Pescetarianism ( ; sometimes spelled pescatarianism)
Definition and etymology
"Pescetarian" is a
neologism formed as a
portmanteau of the Italian word "" ("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.
History
Early history
The first vegetarians in written western history may have been the
Pythagoreanism, a title derived from the Greek philosopher
Pythagoras. 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 inspired
Plato, 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 of livestock and wild animals was banned in Japan by Emperor Tenmu, due to the influence of Buddhism and the lack of arable land.[Hisao Nagayama. 「たべもの江戸史」 新人物往来社, 1976. p. 66. 『、「牛馬犬猿鶏の宍(肉)を食うことなかれ」の殺生禁断の令は有名拍車をかけたのが仏教の影響である。』] However, Tenmu did not ban the consumption of deer or wild boar.[Mitsuru Kakimoto. International Vegetarian Union, http://www.ivu.org/news/3-98/japan1.html ] Exceptions were wild fowl served amongst the Heian nobility,[Ishige, The History and Culture of Japanese Food, pg 73-74] and when Europeans arrived in Japan in the 15th century, the Japanese diet included boar meat.[Shimizu. Akira, Meat Eating in the Kojimachi District of Edo, 2010. in Japanese Foodways, Past and Present, University of Illiois Press, Assman, Stepanie and Rath, Eric C eds. 2010]
Several orders of monks in medieval Europe restricted or banned the consumption of meat for asceticism reasons, but none of them abstained from the consumption of fish; these monks were not vegetarians, but some were pescetarians.[Lutterbach, Hubertus: Der Fleischverzicht im Christentum, in: Saeculum 50/II (1999) p. 202.]
Marcion of Sinope and his followers ate fish but no fowl or red meat.[May, Gerhard; Greschat, Katharina. (2013). Marcion und seine kirchengeschichtliche Wirkung / Marcion and His Impact on Church History. De Gruyter. pp. 213–216. ] Fish was seen by the Marcionites as a holier kind of food.[Fontaine, Petrus Franciscus Maria. (1994). Gnostic Dualism in Asia Minor During the First Centuries, A.D. II. Brill Academic Publishing. p. 84. ] They consumed bread, fish, honey, milk, and vegetables.[Tyson, Joseph B. (2006). Marcion and Luke-Acts: A Defining Struggle. University of South Carolina Press. p. 35. ]
The "Hearers" of the ecclesiastical hierarchy of Manichaeism lived on a diet of fish, grain, and vegetables.[Spencer, Colin. (2002). Vegetarianism: A History. Four Walls Eight Windows. pp. 135–136. ] 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".
The Rule of Saint Benedict insisted upon total abstinence of meat from four-footed animals, except in cases of the sick.[Keevill, Graham; Aston, Mick; Hall, Teresa. (2017). Monastic Archaeology. Oxbow Books. p. 54. ] Benedictines monks thus followed a diet based on vegetables, eggs, milk, butter, cheese, and fish.[Butler, Edward Cuthbert. (1919). Benedictine Monachism: Studies in Benedictine Life and Rule. London: Longmans, Green. p. 44] Paul the Deacon specified that cheese, eggs, and fish were part of a monk's ordinary diet.[Riché, Pierre. (1978). Daily Life in the World of Charlemagne. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 171. ]
The Carthusians followed a strict diet that consisted of fish, cheese, eggs, and vegetables, with only bread and water on Fridays.
In the 13th century, Cistercians monks consumed fish and eggs.[Barber, Bruno. (2004). The Cistercian Abbey of St Mary Stratford Langthorne, Essex. Museum of London Archaeology Service. p. 158. ] Ponds were created for fish farming.[Kerr, Julie. (2006). Life in the Medieval Cloister. Continuum. pp. 48–50. ] In 1336, Pope Benedict XII permitted monks to eat meat four days a week outside of the fast season if it was not served in the refectory.
The of England ate a pescetarian diet of fish seasoned with apples and herbs, bean or pea soup and milk, butter and oil.[Clay, Rotha Mary. (1914). The Hermits and Anchorites of England. London: Methuen. p. 104][Anson, Peter F. (1932). The Quest of Solitude. London: J. M. Dent. p. 232. "The food of an anchorite or an anchoress was mainly vegetarian. They could have soups or “pottages” made of herbs, peas, or beans; or “furmity,” sweetened with milk, butter, or oil, and fish seasoned with apples or herbs."]
19th century to present
Francis William Newman, who was President of the Vegetarian Society from 1873 to 1883, made an associate membership possible for people who were not completely vegetarian like pescetarians.
[Spencer, Colin. (1995). The Heretic's Feast: A History of Vegetarianism. University Press of New England. pp. 274–276. ] 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.
[ May Vegetarians Eat Fish?. Dundee Evening Telegraph (11 September 1895).]
A 2016 book Seagan Eating promoted a seafood diet,[ "Fishy business: should we all be seagans?". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 January 2022.][Erbentraut, Joseph. (2017).
]
target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> "'Seagan' Diet Suggests It's Not A Crazy Idea For Vegans To Eat Seafood". huffingtonpost.co.uk. Retrieved 18 January 2022. which is distinguished from ordinary pescetarian diets because it discourages consumption of dairy and eggs.[ "Seaganism". macmillandictionary.com. Retrieved 18 January 2022.]
Trends and demographics
, pescetarianism has been described as a
plant-based diet.
[ "Plant-based, vegetarian and vegan diets" . Heart Foundation NZ. Retrieved 30 October 2020.] Regular fish consumption and decreased red meat consumption are recognized as dietary practices that may promote health.
[ "The Pescetarian Diet By Judith C. Thalheimer, RD, LDN" . Today's Dietitian. Retrieved 30 October 2020.] Pescetarianism has been shown to be more popular among women than men in all regions where the data on sex ratio is available.
Global
In 2018,
Ipsos MORI reported 73% of people worldwide followed a diet where both meat and non-animal products were regularly consumed, with 14% considered as flexitarians, 5% vegetarians, 3% vegans, and 3% pescetarians.
These are similar to the results collected by
GlobalData just 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.
United Kingdom
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.
Other regions
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.
Motivations and rationale
Animal welfare concerns
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 other
Tetrapod do.
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,[Ronald L. Sandler, Food Ethics: The Basics, Routledge, 2014, p. 74.] often as a practical necessity to obtain nutrients that are absent, not easily found, or not readily bioavailable in plants.
Sustainability and environmental concerns
It is common for all kinds of meat-abstainers to participate in the "
Green politics" and be conscientious about global food sustainability and
environmentalism;
switching to a pescetarian dietary pattern can potentially positively affect both.
People may adopt a pescetarian diet out of desire to lower their dietary
carbon footprint.
A 2014 lifecycle analysis of greenhouse gas emissions estimated that a pescetarian diet would provide a 45% reduction in emissions compared to an omnivorous 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 use and 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.
Health research
A common reason for adoption of pescetarianism may be health-related, such as fish and plant food consumption as part of the Mediterranean diet, which is associated with lowered risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Pescetarian diets are under preliminary research for their potential to affect
diabetes,
long-term weight gain,
and
mortality rate.
Other considerations
Concerns have been raised about consuming some fish varieties containing toxins such as mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB),
[Committee on the Toxicological Effects of Methylmercury, Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology, National Research Council, ] 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 on
Filter feeder or wild-caught fish.
In religions
Christianity
In both the
Roman Catholic and
Eastern Orthodox tradition, pescetarianism is referred to as a form of
abstinence. 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.
fasting
has been considered a pescetarian-like variant of Orthodox fasting as poultry and red meat are restricted throughout the year but fish, eggs,
Xerophagy, dairy and wine are allowed most days.
Pescetarianism is relatively popular among Seventh-day Adventists when compared to the general population; in the 2000s 10% of North American Seventh-day Adventists who were surveyed reported adhering to a pescetarian diet.
Judaism
Pescetarianism
(provided the fish is Kashrut) 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 are cartilaginous fish such as sharks and rays, since they all have
dermal denticles and not
Ray-finned scales. The lack of fins and scales also deems
(
e.g. shrimp, crab, lobster) and molluscs (
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.
[Aryeh Citron, "All About Kosher Fish" ][ Verifying Kosher Fish OU Kosher Certification. Retrieved 9 August 2019.] 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 the Liberal Judaism synagogue in Manchester, England, founded The Pescetarian Society, citing pescetarianism as originally a Jewish diet, and pescetarianism as a form of vegetarianism.
Hinduism
Some Hindus, by choice, follow a strict lacto-vegetarian diet 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.
[Sinclair-Brull, Wendy. (1997). Female Ascetics: Hierarchy and Purity in an Indian Religious Movement. Curzon Press. p. 158. ]
Rastafari
The expression of
Ital eating can vary from Rasta to Rasta but a general principle is that food should be natural or pure, and from the earth.
Though the
Rastafari are generally associated with avid vegetarianism and veganism, a large minority of adherents do deem certain kinds
of 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.
See also
-
Ikaria Study – Dietary study of long-lived people found to have semi-vegetarian diets similar to pescetarianism.
-
List of diets – A comprehensive index of diets covered on Wikipedia
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Mediterranean diet – Diet inspired by eating habits of the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.
-
Okinawa diet – Eating habits of the indigenous people of the Ryukyu Islands.
-
Semi-vegetarianism – Other forms of semi-vegetarianism that include occasional seafood or meat consumption.
