Why is fish not considered a meat?

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Here is something that I don’t quite understand - why is fish not considered a meat? Even vegetarians eat fish but fish is an animal, so why isn’t its flesh considered meat?
 
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JGheen:
Even vegetarians eat fish but fish is an animal, so why isn’t its flesh considered meat?
Vegetarians DO NOT eat fish, there are groups who eat fish and white meat and call themselves demi-vegetarian, but by vegetarian standards they are meat eaters; it used to infuriate me when customers asked if I catered for vegetarians and I gave them a choice of several dishes and they would ask for FISH :banghead:

Remember vegetarians do not eat anything with a face (and that includes worms) :yup:

Yours in the Spirit

Pious
 
See, I’ve always wondered this too. Every biology course that I took indicated that fish are vertebrate animals (as are birds and mammals) and the part of the fish that we eat is the muscle tissue. So if “meat” is defined by the Church (so I’ve been told) as the muscle tissue of a vertebrate animal, why is fish not “meat”?

I have yet to get a satisfactory answer to this one. That hasn’t stopped me from enjoying fish-fry at the local KofC. 😉
 
The ancient idea that FISH is not MEAT comes from the fact that when a freshly caught fish is sliced - it does not bleed blood.

A warmblooded animal will bleed if sliced.
 
I believe the distinction is in cold-bloodedness in addition to something about being aquatic. Frog legs, for example, are not considered “meat.” These distinctions are not essentially biological. It wasn’t until the 16th Century that the Jews decided that poultry was “meat.”

The rationale is that the closer an animal is to “human” the more festal it is to eat it --. So fish are down the line a bit. Shellfish are even further down the line. The Eastern Orthodox have a progression of Sundays leading up to Lent in which things are eliminated from the diet: Meat goes first, then fish, then shellfish, then cheese . . .
 
Thank you so much for asking this question, and to those who have answered. My 20 yr old has asked me this several times and I’ve never had a satisfactory answer for him. I’ve been trying to re-vert him for a year now, so every question he asks me, I feel should be answered … whew now I can show him this.

PS: If you guys don’t mind… perhaps you could say a little prayer for my boys who are stubborn and have fallen away.
 
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Exporter:
The ancient idea that FISH is not MEAT comes from the fact that when a freshly caught fish is sliced - it does not bleed blood.

A warmblooded animal will bleed if sliced.
Uh, have you ever cleaned a fish? They bleed. It’s red.
 
Fish are seafood.
Isn’t it interesting that in the bible Jesus cooks (on one occasion) and eats fish with the disciples and of course he offers the bread and wine at the last supper but I cannot recall any instance where he is depicted eating meat. ??? Do you think there may be a lesson in this for us? :hmmm:
 
great scott, you’re right!

and you know, now that i think about it, it doesn’t record Him brushing His teeth, exercising, doing homework, driving a car, playing any sort of game, smiling, laughing, combing His hair, taking a shower, using the restroom, or putting His hands in His pockets, either.

i think there’s DEFINITELY a lesson to be learned here…
 
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jeffreedy789:
great scott, you’re right!

and you know, now that i think about it, it doesn’t record Him brushing His teeth, exercising, doing homework, driving a car, playing any sort of game, smiling, laughing, combing His hair, taking a shower, using the restroom, or putting His hands in His pockets, either.

i think there’s DEFINITELY a lesson to be learned here…
I’d say we can safely exclude driving a car BUT he is recorded riding on a donkey. It’s probably presumed that all people smile and laugh at times. The bible does record that “Jesus wept”. It may not mention combing hair, bathing, brushing teeth, etc but Jesus was a follower of the law as he grew up (since Mary and Joseph were Jews) so it would be presumed that he observed ritual cleanliness. It was later that he taught how the Pharisees were so encumbered by the law that they forgot how to be charitable. It IS recorded that Mary Magdalene washed and annointed Jesus’ feet. It may not mention doing homework but Jesus was found in the temple discussing religion at age 12 so it’s safe to say he had done his homework. 😛
Maybe the lesson is that we DO know a lot about Jesus if we read the scriptures.
 
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Blanka:
…I cannot recall any instance where he [sic] is depicted eating meat. ???

… Jesus was a follower of the law as he grew up (since Mary and Joseph were Jews) so it would be presumed that he observed ritual cleanliness.
So it’s equally valid to presume that He ate the paschal lamb, no?
 
This was asked in the Q&A section. It has something to do with the classifications of animals. Thus the way it’s stated in latin (“carne”?) which we translate ‘meat’ is more specific than that and does not include fish.

Something like that.
 
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Pious:
Vegetarians DO NOT eat fish, there are groups who eat fish and white meat and call themselves demi-vegetarian, but by vegetarian standards they are meat eaters; it used to infuriate me when customers asked if I catered for vegetarians and I gave them a choice of several dishes and they would ask for FISH :banghead:

Remember vegetarians do not eat anything with a face (and that includes worms) :yup:

Yours in the Spirit

Pious
Good point. To make things easier for people, I tell them I am a vegetarian who eats fish. This of course isn’t totally accurate, b/c as you said vegetarians don’t eat meat or fish… or anything with a face. 🙂 I think the technical term for someone like myself who doesn’t eat beef, poultry, etc, but will eat fish is a pescatarian. But who wants to explain that at a dinner party?? 😉
 
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Pious:
Vegetarians DO NOT eat fish, there are groups who eat fish and white meat and call themselves demi-vegetarian, but by vegetarian standards they are meat eaters; it used to infuriate me when customers asked if I catered for vegetarians and I gave them a choice of several dishes and they would ask for FISH :banghead:

Remember vegetarians do not eat anything with a face (and that includes worms) :yup:

Yours in the Spirit

Pious
I think you are referring to Vegans, a group that I oppose vehemently. Some have even gone as far as calling me a Vegaphobe.
 
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Scott_Lafrance:
I think you are referring to Vegans, a group that I oppose vehemently. Some have even gone as far as calling me a Vegaphobe.
No Scott, Vegans do not eat meat and they do not eat any animal products- so no cheese, milk, eggs, jello (yes, there’s animal products in there).

Many of them also refrain from buying animal products like leather, fur, etc.
 
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Pious:
Remember vegetarians do not eat anything with a face (and that includes worms) :yup:
What about potatoes? They have eyes, after all.

And lettuce has a head…

:rotfl:Sorry, just having some pun!
 
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Steph700:
I think the technical term for someone like myself who doesn’t eat beef, poultry, etc, but will eat fish is a pescatarian.
I’ve heard the term “veg-aquarian” to describe this 🙂
 
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Dandelion_Wine:
This was asked in the Q&A section. It has something to do with the classifications of animals. Thus the way it’s stated in latin (“carne”?) which we translate ‘meat’ is more specific than that and does not include fish ( or other animal products like eggs and milk)

Something like that.
That is correct.

The Latin term used is CARNE. That term only covers warm blooded animals.

And since Western Church law is definitive in Latin, (and no other language), we are to abstain from CARNE specifically.

In the Eastern Churches, which have their own Canon Law, all animal products, including fish, eggs and dairy are prohibited on days of Abstinence.
 
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