Does this include Fridays?
‘Meat’ tends towards mammals and tends toward beef, but it not hard and fast. I consider meat as mammal, poultry close enough to ‘qualify’ due to the commonality of chicken in our diet, fish is pretty far away from that and pretty much in it’s own category of ‘fish’.
Meat extending to Poultry seems to me to be a religious extention to exclude a reasonable dish as to sacrifice something.
Thanks to everyone for a really eye-opening discussion!
I purposely left out a third option such as “depends” from the poll, because a poll where the majority says “well it depends on context” isn’t what I was looking for.
I completely understand and accept that factually and biologically fish flesh is meat, but that in no way changes my own personal reply of “No. Fish is fish, meat is meat. Totally different!”. In this particular instance I happily accept that my answer differs from science.
I continue to be surprised by how many ‘yes’ answers there are! I understand anecdotes are not evidence, but of the dozen or so people I have asked in person in the last few days, not one has replied with an unequivocal ‘yes’. Many solid “no’s”, and the rest a variation of “Well, I guess technically it is… but no.” If you have to qualify your yes, then it’s a no.
I am beginning to wonder how demographics affects this question. Obviously a strong religious component, but I wonder if there is an age difference, or what other regional or cultural differences there might be? Hmmm…?
I personally did not vote, as I have no idea how to vote in this poll. If somebody says they don’t eat meat, I assume fish counts as meat (but, like I said before, I’d ask). If somebody says they like to eat meat, I assume they are not including fish in this category. If I had to guess going by my own experiences, I would assume most people use “meat” generically in an exclusive sense, not including fish in the category, and possibly not including poultry (although I generally do.)
To be fair, I reckon that’s how I’d reply if someone got introduced to me as a hunter – if, y’know, they added that he’s a fisher, and, hey, isn’t a fisher a hunter?
animal protein is meat regardless of avian/mammalian/fishy origins
I get that you have the general broad divisions of
cow/pig/goat/sheep/rodentia/other mammals
poultry/reptiles
fish/other seafood/ocean based mammals
insects/other land based arthropods and their larval forms
I cannot see how the catholic church or any other organization or person could possibly ever say that fish isn’t meat or (I love this one)“fish is practically a vegetable”
honestly I think the whole “tomato: fruit or vegetable?” debate to be a bit silly. Botanically, it’s a fruit. It’s literally a berry. But colloquially, we consider it a vegetable because it’s not overtly sweet and is typically used in savory dishes.
Why are tomatoes particularly singled out? There’s plenty of vegetables that are fruits. Peppers. Cucumbers. Beans. Pumpkins. Squash. Etc. Why tomatoes for this particular pointless piece of pedantry?
http://ctscatholiccompass.org/new-from-cts/no-meat-on-friday-why-what-is-its-deeper-meaning-part-1/
Seems to.
Interesting thread. I would never have thought anyone would believe fish isn’t meat, but what little religious upbringing I had was of the mellow protestant variety.
On a semi-related note, when I see a mention like “for Catholics, fish isn’t meat” my mind immediately mad libs it into “for Catholics, anal isn’t sex.” Both ideas seem equally ridiculous to me.
Sums it up for me. If I could vote twice, I’d add my husband’s agreement on this point.
I actually am not sure how much the religion plays into it for me. A large part of it might be Midwestern red meat bias. I suspect that even the non-Catholics in my childhood neighborhood would tend to reflexively classify fish as ‘not meat’.
Anecdotally again, among my personal acquaintances, I’ve added a Korean and ethnic Chinese vote to the fish is not meat camp.
I’m tired as heck of hearing this argument over and over on the Internet because it’s pointless arguing over what a word means. Whether we define fish as meat or not is irrelevant
anyway for the poll, yes, I’ve always considered fish “meat”
(My bolding)
You’re saying that milk is meat then?
Meat is the flesh of tetrapods. Fish are not meat. Except lungfish. And maybe coelocanths if we’re stretching to Tetrapodomorpha. But that’s as far as I’m willing to go.
Unless I’m using the word in a medieval context, in which case, all food is meat.Or better yet, mete (cf. “sweetmeats” ) e.g. a Baked Mete is a 15th C. recipe for a pear & custard tart. With marrow.
Also, IMO, fish are not animals, you have to be able to have breath (anima) to be an animal. But that’s my own idiosyncrasy, and I’m aware of the common usage.
Are jellyfish meat? What about sponges?
Snake?
Actually, first, it is OK in quite a few cases (illness, availability problems, “oops”…). And second, it is not possible for Good Friday to fall on March 17, since the earliest Easter can be is on March 21st and that would make Good Friday fall on the 19th.
In Romance languages (Spanish, Italian, French… and if any restaurant has menus in Latin, Latin), there is a meat section in the menu. Some menus may separate different types (most commonly, avians and mammals), but then, some also separate shellfish and fish (which unlike in English are very different words).
… are tetrapods, yes.
Fish don’t breathe?