor an animal...nor a fungus...

Of course fish is meat, just meat from fish as opposed to mammals.

Where I come from the Catholics do not consider fish meat when they avoid eating meat on Fridays during Lent. I think that's because seafood is really good & popular in Louisiana & they want to be able to tell themselves they didn't eat meat while not actually missing out on good food. I consider fish meat thou but I don't observe the no meat rule sense I'm a Secular Humanist.

seems like meat from the amniote "higher" vertebrates (birds, mammals, reptiles) is considered "true meat" in some religious sects whereas anamniote flesh (fish, amphibian) isn't.

typically. when it came to my own family, only the red meats were thrown out during lent, chicken was perfectly fine. i know dairy products aren't usually excluded for lent purposes.

of course, you don't see as many people eating reptiles or amphibians, as all the others. wonder why that is.


(is it really just disease??)

It's the flesh of an animal, therefore it's meat. That's how I see it.

In Jewish dietary law, fish (according to certain criteria) is excluded from the "meat" category, therefore it can be eaten in combination with dairy products e.g. the ever-popular Bagels, Lox, and Cream Cheese. Christianity borrowed a lot if its ideas from Judaism, so it's no surprise that fish is permitted on a meatless Friday.

The "certain criteria" I am referring to have to do with specific criteria to determine what can and cannot be accepted as a fish. In general, a fish has to have fins, scales, etc. meaning it has to conform to most peoples' notion of what qualifies as a "fish" rather than the broader category of "seafood" e.g. oysters, crayfish, and other delicacies that are popular in Louisiana. Sorry I don't know if or how this distinction is applied by Roman Catholics in Louisiana.

I was going to cite the Catholic thing, but someone beat me to it. (That practice exists outside of Louisiana though.)

I consider fish meat. I've been a vegetarian for most of my life and I did not eat fish. My husband and children are vegetarians and don't eat fish. My husband and daughter take fish oil supplements and still consider themselves vegetarians.

(I regularly have debates with my ASD son about omega fatty acids...and how he will get them. Ultimately, I respect his decision to not eat something that results in the death of an animal.)

Walnuts, squash, cauliflower, mango and honeydew melon are all good dietary sources of Omega 3 fatty acids. By and large notions about vegetarian and vegan malnutrition are based in ignorance and received wisdom rather than any kind of actual fact.

Obviously its meat. Its animal flesh so its meat.

What else would it be?

It aint veggies. It aint fruit. It aint nuts. It aint starch/pasta/tubers/dough nor spuds.

people who say fish isn't meat would say it is animal flesh, but not meat, like how atheism is a belief, but not a religion. they would define "meat" as being the flesh of land animals.

I have pet fish, so I really don't eat it! Kinda how a dog lover must look at China.

I actually did eat some fish sticks last year; I was at the home of a friend's family (they're not too well off) and they were served to me as dinner, and I didn't want to make a fuss about it. I think it had been at least 6 or 7 years before that that I accidentally ate breaded fish at a buffet, thinking it was chicken.

Anyway, I remember reading before (don't know how accurate this is) that the giving up of meat for Lent didn't include fish because fish were considered something you could catch, not unlike picking berries, whereas raised/farmed animals were a more expensive food, so that would be like giving up something more luxurious. Capybaras are considered okay to eat on Lent Fridays, I think because they have webbed toes and live in water part of the time.