According to medieval beliefs, fish are a naturally occurring phenomenon in waterways. They just manifest spontaneously in rivers and lakes, making them not an animal. It was convenient for Catholics to believe this, because they were prohibited from eating meat on Fridays. If fish aren’t animals, then Catholics can eat them on Fridays. So, they were encouraged to continue thinking of fish as just a part of the lake, and that weird “fish are vegetarian” idea persists to this day…
I guess that’s also the reason then, why mussels, fish etc. are considered sea fruit in many languages: Frutti di Mare, Meeresfrüchte, fruit de mer […]
According to medieval beliefs, fish are a naturally occurring phenomenon in waterways. They just manifest spontaneously in rivers and lakes, making them not an animal. It was convenient for Catholics to believe this, because they were prohibited from eating meat on Fridays. If fish aren’t animals, then Catholics can eat them on Fridays. So, they were encouraged to continue thinking of fish as just a part of the lake, and that weird “fish are vegetarian” idea persists to this day…
I guess that’s also the reason then, why mussels, fish etc. are considered sea fruit in many languages: Frutti di Mare, Meeresfrüchte, fruit de mer […]