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Paths to Pescetarianism

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Paths to Pescetarianism Copyright 2010 by Eric Lai ii Acknowledgments This work would not have been possible without the support and dedication of an entire array of exceptional people. I want to begin by expressing my sincerest gratitude to everyone at the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. From the day I was offered the opportunity to enroll in the PhD program, the department has been unbelievably accommodating, helpful, and understanding — especially when I decided to move cross-country from San Francisco to pursue opportunities in Washington, DC. Even with 3,000 miles of distance often separating me from the Bay, I believe the process leading to the completion of this dissertation could not have been smoother — a true testament to SBS’s faculty and staff. My dissertation committee — Howard Pinderhughes, Charlene Harrington, Bob Newcomer, and Warren Belasco — could not be more deserving of my unmitigated praise and appreciation. Howard has been a truly wonderful and inspiring dissertation chair; he provided invaluable direction as I decided on a research topic, and at every turn he encouraged me to explore new possibilities, angles, and dimensions with this work. As my third area chair and then as a committee member, Charlene offered discerning and thoughtful suggestions as the project came to fruition. Bob’s insightful commentary helped me stay cognizant of the broader implications of this study. Finally, this project would not have been the same without Warren, who agreed to serve as a committee member without any prior familiarity with my work. He is an outstanding scholar of food and culture, and his perspectives were instrumental to the completion of this project. I also want to thank my colleagues at the Department of Health and Human Services. It is never an easy task to work full-time and also be a full-time student, but this is particularly true now; even had I not been working on this dissertation, 2010 would have been an incredibly historic and busy year, owing to the passage of landmark health reform legislation. My coworkers have been incredibly supportive throughout the last several months, celebrating my every milestone en route to the PhD. My friends have been great advocates as well, providing both inspiration and encouragement throughout this process. There are too many people to mention here, but I do want offer a special thanks to Victoria Tang, who has been my partner for almost the entirety of my time at UCSF. She has shared in all of the highs and lows this journey has entailed, and I am fortunate and grateful to have had her support over the last four years. I want to extend my enduring gratitude and appreciation to my family, who have invested so much — both in me and in my education. I know that my completion of a PhD program has been a goal not only of mine, but one shared by my parents, brother, grandparents, and extended family. I owe all of them for motivating me to work toward and ultimately accomplish this goal. Finally, no words can sufficiently express my feeling of indebtedness to the participants and volunteers who played a role in making this possible. Without you, there would have been no project — so to each of you, I offer my profoundest thanks. iii Pescetarianism: The Choices, Experiences, and Trajectories of Seafood-Inclusive Dietary Lifestyles Eric Lai Abstract Pescetarianism — generally defined as any dietary lifestyle that includes fish and shellfish but excludes beef, chicken, pork, and other land-based meat products — has grown increasingly common among American consumers, due in part to heightened societal interests in healthy eating and in mitigating the ethical and environmental ramifications of industrial livestock. Through 36 qualitative interviews with self-defined pescetarians regionally distributed throughout the United States, this dissertation generates a sociological framework for pescetarianism as a dietary choice and practice, disentangling the heterogeneous dietary constructions that elicit the pescetarian label; identifying the motives, rationales, and beliefs underlying decisions to adopt or maintain a pescetarian diet; and assessing how practitioners of pescetarianism navigate their social worlds. Through these analytic dimensions, the study addresses how pescetarian dietary choices can be defined and incentivized by cultural and regional influences, sociopolitical considerations, biomedical interpretations of health and nutrition, and other factors. This work draws from and identifies gaps in existing sociological scholarship on diets like vegetarianism and veganism; by constructing a new framework that addresses pescetarianism, the project ultimately elaborates upon and extends current understandings of how social influences shape emergent dietary practices — potentially informing not only future directions in the sociology of food, but also prospective efforts to reconcile the national palate with public health. iv Table of Contents Chapter One – Introduction . 1 Part One: Background pes·ce·tar·i·an or pes·ca·tar·i·an \pe-skə-‘ter-ē-ən\ noun (probably from Italian pesce fish (from Latin piscis) + English vegetarian): one whose diet includes fish but no meat Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary Aims of the Project . 4 Pescetarianism vis-à-vis Other Diets . 6 Reasons for Pescetarianism . 7 Cultural and Regional Influences . 9 Health . 10 Sociopolitical and Environmental Reasons . 13 Ethics and [Land] Animal Welfare . 16 Evaluation . 17 Diet and Identity . 18 Theoretical Framework . 19 Chapter Two – Theory and Literature Review . 21 “Despite similar physiological needs in humans, food habits are not universal, natural, or inevitable”; in contrast, “they are social constructions, and significant variations exist.” Germov & Williams, 2005 Theory . 22 Social Constructionism . 22 The Meaning of Food . 23 Diet, Identity, and Conflict . 26 Literature Review . 30 Vegetarianism and Veganism . 30 Culture and Diet . 32 Dietary Change . 36 Chapter Three – Methods . 40 “There’s plenty of data to be found, but it is often thin and malleable. Facts are important, but they don’t, on their own, provide meaning — especially when they are so bound to linguistic choices. But place facts in a story — a story about the world we live in and who we are and who we want to be — and you can begin to speak meaningfully about eating animals.” Foer, 2009 v Design . 41 Data Collection . 42 Participants . 42 Documents . 47 Data Analysis . 48 Data Sources and Analysis for Specific Aims . 50 I: How pescetarianism is defined . 50 II: The factors underlying the decision to adopt or maintain a pescetarian diet . 50 III: The social environments pescetarians navigate in following, defending, or promoting their dietary practices . 51 Part Two: Chapter Four – How Pescetarianism is Defined . 52 Findings “More recently, I’ve been calling myself a pescetarian because I learned the meaning of the word. Normally, my family and friends would refer to me as a vegetarian and it didn't really feel right.” Participant from Denham Springs, Louisiana “Traditional” Pescetarianism . 54 Pescetarianism as Vegetarianism with Seafood. 57 Pescetarianism as a Subset of Vegetarianism . 59 Conflicting Perspectives . 64 Summary . 66 Chapter Five – Paths to Pescetarianism . 68 “This is the way I choose to eat. It bothers me to eat [land] animals, so I don't eat them. You can eat whatever you want to — it doesn't bother me — but this is a choice for me. This what I choose to eat. I just feel the benefits of eating fish outweigh the benefits of eating poultry, beef, pork, and other animals.” Participant from Memphis, Tennessee Experiences with Meat Products . 69 Shifts From Vegetarianism and Veganism . 75 Cultural, Religious, and Regional Influences . 82 Pescetarianism as Middle Ground . 90 Health . 94 Sociopolitical and Environmental Reasons . 97 vi Ethics and [Land] Animal Welfare . 100 Summary . 103 Chapter Six – Pescetarians’ Social Worlds . 108 “I’m surrounded by people who are eating cheeseburgers all the time, so sometimes it does take a fair amount of effort to maintain my diet… My three vegetarian friends don't look down on me at all for eating fish; that makes me happy. If the opportunity arises, I definitely vouch for vegetarianism or pescetarianism.” Participant from Madison, Wisconsin Conflicts with Non-Pescetarians . 110 Pescetarian Advocacy . 117 Tolerance and Support from Non-Pescetarians . 120 Negotiations Between Pescetarians . 123 Summary . 125 Part Three: Chapter Seven – Understanding Pescetarianism . 127 Discussion “I think I'm doing the best I can with the information that I have. I realize my choices are not ideal in the least. And that's one thing that is funny — people will get threatened by your choices and the fact you're not eating land-based protein. But even though my choices aren't 100% ideal, it's a little world I've defined for myself that I can live in.” Participant from Golden, Colorado I: How pescetarianism is defined . 127 Review . 127 Analysis . 129 II: The factors underlying the decision to adopt or maintain a pescetarian diet . 132 Review . 132 Analysis . 133 III: The social environments pescetarians navigate in following, defending, or promoting their dietary practices . 140 Review . 140 Analysis . 140 A Framework for Pescetarianism . 142 Limitations . 150 Future Research . 152 vii List of Figures Figure 1 Geographic Distribution of Participants . 44 Figure 2 Framework for Pescetarianism . 146 viii Chapter One Introduction pes·ce·tar·i·an or pes·ca·tar·i·an \pe-skə-‘ter-ē-ən\ noun (probably from Italian pesce fish (from Latin piscis) + English vegetarian): one whose diet includes fish but no meat Since the turn of the century, fueled by mutually reinforcing surges of interest in healthy diets and responsibly sourced food, the.
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