by Stacey Pace

Created on: June 13, 2009   Last Updated: June 14, 2009

There is a common misconception surrounding how all vegans and vegetarians feel about semi-vegetarians or pesco/pollo vegetarians. The vast majority feel that we're all part of the same group, striving towards the same goal and in general respect is given for the commitment towards this goal. After all a lot of pescetarians go on to become vegetarians over time so there is no point alienating people who are making this transition.

The problem arises when pesco vegetarians or pecsetarians simply call themselves vegetarians. This creates a huge amount of confusion when people see vegetarians ordering fish in restaurants, cafe's, bars and pubs. For centuries vegetarians have been struggling for understanding towards what they eat, in modern times this hasn't gotten easier. The Vegetarian Society had to run a campaign where they had a flash animation where a carrot quickly turns into a goldfish and back to a carrot in an attempt to explain to people that fish aren't vegetables.

If you're a vegetarian you'll have experienced the direct impact that this confusion has on your life. As I child (aged 11) on a school holiday a pescetarian calling himself a vegetarian was happily eating the fish dinner he was served and when I refused they decided that I was rude and gave me nothing instead. The truth here was that there wasn't a real vegetarian alternative available as they believed vegetarians ate fish and I went without food because of their misconception.

Similar things have happened in pubs where the vegetarian option was a fish pie and despite saying that I don't eat fish I was still given the fish pie. Very often if you explain that you're a vegetarian that doesn't eat fish people think that makes you vegan. If you then explain that you don't eat eggs or drink cows milk either they're even more convinced that you're vegan. To say yes in this situation would be wrong as it would only confuse people more about what it actually means to be a vegan.

The issue here is actually surrounding the definition of what a vegetarian, vegan and pescetarian is, rather than criticising people for their choice. It isn't snobbery to hope that people will help their fellow vegetarians and vegans out by understanding how it makes the options available to vegetarians even more difficult if they wrongly label themselves as a vegetarian and then continue to eat fish.

Pesce means fish in Italian so be proud of your choice to be a pescetarian and call your diet by this name to help educate people about what it means.

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