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Pescetarianism
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Pescetarianism is a dietary choice in which a person, known as a pescetarian, eats any combination of vegetables, fruit, nuts, beans and fish or seafood, but will not eat mammals or birds. Some animal products like eggs and dairy may or may not be part of a pescetarian diet plan.
Terms like "pesco-vegetarianism" are sometimes used to describe pescetarianism, to emphasize that pescetarians eat vegetables, fruit, and grains as well as fish.
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Encyclopedia
Pescetarianism is a dietary choice in which a person, known as a pescetarian, eats any combination of vegetables, fruit, nuts, beans and fish or seafood, but will not eat mammals or birds. Some animal products like eggs and dairy may or may not be part of a pescetarian diet plan.
Terms like "pesco-vegetarianism" are sometimes used to describe pescetarianism, to emphasize that pescetarians eat vegetables, fruit, and grains as well as fish. However, this term is controversial and less used, in part because it implies that pescetarianism is a type of vegetarianism, and some vegetarian groups do not want to be aligned with people who choose to consume fish. The Vegetarian Society, which initiated popular use of the term vegetarian as early as 1847, does not consider pescetarianism a valid vegetarian diet. The definitions of "vegetarian" in mainstream dictionaries vary.
In July 2008 The Associated Press reported that Merriam-Webster Inc. has added more than 100 new entries to its new edition of the Collegiate Dictionary; one of those words was pescetarian. The definition of the word according to that dictionary is: "vegetarian whose diet includes fish."
Terminology
Pescetarian is a neologism formed as a portmanteau of the Italian word pesce and the English word "vegetarian". The Italian word is pronounced , whilst the neologism is commonly pronounced , with a /sk/ sound, in violation of the normal rules for both English and Italian.
Pesce in turn derives from the Latin piscis, which has the form pisci- when it serves as a prefix, as it often does in scholarly terms (e.g. "pisciculture" ), or "piscivore" ). Note that a piscivore eats a diet primarily of fish (a sub-set of carnivores), whereas the neologism "pescetarian" refers to human omnivores who consume both fish-meat and plants.
Rationale
Pescetarians frequently give one or more of the following reasons for their dietary choice:
Transition to vegetarianism
For some, becoming either vegan or vegetarian is a long-term goal for various health, environmental, and ethical reasons, and the pescetarian diet is sometimes seen as a way to transition towards that long-term goal without having to switch overnight from the western pattern diet to a vegan or vegetarian diet.
Health benefits
One of the most commonly cited reasons is that of health, based on findings that red meat is detrimental to health in many cases due to non-lean red meats containing high amounts of saturated fats. Furthermore, eating certain kinds of fish raises HDL levels, and some fish are a convenient source of omega-3 fatty acids, and have numerous health benefits in one food variety.
It can be claimed conversely that fish also contain toxins such as mercury and PCBs, though a careful selection of fish can ensure a low-risk or toxin-free product.
Ability to feel pain
Some pescetarians believe that eating mammals and birds is more unethical than eating fish. Reasons include both cognitive differences and ability to feel pain. Scientific studies seeking to answer the question of whether fish feel pain have yielded mixed conclusions.
Environmental ethics
Some pescetarians view meat from land-based animals as an inefficient food source. Most cattle, pigs and chickens that supply the United States meat market are not free range. Instead, they are fed grains (not grasses) that are grown for the sole purpose of animal feed. The amount of calories in the grain needed to feed a cow, pig, or chicken (to a lesser extent) greatly exceeds the nutritional value of the meat these animals provide. Were this grain to be used for human consumption instead, far more food could be provided.
A 2006 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations ("Livestock's Long Shadow") estimates that livestock are responsible for roughly 18 percent of the global warming effect, outstripping even the contribution of transportation. The main greenhouse gases produced by livestock are methane — the natural result of digestion — and nitrous oxides emitted by manure. Furthermore, the deforestation needed for grazing lands also contributes to global warming, by eliminating the CO2 sinks that forests provide. Thus some pescetarians choose their diet in an attempt to reduce "livestock's long shadow."
Medical Necessity
Some vegetarians may be asked to ingest fish oil as part of an HDL treatment prescribed by their doctor.
Comparisons to other diets
Pescetarianism is similar to a traditional Mediterranean diet, which focuses on seafood, grains, fruits, and vegetables. However, the Mediterranean diet does not entirely exclude meat from land animals as pescetarianism does. However, since pescetarians do not eat mammal-meat or bird-meat, they experience many of the same social pressures as vegetarians, so that the two groups may sometimes seemingly have common interests. Occasionally — and controversially — terms such as pesco-vegetarian and semi-vegetarian have been used in place of the term pescetarian.
While both groups often cite environmental issues as a rationale behind their diets, pescetarian and vegetarian diets can be each environmentally imperfect if precautions are not taken, due to the problems of overfishing, by-catch and in both diets, habitat destruction through arable farming.
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