Pescetarianism

Pescetarianism(/ˌpɛskəˈtɛəri.ənɪzəm/PESK-ə-TAIR-ee-ə-niz-əm; sometimes spelledpescatarianism)is adietarypractice in whichseafoodis the only source of meat in an otherwisevegetariandiet.The inclusion of otheranimal products, such as eggs and dairy, is optional. According to research conducted from 2017 to 2018, approximately 3% of adults worldwide are pescetarian.
"Pescetarian" is aneologismformed as aportmanteauof the Italian word "pesce" ("fish") and the English word "vegetarian".The term was coined in the United Kingdom in the late 1980s."Pesco-vegetarian" is a synonymous term that is seldom used outside of academic research, but it has sometimes appeared in other American publications and literature since at least 1980.
The first vegetarians in written western history may have been thePythagoreans, a title derived from the Greek philosopherPythagoras. Though Pythagoras loaned his name to the meatless diet, some biographers suspect he may have eaten fish as well at some points,which would have made him not a vegetarian but a pescatarian by today's standards.Many of Pythagoras's philosophies inspiredPlato, who advocated for the moral and nutritional superiority of vegetarian-oriented diets. In Plato's ideal republic, a healthy diet would consist of cereals, seeds, beans, fruit, milk, honey and fish.
In 675, the consumption oflivestockand wild animals was banned in Japan byEmperor Tenmu, due to the influence of Buddhism and the lack of arable land.However, Tenmu did not ban the consumption of deer or wild boar.Subsequently, in the year 737 of the Nara period, theEmperor Shōmuapproved the eating of fish and shellfish. During the 1200 years from theNara periodto theMeiji Restorationin the latter half of the 19th century, Japanese people ate vegetarian-style meals, and on special occasions, seafood was served.Exceptions were wild fowl served amongst the Heian nobility,and when Europeans arrived in Japan in the 15th century, the Japanese diet included boar meat.
Several orders ofmonksinmedieval Europerestricted or banned the consumption of meat forasceticreasons, but none of them abstained from the consumption of fish; these monks were not vegetarians, but some were pescetarians.
Marcion of Sinopeand his followers ate fish but no fowl or red meat.Fish was seen by theMarcionitesas a holier kind of food.They consumed bread, fish, honey, milk, and vegetables.
The "Hearers" of the ecclesiastical hierarchy ofManichaeismlived on a diet of fish, grain, and vegetables.Consumption of land animals was forbidden, based on the Manichaean belief that "fish, being born in and of the waters, and without any sexual connexion on the part of other fishes, are free from the taint which pollutes all animals".
TheRule of Saint Benedictinsisted upon total abstinence of meat from four-footed animals, except in cases of the sick.Benedictinemonks thus followed a diet based on vegetables, eggs, milk, butter, cheese, and fish.Paul the Deaconspecified that cheese, eggs, and fish were part of a monk's ordinary diet.Benedictine monkWalafrid Strabocommented, "Some salt, bread, leeks, fish and wine; that is our menu."
TheCarthusiansfollowed a strict diet that consisted of fish, cheese, eggs, and vegetables, with only bread and water on Fridays.
In the 13th century,Cistercianmonks consumed fish and eggs.Ponds were created for fish farming.From the early 14th century, Benedictine and Cistercian monks no longer abstained from consuming meat of four-footed animals.In 1336,Pope Benedict XIIpermitted monks to eat meat four days a week outside of the fast season if it was not served in the refectory.
Theanchoritesof England ate a pescetarian diet of fish seasoned with apples and herbs, bean or pea soup and milk, butter and oil.
Francis William Newman, who was President of theVegetarian Societyfrom 1873 to 1883, made an associate membership possible for people who were not completely vegetarian like pescetarians.Eventually, in the 1890s, Newman himself switched from following an ovo-lacto-vegetarian diet to a pescetarian diet, with the rationale that fish do not waste land space, are plentiful due to high reproduction rates, do not care for their young and have no parental feelings to violate, and can be captured and slaughtered in ways that inflict minimal pain.
A 2016 bookSeagan Eatingpromoted a seafood diet,which is distinguished from ordinary pescetarian diets because it discourages consumption of dairy and eggs.
As of 2020, pescetarianism has been described as aplant-based diet.Regular fish consumption and decreased red meat consumption are recognized as dietary practices that may promote health.Pescetarianism has been shown to be more popular among women than men in all regions where the data on sex ratio is available.
In 2018,Ipsos MORIreported 73% of people worldwide followed a diet where both meat and non-animal products were regularly consumed, with 14% considered asflexitarians, 5% vegetarians, 3% vegans, and 3% pescetarians.These are similar to the results collected byGlobalDatajust a year earlier; where 23% of the sample had below average meat consumption, 5% had vegetarian diets, 2% had vegan diets and 3% had pescetarian diets.Globally, pescetarian diets seem to have increased in popularity in the mid-to-late 2010s; only 40% of pescetarians surveyed had been adhering to the diet for more than a couple years and another 18% reported adhering to diet for about a year.
A 2018 poll of 2,000 United Kingdom adults found that ≈12% of adults adhered to a meat-free diet; with 2% vegan, 6–7%ovo-lacto-vegetarian, and 4% pescetarian.Different studies and survey have found a more modest number of meat-abstainers; a 2021 survey found 10% of Brits were meat abstainers with 3% of the population being pescetarians.
In Great Britain as of January 2019, women between 18 and 24 years of age were the most likely demographic group to follow a pescetarian diet. In general, men were less interested in pescetarianism, and men 35 years and above were the least likely to adhere to a pescetarian diet pattern.
In 2018, one survey found that people in Africa and the Middle East had a high incidence of pescetarian diets (5%) when compared to other areas of the world.In Europe, the incidence of pescetarianism varied by country, according to a 2020 survey documenting the dietary practices of residents in seven European nations: on average, pescetarianism was about 3% of the EU population, with slightly higher incidence in Germany and Belgium.
Pescetarianism may be perceived as a more ethical choice because fish and shellfish may not experience fear, pain, and suffering as more complex animals like mammals and othertetrapodsdo.As a counterargument, from a scientific viewpoint, there are functional areas in the brains of fish that can make them feel pain. Furthermore, fish have pain receptors similar to humans, and evidence shows that pain signals are sent from these receptors to the brain, enabling fish to feel pain.However, this is an ongoing debate.
Some pescetarians may regard their diet as a transition to vegetarianism, while others may consider it an ethical compromise,often as a practical necessity to obtain nutrients that are absent, not easily found, or not readily bioavailable in plants.
It is common for all kinds of meat-abstainers to participate in the "green movement" and be conscientious about global food sustainability andenvironmentalism;switching to a pescetarian dietary pattern can potentially positively affect both.People may adopt a pescetarian diet out of desire to lower their dietarycarbon footprint.A 2014 lifecycle analysis ofgreenhouse gas emissionsestimated that a pescetarian diet would provide a 45% reduction in emissions compared to anomnivorous diet.Research on the diets of over 55,000 UK residents found that meat-eaters had dietary greenhouse gas emissions that were about 50% higher than pescetarians.Compared to an omnivorous diet, pescetarian diets also had 64% less environmental impact overall when the amount of greenhouse gas emissions,land useand cumulative energy demand were assessed together.
A Japanese study in 2018 found that various diet changes could successfully reduce the Japanese food-nitrogen footprint, particularly by adopting a pescetarian diet which may reduce the impact on nitrogen.Switching from an omnivorous diet to a pescetarian diet also carries high potential in reducing American food loss because fish and shellfish contribute markedly less tofood wasteat the primary, retail and consumer levels than both red meat and poultry.Additionally,water conservationmay be a motivator; a multinational study found that switching a conventional diet for a balanced pescetarian diet could reduce dietarywater footprintby 33% to 55%.
A common reason for adoption of pescetarianism may be health-related, such as fish and plant food consumption as part of theMediterranean diet, which is associated with lowered risk ofcardiovascular diseases.Pescetarian diets are under preliminary research for their potential to affectdiabetes,long-term weight gain,andall-cause mortality.
Concerns have been raised about consuming some fish varieties containing toxins such asmercuryandpolychlorinated biphenyls(PCB),although it is possible to select fish that contain little or no mercury or moderate the consumption of mercury-containing fish.According to a 2018 global consumer survey, the majority of pescetarians, vegetarians and vegans (87% prevalence) reported that their food product choices are influenced by ideological factors, like ethical concerns, environmental impact or social responsibility.Pescetarians may be motivated by ethical concerns that are not related to animal protection or environmental protection, such as humanitarian or religious reasons. Viable sources of protein that can be consumed by food-insecure humans are not wasted onfilter feedersor wild-caught fish.
In both theRoman CatholicandEastern Orthodoxtradition, pescetarianism is referred to as a form ofabstinence. During fast periods, Eastern Orthodox Christians often abstain from meat, dairy, eggs, and fish, but on holidays that occur on fast days (for example, 15 August on a Wednesday or Friday), fish is allowed, while meat and dairy remain forbidden.Anthonianfastinghas been considered a pescetarian-like variant of Orthodox fasting as poultry and red meat are restricted throughout the year but fish, eggs,oils, dairy andwineare allowed most days.
Pescetarianism is relatively popular amongSeventh-day Adventistswhen compared to the general population; in the 2000s 10% of North American Seventh-day Adventists who were surveyed reported adhering to a pescetarian diet.The higher popularity is likely due to the church promoting a "health message" to its followers and considering meat-consumption to be unfavorable. Adventists who eat seafood do not eat shellfish because the church expects all followers to only eatkosher foodsdeemed permissible byLeviticus11.
Pescetarianism(provided the fish iskosher)conforms to Jewish dietary laws. Fish and all other seafood animals must have both fins and scales to be considered kosher. Aquatic mammals such as dolphins and whales are not kosher, nor arecartilaginous fishsuch as sharks and rays, since they all havedermal denticlesand notbony-fishscales. The lack of fins and scales also deemscrustaceans(e.g. shrimp, crab, lobster) andmolluscs(e.g. oyster, clam, conch, octopus, squid)to be "treif"—non-kosher.Roe, such as caviar, must come from a kosher fish to be permitted.Pescetarian diets simplify adherence to the Judaic separation of meat and dairy products, as kosher fish is "pareve"—neither "milk" nor "meat".
In 2015, members of theLiberal Judaismsynagogue inManchester, England, founded The Pescetarian Society, citing pescetarianism as originally a Jewish diet, and pescetarianism as a form of vegetarianism.The society has several advocacy interests: public health, promoting healthy eating, praising pescetarianism as "the natural human diet", supporting better animal welfare, bringing awareness to the climate-change crisis, and demanding seafood be sustainable and responsibly-caught.
Some Hindus, by choice, follow a strictlacto-vegetariandiet and in India up to 44% of Hindus self-identify as some type of vegetarian.However, there are Hindus who consume fish. They are mainly from coastal south-western India.This community regards seafood in general as "vegetables from the sea", and refrains from eating land-based animals. Other Hindus who consume seafood are those from Bengal, Odisha, and other coastal areas.In Bengal, Hindus consume fish and are known to cook it daily.
The expression ofItaleating can vary from Rasta to Rasta but a general principle is that food should be natural or pure, and from the earth.Though theRastafariare generally associated with avid vegetarianism and veganism, a large minority of adherents do deem certain kindsof fish to be an acceptable exception in the Ital diet. Rastafari who permit fish will avoid eating all kinds of shellfish as they are considered to be "unclean" scavengers,a belief that stems from biblical teachings.