"Guilt-Free" Sushi Doesn't Include Bits of Fish

by Stephanie Ernst · 2009-07-29 08:21:00 UTC
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Apparently, between yesterday's post and this one, we have a theme going: foods that require the killing of animals are not greed- and guilt-free just because they don't require the killing or exploitation of some other animals. Yesterday, I wrote about the problem of referring to Fair Trade milk chocolate as free of "greed" and as a win for the "socially conscious" when dairy consumption and "production" involve some of the greediest, cruelest human acts. And today, I'm writing in response to a Christian Science Monitor article titled "Guilt-Free Sushi."

In a moment of optimism, I briefly hoped, upon seeing the title in someone's Tweet, that this referred to vegetarian sushi. But the article, of course, is not about vegetarian sushi. "Guilt-free" merely refers to sushi made with the flesh of farmed fishes or fish species that aren't endangered.

But whether the fish whom sushi lovers are eating is part of an endangered species or not, he suffered so that they could eat him. He experienced his life, which he wanted to continue living, and he suffered in his death.

"Species" don't feel pain. An individual animal--yes, even a fish--does. And killing and eating an animal shouldn't be "guilt-free" just because his kind isn't endangered. His suffering is his suffering to him, regardless of whether humans pat themselves on the back for killing him instead of another type of fish.

And as my friend Mary says of our war on the oceans and their inhabitants--which we are winning and which will lead not only to the ocean's demise, but to ours as well as a result--"The way to end the war we've waged and save the fish and the oceans is to stop the war! Stop eating fish and other sea dwellers and this problem goes away (and yes, I am over-simplifying). If you don't want to be complicit in the war, don't be complicit in the war."

Vegetarian (Vegan) Sushi Resources:

Vegan sushi photo above by Flickr user kevandem.

Stephanie Ernst wrote the original Animal Rights blog at Change.org until December 2009. She can now be found at Animal Rights & AntiOppression.
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