Varieties of vegetarianism (terminology)

Different practices of vegetarianism include:

• Strict vegetarians avoid consuming all animal products (such as eggs, milk, cheese, and honey). Today, strict vegetarians are commonly called vegans, though some reserve this term for those who additionally avoid usage of all kinds of animal products (such as leather and some cosmetics), rather than just food.

• Ovo-lacto vegetarians do not eat meat, but may consume animal products such as eggs and milk. Those who are ovo-lacto vegetarians for ethical reasons may additionally refuse to eat cheese made with animal-based enzymes (rennet), or eggs produced by factory farms. The term "vegetarian" is most commonly intended to mean "ovo-lacto vegetarian", particularly as "vegan" has gained acceptance as the term for stricter practice.

• Lacto vegetarians do not eat meat, but may consume milk and its derivatives, like cheese, butter, or yogurt.

• Similarly, ovo-vegetarians do not eat meat but may eat eggs.

• Macrobiotics involves a diet consisting mostly of whole grains and beans, and is usually spiritually based like Fructarianism (see below).

• Raw Foodism involves food, usually vegan, which is not heated above 116°F (46.7°C); it may be warmed slightly or raw, but never cooked. Raw Foodists argue that cooking destroys enzymes, and/or portions of each nutrient; this is true, but most raw foodists also acknowledge that for some foods, as cooking softens them, their nutrients become more bio-available, which more than negates the destruction of some nutrients and enzymes. Some raw-foodists, called living-foodists, also "activate" the enzymes (such as by soaking the food in water) a while before they plan to eat the food. Some spiritual raw-foodists are also Fructarians and some eat only organic foods (see below).

Religious dietary restrictions come in many forms and are sometimes compatible with the secular terminology; see below.

The following are not generally considered vegetarianism:

• Fruitarians, more commonly called "fruitarians", eat only fruit, nuts, seeds, and other plant matter that can be gathered without harming the plant (some fructarians eat only plant matter that has already fallen off the plant). This typically arises out of a holistic philosophy. Thus, a fructarian will eat beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, and the like, but will refuse to eat potatoes or spinach. Technically, fructarianism is a kind of vegetarianism, but its much stricter definition is very rarely seen as being the same thing as vegetarianism. It is also hotly disputed whether it is possible to avoid malnutrition with a fructarian diet. Fructarianism is much rarer than vegetarianism or veganism.

• Some people choose to avoid certain types of meat for many of the same reasons that others choose vegetarianism: health, ethical beliefs, etc. For example, some people will not eat "red meat" (mammal meat – beef, lamb, pork, etc.) while still consuming poultry and seafood. This is not traditional vegetarianism, but has recently been referred to in the media as semi-vegetarianism (see pesco/pollo vegetarianism for other terms). Some non-vegetarians thus assume vegetarianism to be pesco/pollo vegetarianism.

• Others might regard the suffering of animals in factory farm conditions as their sole reason for avoiding meat or meat based foods. These people will eat meat or meat products from animals raised under more humane conditions or hunted in the wild. Some of these people would refer to themselves as vegetarians.

• Freegans subscribe to a purely environmental mentality: although meat is generally avoided, eating meat that has been discarded by others is acceptable. The environmental impact of this practice is seen as null or perhaps even beneficial (although discarded meat can be safely composted in some facilities). Freegans often prefer discarded food in any case, even if it is not meat. But producing meat is believed to have more environmental impact than other foods, so this is often the focus of freeganism.

• Flexitarians adhere to a diet that is mostly vegetarian. However, they occasionally consume meat.

In current English, the term "vegetarian" is occasionally used for restricted diets that nevertheless include some types of meat. Usually these deviations from traditional usage are made casually, perhaps for lack of a better word. The resulting confusion of terms can create awkward situations for more strict vegetarians, however, as any traditional vegetarian who has been expected to eat a dish because it "only contains a little meat" (or "is just fish") can readily attest.

In 1847, attendees at the meeting of the first Vegetarian Society in Ramsgate, England, agreed that a "vegetarian" was a person who refuses to consume flesh of any kind. Prior to that time, vegetarians had often been called Pythagoreans, after the philosopher and his followers who also abstained from meat (and possibly some types of beans).