"Vegetarians Who Eat Meat," or, "the Law of Mutual Exclusion."
There is something that I find to be extremely relevant and really important: the difference between vegetarianism, veganism, and just plain being normal, which seems to be something that few people want to cop to these days. I get asked a lot to clarify my stance on animal products, and it's really difficult to do sometimes, so I'm going to be painfully honest and lay it all out here. To start, there's a basic definition which most everyone agrees upon:
By definition, vegetarians will not consume anything that requires the death of an animal.
Vegans, similarly but also in contrast, strictly avoid all products having anything to do with animals, which means eggs, milk, leather, and sometimes honey.
There are then subcategories of vegetarianism, such as lacto-ovo vegetarianism (who do drink milk [lacto...think of lactose-intolerance] and eat eggs [ovo...think of ovaries...or don't. ew]), lacto-vegetarians, who drink milk but abstain from eggs, and ovo-vegetarians, who eat eggs but don't drink milk.
I'd like to make something really clear:
THESE ARE THE ONLY FOUR TYPES OF VEGETARIANISM TO WHICH I WILL EVER REFER.
If you know me, you'll be smart enough never to mention the phrase "pescatarian" around me. This comes from the Latin for "fish"; a pescatarian is a vegetarian who eats fish. In other words, a pescatarian is not a vegetarian. There are people who are put on a vegetarian diet by their health care providers but are allowed to supplement their diet with fish or chicken. That's great for them, but they aren't really choosing a vegetarian lifestyle, and they're eating meat where they can, so I simply don't include them in my definition of vegetarian. It's not personal.
"Well, I only promote the killing and consumption of the flesh of certain animals..." Yeah...sorry. You and I might wind up arguing this one a lot.
If people just say, "I eat meat! Mmm, meat, I love meat," then I write them off as a lost cause and we can all get along, and I like them as much as anyone else. Branden is a carnivore of magnificent proportions. If someone says, however, that they are a vegetarian who eats meat, I write them off as (best case scenario) sadly misinformed, or else just rude and insulting.
Vegetarianism is a lifestyle choice, and a pretty difficult one at times. You can't say that you oppose racism, except that you hate Hispanics. Sorry, that doesn't cut it for me. If you're a "pescatarian," what you really are is an omnivore who doesn't like red meat or poultry.
I get really offended when I tell people I'm a vegetarian and they ask me whether I'd prefer chicken or fish for dinner. Am I speaking a foreign language? No, I'm not...it's just that the definition of vegetarianism is very often misunderstood, which I think is largely due to people who come up with words like this gem: "flexitarian."
A flexitarian is someone who eats all types of meat, but is also fine with eating vegetarian meals sometimes. Maybe I'm crazy, but when I learned about this kind of thing, that was called being an omnivore. Omni = all. That's cool. I'm fine with people who eat meat but also enjoy vegetarian meals. But really...flexitarian is not a type of vegetarianism! I get so many emails and questions about this. My boyfriend stopped eating meat for about 18 months and then started again. He might be a "flexitarian," but he is NOT a vegetarian, or any form of vegetarian. Period.
So NO, vegetarians do not eat chicken or fish, if you're asking my opinion. People who eat chicken or fish, or just eat meat occasionally, are not any form of vegetarian that fits my definition.
Similarly to how I feel about wannabe-vegetarians, many vegans "look down" on vegetarians as being weak or not willing to go the whole nine yards. Personally, this makes me really sad. Lots of vegans seem to think that by continuing to eat eggs and drink milk, vegetarians are failing to appreciate animal rights and are contributing as much damage as omnivores. Many vegetarians, then, look at vegans as going too far with it and giving vegetarians a bad name as extremists.
Personally, I applaud anyone who protests cruel factory farming, and I leave it at that. We can get more and more extreme...fruitarians won't eat vegetables because the eating of a vegetable kills the plant--they'll only eat fruits, because the plucking of a fruit does not harm the plant. We could take this on and on forever, but why?
The only reason that I get frustrated with chicken-and-fish-eating vegetarians is because THEY AREN'T VEGETARIANS. I'm not frustrated with them for being weak. For me, it's a semantics issue...details and definitions really bother me, because like so many weirdos out there, I use definitions to, well, define things. I consume dairy products, so I'm not a vegan. I don't say I'm a lacto-ovo-vegan. There's no such thing. And similarly, I am not interested arguing with in people who claim to be pescatarians or pullutarians (I don't know if that's an actual word...if not, it would mean a "vegetarian who ate chicken").
Eating meat and being a vegetarian are mutually exclusive. Sorry, folks, it's one or the other. I'm not telling you which you have to choose! But by my definition, you have to choose one. Here's a simple test:
1. Do you eat red meat?
2. Do you eat poulty?
3. Do you eat fish?
4. Do you consume dairy products?
5. Do you consume eggs?
6. Do you consume gelatin or other animal byproducts?
If you answered "yes" to numbers 1-3, congratulations, you aren't a vegetarian.
If you answered "yes" to numbers 4-6, congratulations, you aren't a vegan.
I'll wrap up here with the answer, I hope, to the question that everyone always asks me: where do I draw the line? Keep in mind that I have both moral and health reasons for being a vegetarian.
- I will not eat from the carcass of any animal of any kind.
- I will not buy leather products.
- I will not eat gelatin, because it cannot be created without the death of an animal.
- I don't care for eggs, but I will eat something with an egg product, such as baked goods.
- I will eat honey.
- I will eat dairy products.
Do you see how I have aspects of veganism in my lifestyle, but I can't claim to be a vegan, because I knowingly break the definition? It's the same with people who eat chicken and fish who claim to be vegetarians. People work very hard to stick to their resolutions, and it isn't fair to claim to be in their ranks while performing to a lower standard and dissolving their credibility. You can't get away with "occasionals" when it comes to definitions...you can't be a "sometime murderer" or a "sometime humanitarian," and the same goes for other clarifications.
By definition, vegetarians will not consume anything that requires the death of an animal.
Vegans, similarly but also in contrast, strictly avoid all products having anything to do with animals, which means eggs, milk, leather, and sometimes honey.
There are then subcategories of vegetarianism, such as lacto-ovo vegetarianism (who do drink milk [lacto...think of lactose-intolerance] and eat eggs [ovo...think of ovaries...or don't. ew]), lacto-vegetarians, who drink milk but abstain from eggs, and ovo-vegetarians, who eat eggs but don't drink milk.
I'd like to make something really clear:
THESE ARE THE ONLY FOUR TYPES OF VEGETARIANISM TO WHICH I WILL EVER REFER.
If you know me, you'll be smart enough never to mention the phrase "pescatarian" around me. This comes from the Latin for "fish"; a pescatarian is a vegetarian who eats fish. In other words, a pescatarian is not a vegetarian. There are people who are put on a vegetarian diet by their health care providers but are allowed to supplement their diet with fish or chicken. That's great for them, but they aren't really choosing a vegetarian lifestyle, and they're eating meat where they can, so I simply don't include them in my definition of vegetarian. It's not personal.
"Well, I only promote the killing and consumption of the flesh of certain animals..." Yeah...sorry. You and I might wind up arguing this one a lot.
If people just say, "I eat meat! Mmm, meat, I love meat," then I write them off as a lost cause and we can all get along, and I like them as much as anyone else. Branden is a carnivore of magnificent proportions. If someone says, however, that they are a vegetarian who eats meat, I write them off as (best case scenario) sadly misinformed, or else just rude and insulting.
Vegetarianism is a lifestyle choice, and a pretty difficult one at times. You can't say that you oppose racism, except that you hate Hispanics. Sorry, that doesn't cut it for me. If you're a "pescatarian," what you really are is an omnivore who doesn't like red meat or poultry.
I get really offended when I tell people I'm a vegetarian and they ask me whether I'd prefer chicken or fish for dinner. Am I speaking a foreign language? No, I'm not...it's just that the definition of vegetarianism is very often misunderstood, which I think is largely due to people who come up with words like this gem: "flexitarian."
A flexitarian is someone who eats all types of meat, but is also fine with eating vegetarian meals sometimes. Maybe I'm crazy, but when I learned about this kind of thing, that was called being an omnivore. Omni = all. That's cool. I'm fine with people who eat meat but also enjoy vegetarian meals. But really...flexitarian is not a type of vegetarianism! I get so many emails and questions about this. My boyfriend stopped eating meat for about 18 months and then started again. He might be a "flexitarian," but he is NOT a vegetarian, or any form of vegetarian. Period.
So NO, vegetarians do not eat chicken or fish, if you're asking my opinion. People who eat chicken or fish, or just eat meat occasionally, are not any form of vegetarian that fits my definition.
Similarly to how I feel about wannabe-vegetarians, many vegans "look down" on vegetarians as being weak or not willing to go the whole nine yards. Personally, this makes me really sad. Lots of vegans seem to think that by continuing to eat eggs and drink milk, vegetarians are failing to appreciate animal rights and are contributing as much damage as omnivores. Many vegetarians, then, look at vegans as going too far with it and giving vegetarians a bad name as extremists.
Personally, I applaud anyone who protests cruel factory farming, and I leave it at that. We can get more and more extreme...fruitarians won't eat vegetables because the eating of a vegetable kills the plant--they'll only eat fruits, because the plucking of a fruit does not harm the plant. We could take this on and on forever, but why?
The only reason that I get frustrated with chicken-and-fish-eating vegetarians is because THEY AREN'T VEGETARIANS. I'm not frustrated with them for being weak. For me, it's a semantics issue...details and definitions really bother me, because like so many weirdos out there, I use definitions to, well, define things. I consume dairy products, so I'm not a vegan. I don't say I'm a lacto-ovo-vegan. There's no such thing. And similarly, I am not interested arguing with in people who claim to be pescatarians or pullutarians (I don't know if that's an actual word...if not, it would mean a "vegetarian who ate chicken").
Eating meat and being a vegetarian are mutually exclusive. Sorry, folks, it's one or the other. I'm not telling you which you have to choose! But by my definition, you have to choose one. Here's a simple test:
1. Do you eat red meat?
2. Do you eat poulty?
3. Do you eat fish?
4. Do you consume dairy products?
5. Do you consume eggs?
6. Do you consume gelatin or other animal byproducts?
If you answered "yes" to numbers 1-3, congratulations, you aren't a vegetarian.
If you answered "yes" to numbers 4-6, congratulations, you aren't a vegan.
I'll wrap up here with the answer, I hope, to the question that everyone always asks me: where do I draw the line? Keep in mind that I have both moral and health reasons for being a vegetarian.
- I will not eat from the carcass of any animal of any kind.
- I will not buy leather products.
- I will not eat gelatin, because it cannot be created without the death of an animal.
- I don't care for eggs, but I will eat something with an egg product, such as baked goods.
- I will eat honey.
- I will eat dairy products.
Do you see how I have aspects of veganism in my lifestyle, but I can't claim to be a vegan, because I knowingly break the definition? It's the same with people who eat chicken and fish who claim to be vegetarians. People work very hard to stick to their resolutions, and it isn't fair to claim to be in their ranks while performing to a lower standard and dissolving their credibility. You can't get away with "occasionals" when it comes to definitions...you can't be a "sometime murderer" or a "sometime humanitarian," and the same goes for other clarifications.
