Current Events > A friend told me that fish isn't seafood. Need help explaining the culinary term

(+) Yeah! (+)

Gheb posted...

ChromaticAngel posted...

Literally my father invited a vegetarian friend to his house and said upon his arrival "I know you don't eat meat, so I got you a chicken."

As a vegetarian, I will never understand how some people don't classify chicken as meat. I can almost understand the fish thing because pescatarians are often misidentified as vegetarians, but a chicken. That's clearly and obviously meat. I'm always polite when these misunderstandings come up, but I'd love to ask them what sort of plant did they pluck that chicken off of.

You don't pluck a fish off a plant either so I wonder why you feel particularly hot and bothered about that particular bit.
---

the way i see it

salt water fish are seafood
fresh water fish are not seafood
---

saspa posted...

Gheb posted...

ChromaticAngel posted...

Literally my father invited a vegetarian friend to his house and said upon his arrival "I know you don't eat meat, so I got you a chicken."

As a vegetarian, I will never understand how some people don't classify chicken as meat. I can almost understand the fish thing because pescatarians are often misidentified as vegetarians, but a chicken. That's clearly and obviously meat. I'm always polite when these misunderstandings come up, but I'd love to ask them what sort of plant did they pluck that chicken off of.

You don't pluck a fish off a plant either so I wonder why you feel particularly hot and bothered about that particular bit.

Bolded for emphasis. Pescatarians regularly get misidentified as vegetarians. Hell they sometimes misidentify themselves as vegetarians. So I can see how people could have the misconception that vegetarians eat fish. The same does not hold true for chicken.
---

Gheb posted...

saspa posted...

Gheb posted...

ChromaticAngel posted...

Literally my father invited a vegetarian friend to his house and said upon his arrival "I know you don't eat meat, so I got you a chicken."

As a vegetarian, I will never understand how some people don't classify chicken as meat. I can almost understand the fish thing because pescatarians are often misidentified as vegetarians, but a chicken. That's clearly and obviously meat. I'm always polite when these misunderstandings come up, but I'd love to ask them what sort of plant did they pluck that chicken off of.

You don't pluck a fish off a plant either so I wonder why you feel particularly hot and bothered about that particular bit.

Bolded for emphasis. Pescatarians regularly get misidentified as vegetarians. Hell they sometimes misidentify themselves as vegetarians. So I can see how people could have the misconception that vegetarians eat fish. The same does not hold true for chicken.

Regularly though? Besides Ron Swanson on Parks and Rec no one regards fish as being a vegetable, which is in the name of vegetarian.
---

saspa posted...

Gheb posted...

saspa posted...

Gheb posted...

ChromaticAngel posted...

Literally my father invited a vegetarian friend to his house and said upon his arrival "I know you don't eat meat, so I got you a chicken."

As a vegetarian, I will never understand how some people don't classify chicken as meat. I can almost understand the fish thing because pescatarians are often misidentified as vegetarians, but a chicken. That's clearly and obviously meat. I'm always polite when these misunderstandings come up, but I'd love to ask them what sort of plant did they pluck that chicken off of.

You don't pluck a fish off a plant either so I wonder why you feel particularly hot and bothered about that particular bit.

Bolded for emphasis. Pescatarians regularly get misidentified as vegetarians. Hell they sometimes misidentify themselves as vegetarians. So I can see how people could have the misconception that vegetarians eat fish. The same does not hold true for chicken.

Regularly though? Besides Ron Swanson on Parks and Rec no one regards fish as being a vegetable, which is in the name of vegetarian.

It's probably question three that gets asked when the average person finds out I'm a vegetarian. So very regularly. It's not that people think that fish are vegetables, it's that they think that vegetarians still eat fish despite that fact because, as I've mentioned, Pescatarians are frequently misidentified as vegetarians.
---

So the most widely eaten sea creature isn't considered seafood because they say so.

Should've slapped your friend for being a complete moron.
---

I'm thinking TC's friend crossed the definitions of seafood with shellfish which is just a subcategory of seafood.

Like it or not, seafood refers to all aquatic life caught or raised for consumption which includes fish, shellfish, edible plants, and all other forms of creatures that live in the water that we eat, not just those explicitly from the seas.
---

Gheb posted...

saspa posted...

Gheb posted...

saspa posted...

Gheb posted...

ChromaticAngel posted...

Literally my father invited a vegetarian friend to his house and said upon his arrival "I know you don't eat meat, so I got you a chicken."

As a vegetarian, I will never understand how some people don't classify chicken as meat. I can almost understand the fish thing because pescatarians are often misidentified as vegetarians, but a chicken. That's clearly and obviously meat. I'm always polite when these misunderstandings come up, but I'd love to ask them what sort of plant did they pluck that chicken off of.

You don't pluck a fish off a plant either so I wonder why you feel particularly hot and bothered about that particular bit.

Bolded for emphasis. Pescatarians regularly get misidentified as vegetarians. Hell they sometimes misidentify themselves as vegetarians. So I can see how people could have the misconception that vegetarians eat fish. The same does not hold true for chicken.

Regularly though? Besides Ron Swanson on Parks and Rec no one regards fish as being a vegetable, which is in the name of vegetarian.

It's probably question three that gets asked when the average person finds out I'm a vegetarian. So very regularly. It's not that people think that fish are vegetables, it's that they think that vegetarians still eat fish despite that fact because, as I've mentioned, Pescatarians are frequently misidentified as vegetarians.

Huh. That's indeed surprising, but okay fair enough.
---

Your friend is being one of those "the thumb isn't a finger" assholes.

badasstion posted...

Your friend is being one of those "the thumb isn't a finger" assholes.

This looks like the perfect summary.
---

^ ^ there's also the whole freshwater fish thing that might be throwing people for a loop.
---

Paragon21XX posted...

I'm thinking TC's friend crossed the definitions of seafood with shellfish which is just a subcategory of seafood.

Like it or not, seafood refers to all aquatic life caught or raised for consumption which includes fish, shellfish, edible plants, and all other forms of creatures that live in the water that we eat, not just those explicitly from the seas.

And maybe therein lies the confusion, since a lot of people might differentiate between freshwater fish and saltwater fish, and nearly everyone seems to have their own interpretation in some way.
---