Pescetarian, Pollotarian or Flexitarian: The Resurgence of Neologisms in Vegetarian Diet

When you saw the term "pescetarian" in today's news, you were most likely wondering what on earth this was. The Meadow Free Press enlightens readers that pescetarians are vegetarians who are still eating fish but abstain from meat and poultry. They are sometimes maligned as halfhearted in their adherence to vegetarianism, since pescetarianism still requires the killing of a living being for food.

In contrast, a pollotarian - El Pollo Loco fans have a leg up here - is a vegetarian diet leaning consumer who eschews all kinds of fish or mammal derived meat, but will eat poultry. A flexitarian is a part-time vegetarian who consumes mainly vegetarian dishes -- unless given half a chance to eat meat. This latter term caused many raised eyebrows when in 2004 the Associated Press suggested that the face of vegetarianism was changing at the hands of flexitarians.

It is questionable why terms such as pescetarian, pollotarian or flexitarians are used to differentiate the various forms of food intake. In days gone by, a vegetarian was a person who did not eat meat. Now there appear to be a host of sub categories to this designation, some of which are completely opposite the very noun they seek to further explain or modify.

It would appear that in a day and age where vegetarianism is considered politically correct, the sub categories are little more than euphemistic terms describing those who agree in principle, if not in action. The International Vegetarian Union refers to the founding of the term "vegetarian" back to the time around 1847, when its meaning held "not eating 'meat, fish or fowl'."

Today the original meanings of plain vegetarianism are exchanged and already the neologisms are entering the mainstream. Take for example the Boston Herald which published on hub dining, but speaks of "vegetarian-pescetarian" as though it was a common form of cuisine.

Then again, it might become one, seeing that the Health Acker site suggests that being a pescetarian is a healthier lifestyle choice than simply being a vegetarian. This of course goes back to the argument for omega 3 fatty acids which are richly contained in oily fish - and not as completely in flaxseed oil.

Is it really necessary to keep parsing words? After all, if this were true, what do you call a vegetarian who takes fish oil capsules but does not actually eat fish?

Sources: http://www.meadowfreepress.com/recipes/0,1873,396744,00.html; http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4541605/; http://www.ivu.org/history/renaissance/words.html; http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/food_dining/general/view.bg?articleid=1142510; http://www.healthacker.com/2007/04/29/a-pescetarian-lifestyle-is-healthier-than-a-vegetarian-lifestyle/