As some of you have gleaned from my past posts, I am not a true vegetarian. The technical term for me is a pescetarian, but I guess I never really thought this term applied to me, because I don't like fish very much and it's such a small part of my diet. But it is technically correct.

You see, I decided to stop eating meat nearly two years into my relationship with Dan, who is also a pescetarian. He had been gently encouraging me to give up meat for awhile, but I only did so after an incident (yes, the one involving the crab, I'll share it later) that made me truly want to. But following in his footsteps, it seemed obvious for me to continue eating seafood like he did.

The other day, I received a reader comment on this blog asking what fish ever did to me. The answer, of course, is nothing. Helen then suggested I should disclose in the blog's introduction that I'm not a true vegetarian. To be honest, the thought of doing this upset me. It also made me question my choice to eat seafood.

I am still working out my own personal reasons for not eating meat. There are so many good reasons not to--moral, environmental, health, food safety, etc.--that I don't see myself turning back. But I guess I'm not yet sure if my reasons (which I don't fully understand yet) apply to to seafood. For instance, the land use issues of raising livestock certainly don't. And fish have a very different level of mental sophistication than, say, cows. But maybe the moral issues trump the differences. I just don't know.

So I'm asking you all for help. If you are a pescetarian, why do you choose not to eat meat but to eat seafood? If you're a strict vegetarian, why do you think it's not okay to eat seafood?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts...