VeggieBoards banner

Today I got (so do you eat chicken and fish?)

4K views 60 replies 36 participants last post by  aotto08 
#1 ·
Today I got the famous "So do you eat chicken and fish?"

"No I don't eat animals."

"So you eat fish?"

"No fish are animals."

"Well, not really."

"Yes."

 
See less See more
1
#13 ·
Its even more confusing in spanish. their word for meat - "carne" is also the same word for "beef". So chicken, fish and even pork are not "meat" in their eyes. A "completely vegetarian dish" often has a big peice of chicken on top, or bits of pork or bacon in it. it requires a lot of explaining ;-)
 
#14 ·
similar story:

every 12 years or so my mother's side of the family 'gets together' for random events. my mother has one brother, three half-sisters, and one half-brother. last winter, one of her half-sister's died (breast cancer), and my mom was not able to go to the funeral (long story). Anyway, everyone decided to get together for my grandmother's 75th birthday in seattle.

my mother went to dinner with her brother and her two half sisters. they were at her brother's house. i was not in attendence.

my cousin is not a vegetarian, but calls herself one--though she eats lots of fish and seafood. she was also not at dinner, but people started to talk about it--for whatever reason--and when it was noted that she eats fish, my mother commented that vegetarians do not eat fish, that she would be considered an omnivore or a pescitarian. seeing as my mother knows me and by this knows all of the definitions.

her half sisters started chiding her a bit saying 'of course vegetarians eat fish. a lot of my friends are vegetarian and they eat fish. some of them even eat chicken!" and my mother said, 'then your friends aren't vegetarian either. vegetarians do not eat any meat, and both chicken and fish are meat foods." and then they got huffy.

my mother came back to the hotel and told me that sometimes her sisters are biitches.

anyway, later in the week i was having lunch with my two aunts and two uncles and my husband. it was kinda cool, actually. we went to a restaurant and i asked if there was a vegetarian menu (i didn't get to choose the restaurant). There wasn't, but the chef came out to ask me what i did and did not eat. He had a little list and he asked--do you eat any meat, such as chicken or fish? and of course i said no. And he then asked if i would consume things with broths from these things, and i said no. And then he asked if i had any sensitivities to soy, wheat gluten, or any other foods--vegetables or spices and what not--and i told him no. he asked if i would be ok with a pasta dish or if i would prefer something else. I told him that pasta would be fine, but i have a preference for something else if possible.

He made fresh raviolis (huge ones) that were stuffed with wild mushrooms and herbs in a great cheese/milk sauce and with a ton of sauteed veggies. it was freakin heaven.

and my aunts started to ask me--what do you mean you don't eat fish, you don't eat chicken? and i told them that vegetarians, by definition, do not eat the flesh of any animal. That strict vegetarians, by definition, also do not consume any products from an animal--dairy, eggs, honey. That vegans not only maintain a strict vegetarian diet, but they also do not consume animal products in other aspects of their lives--no leather, wool, fur, silk, etc.

they said that they had never heard of this definition, that it was silly, and that they should know because so many of their friends are vegetarians who eat chicken and fish and because they live in california.

to which i replied, even people in california claiming to be vegetarians can be wrong. and moreover they are. go home, look in a dictionary. Fish is meat; chicken is meat; and vegetarians do not eat any form of meat. Anyone who calls themselves a vegetarian and still eats meat is ignorant, stupid, or posing for popularity.

then they got huffy about it. But i told them--hey, i'm the vegetarian here, so i should know what the term means.
 
#15 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by zoebird View Post

similar story:

every 12 years or so my mother's side of the family 'gets together' for random events. my mother has one brother, three half-sisters, and one half-brother. last winter, one of her half-sister's died (breast cancer), and my mom was not able to go to the funeral (long story). Anyway, everyone decided to get together for my grandmother's 75th birthday in seattle.

my mother went to dinner with her brother and her two half sisters. they were at her brother's house. i was not in attendence.

my cousin is not a vegetarian, but calls herself one--though she eats lots of fish and seafood. she was also not at dinner, but people started to talk about it--for whatever reason--and when it was noted that she eats fish, my mother commented that vegetarians do not eat fish, that she would be considered an omnivore or a pescitarian. seeing as my mother knows me and by this knows all of the definitions.

her half sisters started chiding her a bit saying 'of course vegetarians eat fish. a lot of my friends are vegetarian and they eat fish. some of them even eat chicken!" and my mother said, 'then your friends aren't vegetarian either. vegetarians do not eat any meat, and both chicken and fish are meat foods." and then they got huffy.

my mother came back to the hotel and told me that sometimes her sisters are biitches.

anyway, later in the week i was having lunch with my two aunts and two uncles and my husband. it was kinda cool, actually. we went to a restaurant and i asked if there was a vegetarian menu (i didn't get to choose the restaurant). There wasn't, but the chef came out to ask me what i did and did not eat. He had a little list and he asked--do you eat any meat, such as chicken or fish? and of course i said no. And he then asked if i would consume things with broths from these things, and i said no. And then he asked if i had any sensitivities to soy, wheat gluten, or any other foods--vegetables or spices and what not--and i told him no. he asked if i would be ok with a pasta dish or if i would prefer something else. I told him that pasta would be fine, but i have a preference for something else if possible.

He made fresh raviolis (huge ones) that were stuffed with wild mushrooms and herbs in a great cheese/milk sauce and with a ton of sauteed veggies. it was freakin heaven.

and my aunts started to ask me--what do you mean you don't eat fish, you don't eat chicken? and i told them that vegetarians, by definition, do not eat the flesh of any animal. That strict vegetarians, by definition, also do not consume any products from an animal--dairy, eggs, honey. That vegans not only maintain a strict vegetarian diet, but they also do not consume animal products in other aspects of their lives--no leather, wool, fur, silk, etc.

they said that they had never heard of this definition, that it was silly, and that they should know because so many of their friends are vegetarians who eat chicken and fish and because they live in california.

to which i replied, even people in california claiming to be vegetarians can be wrong. and moreover they are. go home, look in a dictionary. Fish is meat; chicken is meat; and vegetarians do not eat any form of meat. Anyone who calls themselves a vegetarian and still eats meat is ignorant, stupid, or posing for popularity.

then they got huffy about it. But i told them--hey, i'm the vegetarian here, so i should know what the term means.
LOL good story,
 
#16 ·
I get that so often I don't even pay attention. I try to deflect it by avoiding the use of the ambiguous word "meat." If we look at the history of the word, we see how it has become more and more specific over time. A few centuries ago, "meat" was a generic term for food. From the King James translation of the bible, we get the Genesis verse about god giving Adam and Eve every green plant for "meat," and in the vernacular of the day, meat meant food. And we also have things like nutmeats and sweetmeats that are based on that usage. In more recent centuries, meat has come to mean animal flesh. Some newer translations of the bible have changed "meat" to "food" in that verse because of the change in meaning. And in the 20th century, in culinary usage it's become even more specific, meaning the flesh of mammals. It seems to me that as time goes on, this newest usage is becoming more and more widespread, which is why so many people don't understand what you mean if you say you don't eat meat.

(BTW, "corn" has undergone a very similar shift. It's a fairly common linguistic phenomenon.)

So I never say to people, "I don't eat meat," because it's just asking for the inevitable, "Well, do you eat chicken?" Instead, I say, "I don't eat animals." This helps, but of course you still get those noobers who think fish are fungus or something.

It also occurred to me to wonder how culturally hidebound our "scientific" method of categorizing life forms might really be, and how much misunderstanding might arise from cultural differences in the concept of what's an animal. It seems that I once read something about how the Chinese categorize the biological world completely differently than Westerners and their system is based more on lifestyle. I'm dredging this up from an extremely faint memory, so I could be way off, but I want to say it went something like this:

monsters = predators that are dangerous to humans

animals = all other land vertebrates (most mammals, reptiles and amphibians

birds = all flying vertebrates (birds, bats)

fish = all swimming vertebrates (fish, dolphins, whales, penguins)

vermin = all invertebrates (insects, worms, etc)

plants = all things that grow in the soil and don't move.

So you could see how someone using this taxonomy would think of fish and birds as being separate from animals. Of course, that doesn't explain the many Westerners educated in the Linnean system who don't think fish are animals!
 
#17 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by DelicGrape View Post

Today I got the famous "So do you eat chicken and fish?"

"No I don't eat animals."

"So you eat fish?"

"No fish are animals."

"Well, not really."

"Yes."

I went to my local supermarket, asked if they had any VEGAN sandwiches, the store help, is like....Ummm, {silence and blank stares}..."you know, VEGAN, means i dont eat, MEAT, DAIRY, EGGS..ect {silence and blank stares}....store help, is like, ummm, ok, we have cheese, or egg..."no i cant eat that, im VEGAN...i eat plants......"

Ummmm ok...hey, we have Salmon!!!!


WTF???

Sorry, i cant eat that....Salmon, SCREAM, wen you kill them....

Store help, looked at me, then walked of......

Why oh WHY do ppl insist, that Fish arent living, wot cause they cant talk??, cause thier not all "cute and fluffy"

I blame Kurt Cobain....{if you know the line, you'll understand}

Ghost
 
#25 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by VeganArtist View Post

HeeHee. I can't get that song out of my head now.

I know that Krist Novoselic, the bassist for Nirvana, was a vegan. I'm not sure about Kurt though.
no, he wasn't
, and as much as i love Kurt Cobain, it's hard to be a heroin junkie and a vegan or a vegetarian at the same time

but i think he tried and he couldn't do it .... or i could be confusing him with someone else
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top