#pescatarians

[thatpollguy]

Are you vegan?

@about-that-teenie-girl I've done this one before, but don't worry, as it ended a while back, I am more than happy to do it again! If you want to see the results from the previous one, here is the link:

Post by @thatpollguy · 1 poll

💬 0  🔁 4  ❤️ 1 · Are you vegan?

And here's the new poll:

Are you vegan?

Yes

No, but I used to be vegan

No, but I want to be vegan

No, but I am vegetarian/pescatarian

No, and I have no interest in giving up meat

Voting ended onNov 17, 2025

[jackielikestea]

Hey can y’all help me out?

So I’ve been debating over a year now on whether or not I should go vegetarian. I don’t eat cows already (I don’t like the texture of ground beef) and we’ll the main reason why I’ve been considering is I had a roommate that was a vegetarian and I realized while living with her that with the exception of chicken and fish I don’t eat any other meat. It was also brought to my attention that its more environmentally friendly to be vegetarian, which it a big thing to me. My main concern is I still want to eat farm raised fish, because supporting and raising awareness helps save the oceans from over fishing and being a aquaculturest this is important to me. But does being a pescatarians or a semi vegetarian count? Am I actually helping the environment or am I just being pretentious? What are yall’s thoughts on it? And any tips y’all have would be more than welcomed. 🌱☺️👩‍🌾🐟

[3rdeyezoe]

I’m sorry couldn’t resist.... you didn’t get the full effect of that #grilled #flounder turn your #volume up #pescatarians #unite #grilling #seared ##grilled #tacotuesday #watchmework #chef3rdeyezoe #passion is what #drives me my own #competition just trying to heal the world with #food #medicinal (at Charlotte, North Carolina) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bou37e7nlTF/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=137quiqjk2s61

[acti-veg]

A friend of mine is vegan but still eats fish because he says there is no scientific proof that fish feel pain. I'm trying to get him to change his mind. Apart from the Smithsonianmag article you linked on your resources page, would you happen to know additional studies or resource i could point him to? I feel like my chances are best if i smother him in scientific evidence :)

Your friend isn’t vegan, he’s not even vegetarian, and it’s important you insist on calling him what he actually is. Under no reasonable conception of veganism can a person be actively choosing to eat animals and still rightly consider themselves vegan. It has taken this long to comprehensively state that fish do feel pain because there is a distinct lack of research on the topic, but even if the research wasn’t there to demonstrate they definitely do feel pain, that’s certainly no good reason to assume they don’t and eat them on that basis. It wasn’t long ago, comparative speaking, that we thought  all animals were unfeeling automatons. There is little more reason to doubt that fish feel pain than any other non-mammalian animal, they all have complex nervous systems and brains, everything required to experience pain and be truly sentient. Here is a good article which quotes several studies you could bring up.

[thatpollguy]

is it okay if I consider myself as vegetarian even though i eat cheese which is maybe not vegetarian?

Hi anonymous! I will write this poll for you, don't worry 😉 I will also say my opinion, which is that cheese is not a meat product and therefore you would be a vegetarian. I think you are thinking of vegans, as they don't eat animal products of any kind, including cheese.

Do you think that the anonymous requester can consider themself a vegetarian if they eat cheese?

Yes

No

Voting ended onNov 18, 2025

[acti-veg]

Hi, what do you think about pescatarians?

I think that while it’s better than nothing, it still contributes towards significant suffering. Pescatarians usually eat not only fish, but eggs, dairy and honey too, all of which cause harm. In fact, if I were to pick out the two foods which cause the most harm, I’d probably choose dairy and fish. I have posts on the issues with consuming fish here, dairy here, eggs here and honey here. 

What it comes down to is that there is no rational reason why you would refuse to eat mammals but think it’s okay to eat fish. They too are sentient, intelligent, complex and highly social animals, I just cannot think of any legitimate reason why you would exclude them from your ethics regarding animals. Unless you are in some way dependent on fish for your nutrition, there is just no good reason to eat them. If you want to discuss this further, or if you’re a pescatarian yourself and you want help giving up fish, please feel to get in touch, fish is really easy to emulate in cooking and I’d be happy to provide you with recipes and tips. 

[acti-veg]

As a vegan how do you feel about long term vegetarians, pescitarians and keukitarian? What would be your advice or final push to make them consider veganism?

I’ve no idea what keukitarian means, it’s not a word I’ve ever heard anyone in the animal rights community use and google yields no search results. As for vegetarians and pescatarians, I think these are really only good options if they are as far as you are able to go or as a stepping stone towards full veganism, if you have the option to go vegan but instead choose anything less then I do not think that can be justified. 

As for that final push, I’d just want to ask them why they became vegetarian or pescatarian in the first place. I was a vegetarian for a while before I was vegan, and I went vegan for all the same reasons I initially went vegetarian. Veganism is the logical conclusion to any belief in animal rights, regardless of what form it takes, and there is inherent hypocricy in all semi-vegan lifestyles. I’d ask them to do research on how fish suffer, how eggs are produced, and what is involved with dairy production. There is simply no logical reason to morally object to animals being killed for meat but not killed for eggs or dairy, or to believe that certain animals deserve rights while other very similar animals don’t.

[acti-veg]

Pescatarians bother me when they call themselves sort of vegans....you're still eating meat! Fish qualifies as a fucking meat! They think fish are lesser then them therefore they all say "but does it really count" yes! Yes it does!

I always find it a really strange distinction for anyone who has the option to go vegan. Fish are much more of an “other” than mammals are, I think this is perhaps the only reason why some people won’t consume mammals or birds but will consume fish. It’s particularly weird because ecologically and environmentally it is one of the worst foods you can eat. I’ve got a general post about fish here which you may be interested in using in future discussions.