Fish and other sea beings are not vegetarian or vegan food. It's not health food either. Well, it's not healthy for the fish. And with the excessive mercury levels in fish (link to the mercury article), it's not healthy for humans either. Plus, Reuters investigated and discovered that seafood is the number one cause of food poisoning in the United States.
Many people have never stopped to think about it, but fish are smart, interesting animals with their own unique personalities — just like the dogs and cats we share our homes with. Did you know that fish can learn to avoid nets by watching other fish in their group and that they can recognize individual "shoal mates"? Some fish gather information by eavesdropping on others, and some — such as a type of South African fish that lays eggs on leaves so that they can be carried to a safe place — even use tools.
Fish live in water that is so polluted, you would never dream of drinking it. But you're ingesting this toxic brew — bacteria, contaminants, heavy metals and all — every time you eat fish. Fish's bodies absorb toxic chemicals in the water around them, and the chemicals become more concentrated as they move up the food chain. Big fish eat little fish, with the bigger fish (such as tuna and salmon) absorbing chemicals from all the other fish they eat.
Fish are vertebrae, so they do feel pain. The ability of fish to feel pain and distress is given so little consideration that in some restaurants, fish are actually eaten alive — eviscerated, filleted, and delivered to the serving table. The eyes are covered so that the fishes will not see and react to diners reaching for parts of their bodies. Of course we already know that lobsters, the cockroach of the sea, are boiled alive.
One article, written by Hodding Carter IV, describes eating a live fish in gruesome detail: "We each reached in with our chopsticks. The fish buckled... Now, as it slowly died, would it feel each piece of its body lifted away and hungrily masticated?"
For millennia, fish have been taken from the world's oceans, lakes, and rivers and killed by humans for food. In recent decades, consumer demand for seafood has increased in the U.S., while new technologies have improved our ability to find and catch fish. Over the latter half of the 20th century, wild catches have increased by approximately 500% to nearly 100 million tons per year.
As a result, wild fish populations have been decimated. In addition to fish who are caught by factory trawling vessels, other — economically useless — sea life are caught and killed in the nets. Called 'by-catch,' these animals — including non-target fish, sea turtles, sea lions, and even dolphins — are thrown back into the water dead or dying. The U.S. government estimates more than 100, 000 marine mammals are killed every year by the U.S. commercial fishing industry, and worldwide, it is thought that approximately one third of wild-caught fish are considered 'by-catch.'
Fish oil can easily be replaced with flax oil and hemp oil, look in your health food store or search online. Vegan Essentials usually has what you need, but also try Food Fight Vegan Grocery. Omega 3 Flax oil and hemp oil supplements are readily available in most health food stores locally.
Worcestershire sauce and other sauces traditionally made with fish paste, usually have a vegan equivalent. In fact, if you search the web, you won't have to reinvent the wheel, most of your questions have been asked and answered.
Unlike the other categories, where there's a large quantity of vegan grain meats to choose from, there's not much in the sea food category. But you can still get that fishy flavor by eating the sea plants and soaking your seitan (a grain meat) in broth made from seaweed. Basically, big fish eat the small fish and the small fish eat the plants. Skip the middle men and eat the plants directly. Check out these recipe links and you'll discover that you can enjoy the flavors of the sea without harming sea beings.
Note: Some of these recipes don't use seaweed, to really get that from the sea flavor, use it liberally. You can tear pieces of Nori, use Hijiki, Arame or Kelp. Many people have found that Hijiki has the strongest flavor of the sea. Soak your dried, Japanese seaweed according to the package instructions and mix it in to taste. Yum!
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