Why do these people call themselves vegetarians?

Question

People who eat fish, or occasionally chicken. Am I the only one who gets annoyed when I hear "I'm a vegetarian/vegan, but..." type statements?

Vegetarians don't eat flesh foods. Period.

Vegans don't eat/use animal products. Period.

Why must people claim they're something they clearly are not?

Answer 1

The other day a girl claimed she eats chicken broth and still claims to be a vegetarian.  I completely get what your saying.

Vegetarianism is like pregnancy.  You can't be a little pregnant.  You are either pregnant or not pregnant.  You are either a vegetarian or a non-vegetarian.

I think most people who claim to be v/v but really aren't are kids.  Kids can get confused, but adults have no excuse:)

Answer 2

Don't know, lol.  It is really funny, though, because I tried the whole Vegan thing for a summer, and when some people find out that I used to be a Vegan, they asked me if I ate eggs...  I don't understand what some people don't understand about not consuming animal products or by-products.  I still don't even eat jello, lol.

Answer 3

Haha. My boyfriend's mom always puts me threw the same series of questions whenever she's going to make dinner. I've known her for two years, and it's always the same. "Well Haley, do ya eat chicken? How about fish? Turkey? Well that's not meat! Oh.. it is? Oh. Well. Do ya eat crab??? Den what da h**l do ya eat?!"

NOOOO ANIMALLLLLLLLSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!... I just want to push her. haha.

Answer 4

Why are you getting so mad? ANY cut down on meat consumption is good. Also, some people have no choice but to be a partial vegetarian. Several parents don't want their kids to be full vegetarians, but will let their kids go part of the way, so please, give those kids a break.

Answer 5

I suppose because they don't consume the norm amount for someone who is a meat-eater. I know it may bother you, but people do realize the difference, we just don't care.

Answer 6

They never bothered researching what "vegetarian" means.

They want to sound cool.

Answer 7

definately, dietry choices are not just black and white anymore.  people are alergic to certain things, they don't like to eat others and some people have a very varied or unique diet and I don't believe that there's anything wrong with that.  Personally I think we should pay attention to what ourselves are eating rather than focussing so much of our attention onto what other people are eating or not eating because at the end of the day people have a choice what they eat wether they are vegitarian/vegan or not and other people should not be any of our buisness.

There is a problem however with people that claim animal rights interests and that they are vegitarian yet eat meat products, it's never right to say one thing and do another - that's a bit warped.  

Answer 8

Actually it REALLY frosts my cookies to hear this.  Especially because MOST people (where I'm from) think thats what Vegetarian is!  I love it when I turn down a burger and they ask why so i say "i'm vegetarian" then they say " WELL at LEAST you can have fish huh??"  WTF!  So I nicely after the 100th time say "no"  and they get all bent out of shape because fish isnt really an animal to them. ???????? and I "must not be getting any protien" lol..

Answer 9

I know right! I AM a vegetarian [no meat whatsoever] and I hate it when people say I'm a veggie but I eat some meat! That means your not a vegetarian doofus!

Answer 10

It must make them feel superior to call themselves vegetarians.

Answer 11

I think that many of them really do think they are because they were told so.  There is A LOT of misinformation online as well so people also believe what they read.    However..common sense should tell them that vegetarians do not eat animals...I knew that when I was 7 years old.

Answer 12

There are different types of vegetarians.

The one your talking about, the one who eats fish, is a pesco-vegetarian.  When some one chooses to not eat any meat it can have a big effect on their health if they don't take vitamins or eat any protien, so a lot of people choose to eat only fish...

Though i do understand.  I am a vegetarian and my friends will try to be "vegetarians" too, but they eat everything but red meat.  I find it incredibly annoying also. They don't want to make the sacrifice, they just want the title.

Answer 13

Omg you are so right. My friend eats fish sot hat makes her a pescatarian!!  She also like chicken but doesnt eat it cause tis easier to call herself a veggie!! Whats the point at all? If you like chicken, why not eat it? It annoys me alot tbh.  

Answer 14

It annoys me as well. Something like "I don't eat read meat/chicken" would suit them better. And it's even worse when I say I'm vegetarian and some people seem to take for granted that I still eat chicken (which I never even liked, by the way) and, of course, fish. It's amazing how, for most people, fish (especially tuna) seems to be vegetable matter ...

Answer 15

There's quite a few TYPES of vegetarians now. Pescatarians are people who eat seafood but no other meat.

Sure, they might not be considered to be a full out vegetarian, but by even not comsuming chicken, pork, or beef, they ARE helping.

I think that for the most part, most people say things like that to impress, because it's a trend. Trend or not, even if they are cutting down on meat consumption, it helps.

I eat seafood occasionally, and turkey on Christmas and Thanksgiving.  I don't do it for any trend, I do it because I don't want to support the meat industry and because it's better for your health. I think for a 13 year old, I'm doing enough to help out. (:

I don't think that everyone should be vegetarians and vegans, but I also dont think everybody needs to eat meat everday.

Answer 16

I am treating this as an honest, rather than rhetorical question. This will not be a diatribe against people who use the moniker but have a different definition than I do. (So if you're venting, you can skip my answer!)

Why do you call yourself a vegetarian? I do it because it's the easiest way to make sure I don't get meat or meat products that I don't want to eat served to me. I'd imagine that it's the same for them.

It's strange, but the word "vegetarian" seems to indicate less a way of eating and more an ethical standard, even for people who eat meat for reasons that have nothing to do with not wanting to take the lives of animals (myself included). You just need to look on this forum to see evidence of it... even though Vegetarian/Vegan is classified under the "Food" category, a huge percentage of the discussions are about ethical decisions and issues. With all of the other food category forums, the conversations focus on the food, rather than the issues surrounding it. (In short, these conversations often read like something from the Philosophy page.) So why am I mentioning this?

I suppose that people who forgo some kinds of meats and not others (semi-vegetarians, pescetarians, pesco-pollo vegetarians) have more questions to deal with than total vegetarians and/or vegans. When a religious objection is not evident (as it generally is assumed for pork), people sometimes assume that the reason is not ethical: it's a taste preference, health concerns, fear over mad cow, etc... Where a vegetarian will say, "I'm a vegetarian" and might need to hear the fish/chicken question, someone who eats some meats and not others might get, "Is broth okay? What about sauce? Are you sure? It's really good/lean/well-cooked..."

If a person doesn't eat beef or pork because they believe it is immoral to take the life of a mammal, then they will probably call themselves vegetarians (qualified) because they don't want ANY meat to get into them. Of course, they could say "pescetarian" or "pesco-pollo vegetarian" or "semi-vegetarian" but then they'd probably need to explain themselves. A lot more efficient and probably understandable to say, "Except for fish, I'm a vegetarian."

Lastly, for those who make exceptions, it is usually not an everyday thing. Rather than try to give reasons for avoiding meat one day, saying, "I'm a vegetarian" is far easier. People tend to get offended if you start discussing your specifications for when it is and is not okay to consume animal foods. (For example, if you object to fish farming but don't mind wild-caught, it's easier to just say, "I don't eat fish" when someone offers you some that you're not comfortable consuming.)

Additionally, you are wrong to state that there aren't "types" of vegetarianism. While from a dictionary standpoint, you might be correct, in usage there certainly are. This happens with words all the time. Vegan, vegetarian, semi-vegetarian, ovo-vegetarian, lacto-vegetarian, ovo-lacto vegetarian... the list goes on. While you might find these to be oxymorons (they are), from a functional standpoint, they serve their purpose very well. It might be annoying (like using "momentarily" to mean "in a moment" rather than "for a moment"), but they have been used in that manner long enough that they now are widely accepted.

So, short answer:

1- They want to indicate that they are serious about not getting ANY red meat or red meat products. (So it's not a preference, it's an absolute.)

2- They want to indicate that it is an ethical decision.

3- They want to avoid needing to answer a lot of questions.

4- They're trying to avoid confrontation.

Fun facts that make the world more interesting:

In some countries, fish is considered a vegetarian mainstay.

There are people who will dispute that chicken and fish are meat. From a culinary standpoint, they're absolutely correct. Fish is seafood and chicken is poultry. Nutritionally and biologically they would be categorized as the same.