I always knew there’s more than one type of vegetarian, but eight? Whoa. Apparently, you can be a:
- Vegan. You avoid all things animal. That means no eggs, dairy or even honey. You also don’t wear or use anything made from animal products, such as leather, wool, cashmere, suede, shearling, down, silk and fur. (Whew! If you are vegan to the core, I salute your willpower and drive. Considering the scarce options offered by merchandisers, it must be tough. I myself cannot aspire to such. Maybe someday.)
- Fruitarian. You eat only fruits, fruit-like vegetables (e.g. tomatoes, cucumbers), seeds, nuts, and other plant components that can be gathered without harming the plant. (Oy vey! Is this even healthy? What about veggies, o veggie one?)
- Lacto-vegetarian. You avoid meat but eat dairy products, except for eggs. (This I can see. B hates milk, except if it’s in cheese form. I love eggs, though. Fried, poached, scrambled, made into crepes or pancakes. Eggs rule.)
- Lacto-ovo vegetarian. You avoid meat but eat both eggs and dairy products. This is the most common group of vegetarians and what most people think of when someone says they’re “a vegetarian.” (This is us! Common, join-the-majority-in-the-minority us!)
- Pesce-vegetarian. Your diet includes fish. (Or maybe this. If one day we break down in front of the “fresh salmon” sale.)
- Pollo-vegetarian. You eat fowl, such as chicken, turkey and duck, but avoid red meat and pork. (I didn’t even know you can call this vegetarian! I just thought it was healthy eating.)
- Raw/Living foodist. You avoid meat and eat only raw food, because enzymes are destroyed by normal cooking processes. (Yowza. It must be healthier, but seriously? Can someone really go through life without ever grilling anything? I’m genuinely curious to know if this is possible.)
- Flexitarian. You mainly eat veggie food, but will occasionally make exceptions. (Ah. I’m not scratching this one off just yet.)
I think some of those categories overlap, but it’s definitely interesting. I would love to eventually do interviews of people from different categories, to see how they did it and why they chose one over the other. For now, B and I will likely stick to option four–eggs and milk, please. But we’ll stay flexible, because who knows?
