Fish Are Not Vegetables | Argumentative Analysis

"I am an animal, just like you."

One day, I casually tuned into a cooking show and an overweight bearded gentleman said something along the lines of "Meatless Monday is now every Monday/day. Guess what (I really mean who) he decided to cook when it was his turn. Correct! It was a large fish.

Another time, I ate at True Food Kitchen in Lenox Square and the pretty, young, brown-skinned waitress who served me asked me if I was vegetarian. I nodded in response. This triggered her to say, "I'm like that too, but I eat fish sometimes."

Years back, I told my grandmother that I decided to become vegan. She understood that I chose not to consume meat anymore. However, for some reason she still found herself asking me if I eat fish. Ah, fish. The only plants with eyes, a brain, free-movement, and gills.

I am not sure why people do not use the established term for people who only consume water-based meat: "pescatarian." I have had this confusion for a while, but especially after I went vegan seven years ago and thought about the practice of Lent. Growing up Catholic, we always switched over to eating fish for the duration of the event because meat was supposed to be relinquished as a sacrifice to God. Under this logic, meat, at least the land-based variety, is definitely considered a luxury that one can live without. And if God commands us to not consume the flesh of "beasts" for the event, then why not stretch that out to a lifetime (especially since scientific literature has highlighted the wealth of health benefits that come with ditching the consumption of flesh entirely)?

But then the question is "why is fish allowed?" If it is because Jesus supposedly fed a plethora of people with fish and bread, then I must inform you that some disagree with the story and argue that the "fish" mentioned were actually "fish-weed," AKA seaweed. Regardless of where you stand on whether seaweed is kosher (it is definitely halal), there is a wealth of vitamins and minerals present in marine algae, so it is much more likely that Jesus nourished those thousands of people with nutrient-rich water plants than two fish.

Or it might be because of Leviticus 11, wherein God supposedly declares that all swimming creatures with fins and scales are allowed to be eaten by man. However, fish still contain saturated fat and cholesterol which raise bad LDL cholesterol and form plaque in the arteries. Who is anyone to say that God actually recommended any of this? The Bible was written by man. The proof of what we should be eating is in the science.

Fish are not plants. They are not fruits nor vegetables. It is about time we officially classify fish as meat. If one does not eat meat, they do not consume fish. If one has not eaten meat for a while, that means that they have not consumed fish or any other water-breathing creature for that specific amount of time. Carnivores, meat-eating animals, who consume mainly fish are known as piscivores. Why should humans be labeled differently when they consume fish? You are clearly still a meat-eater (practicing carnivory). Fish are composed of skin (scales), muscles, organs, and bones like all vertebrate animals. (If insectivores are still classified as carnivores despite eating mainly or entirely invertebrates, which are dissimilar to animals like fish, then why are fish out of the meat realm?) You will be healthier without eating them.