The Difference Between Vegetarian and Vegan and a History of Both

"What is the difference between a vegetarian and a vegan?"

Since I write about my vegan lifestyle and feature vegan recipes on this site, I receive this question often. It's a great one too because, unless you are familiar with the veg world, it can all be a little confusing. I thought I would run through some of the characteristics of the different forms of vegetarianism and veganism so hopefully, it all makes a little more sense.     

• Vegetarians do not eat any meat products, however, they do eat dairy products, eggs, and honey.

• Vegans do not consume any animal products, which includes dairy, eggs, honey, or basically anything that ever came from an animal. Many vegans also avoid fur, leather, and wool.

Types of Vegetarians

Within the Vegetarian spectrum there are subcategories:

• Lacto-Vegetarian: eats no meat, eats no eggs, but does allow dairy products.

• Ovo-Vegetarian: eats no meat or dairy products, but does allow eggs.

• Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian: eats no meat, but does includes both eggs and dairy products.

• Pescetarian: though there is some debate if this should be included as a vegetarian variety, a pescetarian follows a vegetarian diet, but does eat fish.

Vegan Spectrum

Within the vegan spectrum, some additional disciplines include:

• Macrobiotic Diet: a diet of mostly whole grains and beans, supplemented with other foods like vegetables.

• Raw Veganism: a diet of fresh, uncooked fruit, nuts, seeds and vegetables.

• Fruitarianism: a diet of only fruit, seeds, nuts and other plant matter that can be gathered without harming a plant.

Art by Golem-Art

Some fun facts about the history of vegetarianism and veganism:

• The vegetarian ideology has been around a long time. It was practiced around 3,200 BC in Egypt by certain groups who abstained from animal flesh, as they believed in the karmic idea of reincarnation.

• Hinduism, Brahinanism, Jainism, and  Zoroasterianism also practiced vegetarianism, as these religions believed in non-violence and respect for all life.

• PythagorasThe famous mathematician and philosopher, Pythagoras (born in 580 BC), also practice vegetarianism for both health reasons and to avoid cruelty to animals. He saw vegetarianism as a key factor in peaceful human co-existence. Followers of Pythagoras were warned to keep their vegetarianism quiet to avoid persecution, as animals were used for sport and entertainment in Ancient Rome.

• Vegetarianism soon spread throughout the Roman Empire among those influenced by the teachings of Plato (who also favored vegetarianism), from the 3rd to 6th centuries. The poet Ovid and the philosopher Seneca are examples of Romans who expounded the cause of vegetarianism.

• Some other noted vegetarians were Leonardo Da Vinci, Dr. J.H. Kellogg, Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Socrates, Plotinus, Plutarch, Sir Isaac Newton, Voltaire, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charlotte Bronte, Henry David Thoreau, Susan B. Anthony, Leo Tolstoy, George Bernard Shaw, Albert Einstein, and SO many more...

• When Christianity came to the Roman Empire, vegetarianism practically disappeared from Europe. During this time, Christian thinkers such as Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas provided intellectual rationalizations for the killing and eating animals. They argued that only people have free will, rationality, and souls, and that animals were put on the Earth for the use of humans and their convenience.

• Vegetarianism re-emerged somewhat in Europe during the Renaissance period and became more widespread in the 19th and 20th centuries.

• In 1847, the first Vegetarian Society was founded in England.

• In 1908, the International Vegetarian Union was founded. 

• In 1944, The Vegan Society was founded by Donald Watson and Elsie Shrigley. The first vegan society in the US was started by Dr. Catherine Nimmo and Rubin Abramowitz in 1948 in California.

• Donald Watson was the first to coin the term "vegan," a derivative of the first 3 letters and the last 2 letters of the word vegetarian, because he saw it as "the beginning and end of vegetarian."

If you would like to learn more about adopting a vegan lifestyle, please visit VeganOutreach.org. They will send you a FREE Starter Guide that answers a lot of questions and can help get you started.

There are so many excellent vegan websites out there. Check out SuperVegan's huge directory for all sorts of great information.

Comments

[Cassie]

The happy little vegetable illustrations are so adorable!!
Thank you for the awesome blog today-I get lots of people asking me this as well. You have so many great answers!
It is also so cool to know how many people have embraced Veg along the way.
Thanks so much doll! xoxo

[Mary]

Thanks for this great info. I love all your recipes and this information lays it out so well. I am going to check out the VeganOutreach website. Thanks Jinxi for caring.

[Pogue Mahone]

Very informative! I learned a lot!

[Shay]

This is so cool and informative Jinxi!
I have had so much trouble explaining to people about the differences between simple vegetarianism and veganism it isn't even funny. How would those people ever grasp fruitarianism? haha....
In Austin though, most people I know are pretty hip to the veg. :)
I am not vegetarian or vegan, but I stopped eating beef, pork, and other mammals, years ago. I don't say that I gave up eating them, because I didn't care much for eating them in the first place, and therefore, do not like to imply that it was a sacrifice.
Funny thing is, some folk 'round these parts' have a hard time even grasping my diet and I have had this conversation with more than one old-timer.

Them, "So you eat chicken?"
me,"Yeah."
Them, "And you eat fish?"
me, "Sometimes."
Them, "So you're a vegetarian?"
me, "No. A chicken is not a vegetable."

It is worth noting that in the middle ages in Europe, the monks of a dualistic heretical christian sect known as the Cathars, were vegetarian(and possibly vegan). Those monks were called Perfects.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathar_Perfect

It is interesting that they considered eating the flesh of animals to be such a negative thing in light of the medieval christian doctrine towards eating meat, which you also mentioned in this post. I have read that the Perfects refusal to eat meat was one of the most common things used to condemn them by the orthodox church. It was an element of proof that they were doing "The Devils Work".

Thanks again for all your hard work and dedication Jinxi!

Xo-
Shay

[tab>like the energy drink<]

sweet! thanks so much for posting this jinxi! some of those details i didnt know. im a little bit between. i dont know. i love tofu and egg whites also egg supliments..so i have no idea XD but still learned thank u! much love!

[Delores R. shero]

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