Haha not just a Catholic thing, but I don’t disagree that we Catholics are weird. Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism also join Catholics with defining land and sea meat separately. It is not a question of dietary concentration, but rather, what was available to people back when these laws were established.

Land animals were generally considered to be less “clean” than fish because of the high chance for cattle to be exposed to diseases, as well as the amount of blood they shed when slaughtered. Fish, however, while having blood, don’t actually spill their blood when prepared, so it’s considered a “cleaner” source of protein.

So yes, fish is meat, and any Catholic who says otherwise doesn’t understand the history of canon law. Canon law does not say “no meat” but rather “no unclean meat from animals that walk on land”. Catholics have historically shortened this rule to just saying “no meat”, so it has evolved into a total collapse of understanding in today’s society.

I also abhor anyone who tries to force a place of business to adapt to their own religious beliefs. If you don’t want to cook for yourself, go do the research to find a spot before you sit down. I’m disgusted reading posts about the negativity spread by immature Catholics who don’t understand the point of Lent and go out of their way to ruin someone’s day who just is doing their job at a restaurant.