I turned vegetarian when I was just 8 years old. Since then I haven't been having any non-vegetarian food at all, but very recently when I came to the USA for higher studies, I had to start eating a little bit of non-vegetarian food.
Growing up in India, where a major part of the population is vegetarian, living was a super easy living. In my house, we only eat vegetarian food since my grandparents are vegetarians too. Indian food has a large variety of vegetarian options and the food is super delicious. But in the USA, it was a little hard to find good vegetarian food around my apartment so I cooked at home mostly, but when I went out with friends I had chicken once in a while. My friends used to tease me saying that I am not a vegetarian since I eat chicken at times, and I used to tell them that know that I have grown up I don’t mind eating meat a little, it’s just that I prefer eating vegetarian food. With hearing all this one day I did some research on google and came across this article on Types of Vegetarians!
The author starts by saying that being a vegetarian, it's not about what we can eat or not, it's about what we choose to eat. in this article she describes 6 kinds of vegetarian diets one can follow for short-term or long-term purposes. Explained in a few lines, they are as follows:
1. Flexitarian or Semi-vegetarian
According to the article, “Flexitarian” is a term recently coined to describe those who eat a mostly vegetarian diet but occasionally eat meat.
2. Pescatarian
This is generally used to describe those who stay away from eating all kinds of meats and animal flesh but they eat fish. This word isn't too popular but a lot of people are starting to adopt this kind of diet, usually for health reasons or as a stepping stone to a fully vegetarian diet from a non-vegetarian one.
3. Vegetarian (Lacto-Ovo-Vegetarian)
This one is the most common kind of vegetarian. It is used to describe people who do not eat beef, pork, poultry, fish, shellfish or animal flesh of any kind, but do eat eggs and dairy products are lacto-ovo vegetarians ('lacto' comes from the Latin for milk, and 'ovo' for egg).
Whereas, Lacto-vegetarian is used to describe a type of vegetarian who does not eat eggs but does eat dairy products.
Similarly, Ovo-vegetarian refers to people who do not eat meat or dairy products but do eat eggs.
4. Vegan
They are different from vegetarians as they do not consume any dairy products and eggs. They basically do not eat any kind of meat, eggs, dairy products, or processed foods containing these or other animal-derived ingredients such as gelatin.
5. Raw Vegan
‘Raw food eaters’ believe that foods cooked above this temperature have lost a significant amount of their nutritional value and are harmful to the body. Therefore, they consume unprocessed vegan foods that have not been heated above 115 F (46 C).
6. Macrobiotic
Admired and respected for its healing and healthy qualities, this diet includes unprocessed vegan foods such as whole grains, fruits, and vegetables, and allows the occasional consumption of fish.
After so much research, I’d say I’m a lacto-ovo vegetarian who is part-time flexitarian.
Link to this article: https://www.thespruce.com/types-of-vegetarians-3378611
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