Being
Vegetarian - For whatever reason you
are becoming veggie, you can't call yourself vegetarian if you
eat any kind of fish or if you eat cheese with animal rennet.
In fact, ethically minded vegetarians don't buy leather. (Remember,
leather came from an animal that once had a pulse and a pair of
eyes!) However, as
a vegetarian it may be argued that you could buy 2nd hand goods
that contain leather. This is because you are not directly responsible
for the animal's death ... it was slaughtered as a choice of the
product's original owner from new, not yours. I.e. second-hand
cars with leather seats / upholstery is a buying choice that hangs
somewhat precariously on the edge of animal ethics for veggies.
Vegetarians might also feel justified in buying leather goods
made from animals, which have died from natural causes.
Also note that silk is made from creatures that were killed to
make it - silkworms in fact.
So remember, to be a "un-hypocritical"
vegetarian, it's:
No meat
No fish
No fish eggs (fish are killed to collect them)
No cheese with animal rennet
No wines, beers or spirits with animal-derived fining agents or
colouring
No food products with gelatine (parts of hooves and legs of horses
and cows)
No food with animal-derived ingredients and colours (see
nutrition site)
No
new leather (but best none at all)
No fur
No silk
And ... if you really want to be a well-tuned-in 21st century
veggie, make a conscious effort not buy foods that destroy precious
animal habitats. This includes foods with palm oil - produced
by flattening rain forests and in turn killing thousands of primates
and other animals (see
more here). Also, always check the source of organic
soy based products, because again, rain forests are being wiped
of the face of the earth to grow organic soy beans. (see
more here)
So, with palm oil and soy, ask questions in your supermarket to
find out exactly from where the ingredients were sourced ... If
from the Brazilian or Indonesian rain forest areas, then don't
buy it.
Being Vegan - Vegans won't
eat any dairy products, eggs or honey, even though animals have
not been killed to supply the product. This is because vegan ethics
reach deeper into the moral maze about what kinds of animal treatment
causes suffering.
In fact, dairy cows do suffer quite considerably as a result of
being constantly "primed" for milking throughout their
lives, so even plain vegetarians should seriously consider abstaining
from dairy products. (More on this at Veggie
FAQs)
Again, eggs are an area of justifiable concern. Questionable farming
techniques generate far too many grey areas regarding the treatment
of hens. Battery hens live in appalling, cramped conditions and
have a very short life because of this. Through lack of proper
nutrition and exercise, they suffer broken bones and to increase
their laying cycle they never see real daylight. If you can get
to being a vegan after being veggie for a while then great, but
make sure you know how to replace the nutrients that you would
have got from eggs and dairy. (The Nutrition Guide and The Turning
Year should help on the "New Veggie Information Path"
menu)
Other diet-based terms -
Fruitarians don't eat cooked foods. This is also known as being
on a "raw food diet" The idea is that as soon as you
cook food, nearly all the nutrients such as proteins, vitamins,
minerals and enzymes are destroyed - and nasty free-radicals are
often produced. So, an uncooked raw diet is probably the most
healthiest of all and worth a try if you can find enough time
and variety of raw organic fruit and veg to sustain yourself.
There have been other trendy diet-based names hitching a ride
on the veggie bandwagon in recent years ... but they are impostors!
Hiss hiss! The most ludicrous of these terms is "Flexitarian"
which means that one eats meat and fish sometimes and vegetables
sometimes ... yes, exactly ... that's flexible, just like around
95% of the world's population. Whether one puts just vegetables
on their plate sometimes or meat and fish on a plate with vegetables
sometimes in no way deserves a tag which clearly aims to monopolize
on the term vegetarian, but without the animal ethics. However,
by being tagged as "flexitarian" - thanks to irritating,
Americanized marketing gobbledegook - its an irreverent excuse
for the easily swayed to ingratiate themselves with a "green-lifestyle"
label. Bizarre and pointless? Yes, we know, but there you go.
In fact, you could argue that such a superficial and meaningless
sounding term debases the vegetarian ethic and even mocks it.
Still, it's making the "flexitarian" diet book industry
millions, so do they care?!
"Pescitarian" means one eats fish and vegetables but
no meat. Although jargon, it's not such an irreverent word as
"Flexi" - which means any-which-way - because at least
there's a hint in the word "Pescitarian" for us to understand
or follow its directive ... as in "pesci", which umm
... means fish (as long as we all understand Italian!).
It may mean that these two
newish marketing ploys inadvertently save a few animals by suggesting
that they are eaten in moderation, but remember that neither of
these "-arian" tags have any ethical connection whatsoever
with the non-animal and non-fish diets of veg*nism: vegan, vegetarian
and fruitarian. You are not indirectly killing animals if you
stick to any of those three.
By the way, there's even a term "meatarian", which we
don't have a problem with. At least it describes a diet choice
... They eat meat and no veg. Fair enough ... the word makes it
crystal clear!
Note:
Remember, if you are just turning veggie, VeggieGlobal suggests
you stop eating fish sooner rather than later, because the world's
oceans are being depleted of fish at an alarming rate.
Staying on course - Choose
your level of veg*nism ... and whichever your choice, you should
find guidance of all kinds scattered around VeggieGlobal (and
Looking-Glass) to help you on your path to a naturally
aspired lifestyle!
If you want to read more about the light and shade of vegetarian,
animal welfare and environmental ethics see "Cow
to Clown" .
The next step (3) - on your
New Veggie Information Path is the Veggie
FAQs
