Pescetarianism

Pescetarianism, also called pesco-vegetarianism, is the practice of a diet that includes seafood and excludes mammals and birds. In addition to fish or shellfish, a pescetarian diet typically includes some or all of vegetables, fruit, nuts, grains, beans, eggs, and dairy. The Merriam-Webster dictionary dates the origin of the term "pescetarian" to 1993 and defines it to mean: "one whose diet includes fish but no meat."

Terminology

Pescetarian is a neologism formed as a portmanteau of the Italian word pesce ("fish") and the English word "vegetarian". The Italian word is pronounced [ˈpeʃːe], whilst the English neologism is commonly Template:Pron-en, with a /sk/ sound, thus differing from pronunciations of similar terms in English and Italian.

Pesce in turn derives from the Latin piscis, which has the form pisci- when it serves as a prefix, as it often does in scholarly terms (e.g. "pisciculture" /ˈpɪsɨkʌltʃər/), or "piscivore" /ˈpɪsɨvɔr/). Note that a piscivore eats a diet primarily of fish (a sub-set of carnivores), whereas the neologism "pescetarian" refers to human omnivores who consume both fish-meat and plants.

Rationale

Transition to vegetarianism

For some, becoming either vegan or vegetarian is the overall goal and the pescetarian diet is sometimes seen as an interim in a period of transition from a Western pattern diet to a vegan or vegetarian diet. For others it has become the middle ground between eating meat and being a vegan or vegetarian.

Health benefits

One of the most commonly cited reasons is that of health, based on findings that red meat is detrimental to health in many cases due to non-lean red meats containing high amounts of saturated fats. Furthermore, eating certain kinds of fish raises HDL levels, and some fish are a convenient source of omega-3 fatty acids, and have numerous health benefits in one food variety.

On the other hand, there have been concerns cited about consuming large quantities of some fish varieties due to their containing toxins such as mercury and PCBs, though it is possible to select fish that contain little or no mercury and moderate the consumption of mercury-containing fish.

Comparisons to other diets

Pescetarianism is similar to many traditional diets emphasizing fish as well as fruits, vegetables and grains. Many coastal regions tend to eat this way and these features characterize the traditional Mediterranean diet and the diets of many countries in Asia, Northern Europe and the Caribbean. These other traditional diets tend to also include meat, though it is not the major focus.

Some pescetarians describe themselves as vegetarian and often people unfamiliar with vegetarianism believe the pescetarian diet to be vegetarian. In common with vegetarians, pescetarians often eat eggs and dairy, in addition to fruits, vegetables and grains. The Vegetarian Society, which initiated popular use of the term vegetarian as early as 1847, does not consider pescetarianism a vegetarian diet. The definitions of "vegetarian" in mainstream dictionaries vary.

List of pescetarians

See also: Category:Pescetarians, Vegetarian athletes, List of vegans, and List of vegetarians

This is a list of notable people who are known to be pescetarians or were pescetarians.

Column-generating template families

The templates listed here are not interchangeable. For example, using {{col-float}} with {{col-end}} instead of {{col-float-end}} would leave a <div>...</div> open, potentially harming any subsequent formatting.

Column templates

Type	Family	Handles wiki  table code?†	Responsive/ Mobile suited	Start template	Column divider	End template
Float	"col-float"	Yes	Yes	{{col-float}}	{{col-float-break}}	{{col-float-end}}
	"columns-start"	Yes	Yes	{{columns-start}}	{{column}}	{{columns-end}}
Columns	"div col"	Yes	Yes	{{div col}}	–	{{div col end}}
	"columns-list"	No	Yes	{{columns-list}} (wraps div col)	–	–
Flexbox	"flex columns"	No	Yes	{{flex columns}}	–	–
Table	"col"	Yes	No	{{col-begin}}, {{col-begin-fixed}} or {{col-begin-small}}	{{col-break}} or {{col-2}} .. {{col-5}}	{{col-end}}

^† Can template handle the basic wiki markup {| | || |- |} used to create tables? If not, special templates that produce these elements (such as {{(!}}, {{!}}, {{!!}}, {{!-}}, {{!)}})—or HTML tags (<table>...</table>, <tr>...</tr>, etc.)—need to be used instead.

External links

• What is a pescetarian?
• Pescetarian Life