Title might not be very clear of what i’m trying to say, but to clarify i want to know why does fish usually isn’t included in meat category, fishes are made of meat, am i right? then why are they excluded from the meat category?
In: Biology
Fish technically is meat but because it’s such a very different type of meat than land animals we regard it as its own category.
Are you talking from a diet/nutrition/health perspective or a vegetarian perspective? There is a decent bit of difference in the reasoning between the two.
This isn’t really a biology thing, it’s just cultural. “Meat” is a food category with fuzzy boundaries, like “vegetables”. Sometimes people think chicken isn’t meat, either. It doesn’t really mean anything.
It is a religious workaround for Catholics who are not allowed to eat meat on lent… [but fish is allowed](https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/56205/why-isnt-fish-considered-meat-during-lent)…
I learnt this relatively recently during a discussion of what to have for dinner with my catholic mother in law.. and had to try and understand why she did not think fish was meat… I was gobsmacked..
There are a whole list of reasons (note, I am not saying these reasons are necessarily true they are just reasons people say):
Most land based meat comes from domesticated animals that are born and raised to be slaughtered. Until recently, almost all fish was wild and caught. (Now there is some fish farming.)
Some people believe that land animals have more pain sensors and self perception than fish. That means that land animals feel more pain and have more consciousness, thus killing land animals to eat them is considered more cruel than killing fish.
Religious traditions: For example, Catholics who don’t eat meat during Lent can eat Fish. Jews who separate meat and dairy don’t have to separate fish and dairy.
In terms of health, studies seem to indicate that societies that eat more fish than other meats live longer. (Whether the fish is the main contributor is up to debate. Fish do have more omega-3 than chicken for example.)
Again I am not saying these are facts (for example, fish have definitely been shown to feel pain) I am just listing them as reasons other people separate fish and meat.
When people are saying “fish aren’t meat”, nobody is denying that they are animals and you’re eating their flesh. But in certain cultural/linguistic contexts, the word “meat” specifically means “the edible flesh of *land* animals” and fish just aren’t meat by that particular definition.
Words have fuzzy meanings, unless you’re dealing with words used within the context of specialized fields (like science, engineering, and law).
Because vegetarians know that it’s very difficult to not eat meat so they say, “oh it’s not meat it’s different,” so that they can eat some form of real meat-based protein.
It’s mental gymnastics so that people can still feel good about themselves for being vegetarian whilst still eating the flesh of dead life forms.
Nothing wrong with eating the flesh of dead life forms if you ask me, we’re omnivores, it’s part of what we eat.
This is just “vegetarians” who want to say they are vegetarian but really aren’t. But if they don’t pretend they are actually vegetarian by saying fish isn’t meat, they can’t tell everyone they are vegetarian lol. This comment is just describing one person I know, not saying all vegetarians are like this.
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