How many Dopers are Vegan or Vegetarian?

Prompted by the recent poll question about ‘If you were restricted to only one animal protein, what would it be?’ It got me wondering how many Vegans or Vegetarians we have here.

I made it a multiple-choice poll, because pescetarians may or may not include milk and/or eggs in their diets, as but one example.

And feel free to comment on the reasons behind your choices - no judgment of anyone else’s dietary regime(s), though, please.

  • Vegan/strict Vegetarian (no meat or animal products of any kind)
  • Ovo-Vegetarian
  • Lacto-Vegetarian
  • Ovo-Lacto-Vegetarian
  • Pescetarian (Vegetables and fish/seafood)
  • Pollotarian
  • Flexitarian
  • Omnivore
0 voters

I’ve been ovo-lacto vegetarian for twenty-two years and change now. One big reason for me is health concern. I live in Asia and have for a long time. It turns out I have shellfish sensitivity (hopefully it has not progressed/degraded into a full-on allergy) and, of course, very many food items here have shellfish or shellfish paste added to them.

That’s just one part of my reason for it. I don’t think I preach or harass non-vegetarian folks. I decided for myself to go ahead and be OLV because of that health issue and also for some of the ethical issues involved.

Many of my friends over the past two decades have asked me if I miss meat and fish. I honestly don’t.

I went Vegan in 2018, but I’ve side-stepped to ovo-lacto-vegetarian in the last year and a half. When I’m cooking on my own, I’m still mostly Vegan, but it’s extremely difficult to maintain that diet on tour.

I’ve got four reasons for being vegetarian -

  1. Health. I needed to lose 40 lbs when I made the change, and I was able to do that with diet and exercise over the course of 6 months. I also no longer needed statins or reflux meds. I’ve put a bit of that back on, but that’s just because I enjoy my food!
  2. Ethics. I respect everyone makes their own choices on this question - I just like that I haven’t encouraged someone to kill an animal for my consumption. I’m a farm kid; I’ve done my share of animal slaughter…
  3. The environment. I strongly believe that commercial industrial farming practices are a factor in environmental degradation and climate change.
  4. Cost. A week’s groceries cost me a lot less. If it’s a grocery trip with no cheese or eggs, that’s significantly cheaper. And when I’ve got the time to cook from dried beans and lentils, it’s waaaay cheaper!

I am omnivorous, and heavily into meat. I have fully accepted my natural predatory state, and feel no guilt whatsoever.

I don’t want you to feel guilt! You’ve examined the question, made your choice, and I respect that.

It’s one of the things that ticks me off about fellow Veggies - the holier than thou shit…

I’m omnivore, but eat a lot of veggies, seafood, and poultry. We have meat maybe once a week, when I smoke a leg of lamb or a beef brisket. We eat whole foods mainly, but I don’t consider myself Paleo. I try to keep as close as I can to a low-carb Mediterranean diet. I was clean Keto for four months to lose some weight, but I never planned to stay keto for the rest of my life.

Ovo-lacto-veg, although the “ovo” is fairly rare-- it’s mostly “I don’t ask other people about baked goods anymore after I’ve already quizzed them over lard and suet.”

I also will eat scrambled eggs at breakfast if it’s literally my only choice of protein other than meat and I have a strenuous day ahead, with a long time before lunch-- a lot of days in the army were like that.

I also make sure my milk and eggs are humanely-sourced (which I’m sure they weren’t in the army, but choices were very limited then).

Been veg since I was 19, and I’m now 56. (57 in January)

Omnivore, but I admire the iron self-discipline/will of you vegans/vegetarians. Wish I could be that tough.

Replied “omnivore/flexitarian” because I’d say about 90-95% of my meals fall into the ovo-lacto-vegetarian category, while the other 5-10% include animal-slaughter products that I make a strong effort to source from sustainable and humane producers.

I think for anyone who doesn’t entirely reject animal slaughter on principle, the best strategy is to concentrate on eating less meat and better meat. “Plants and seeds for basic needs, meats and sweets for sometimes treats!” :smiley:

Omnivore. My daughter and her husband are vegetarian and I enjoy cooking for them and eating their food, but I don’t see myself ever giving up meat.

Omnivore. I actually spent a couple of years as a vegetarian (ovo-lacto) but more as ‘something to do’ in my college years than from any deep wellspring of conviction. A trip to France broke my streak since I wanted to eat various things and I was never inspired enough to pick it back up.

Iron will?!? You don’t know me vewwy well, do you? :smiley:

I can only speak for myself, but I’ve quite lost the taste for meat.

I first went vegan for Lent in 2018 - it took me a couple of weeks to figure out that means carrying snacks with you everywhere you go, because you can’t count on finding vegan food when you’re on the go. Before I went vegan, I would eat at a McDonald’s every couple of months - it was about the pigging out, not about the quality of the food, and I usually felt over-stuffed and gross afterwards. Fast forward to the end of Lent - I had fulfilled my obligation, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to go back to eating meat. A day or two after Lent was done, I had a long morning/early afternoon at the office, and was starving because I’d missed lunch. “Hmm” says I, “let’s see what a little temptation will do…”. I walked the couple of blocks to the nearest McDos, and said to myself “Let’s walk in the side door and through the restaurant - if you want to eat here, you can. If you don’t, you can walk out the front door and get a Clif bar to hold you till you get home.”. I walked through, looked at what everyone was eating, inhaled the smell - nope, I’m starving, but I don’t want this. That’s when I knew it was over between me and meat.

A couple of times since then, I’ve accidentally eaten meat - one time, I came home and my roommate said “Do you want to have the rest of our salad?” “Sure!” says I, and dig in. First mouthful, and it tastes awful, like there’s something spoiled in there. And there’s something that’s the wrong kind of chewy. I pulled it out of my mouth, looked at it, and said “Is there bacon in there?” “Oh, jeez”, she says, “I’m so sorry, yes, there is!”. I grant you, it was the kind of bacon that comes in a package when you get a salad in a bag at the grocery store, but still - it was not the bacon experience everyone goes on about.

Similar thing at a Japanese restaurant - the gyoza I ordered were pork. I knew on the first mouthful, and set them aside, because they tasted kinda gross. When the waitress came back, I explained what was wrong with them - I had made it clear that I wanted veggie gyoza, and I’d made sure there was going to be not meat or fish in the rest of my order. She apologized and took them off my bill. (“I should bloody hope so!” I thought to myself, but did not say.)

And it’s getting better all the time - there are now enough vegans and vegetarians in the world that most restaurants are adding veg entrées. It’s just smart business - when you’re out with a group of friends, some of them may insist on going to what is primarily a steakhouse, but that doesn’t mean that everyone in the group wants meat. It’s pretty rare (Ha!) now to find yourself in a situation where you can’t come up with anything, even if it’s only a salad and a plate of fries. (Which were probably cooked in animal fat, but let’s try not to dwell on that…)

It’s not discipline. I think meat cooking smells like flatulence; the taste of it disgusts me, and the texture makes me gag.

In April I (almost entirely) gave up beef, pork and shellfish in an effort to lower my cholesterol. I love all of them but am very surprised how little I miss them. I have had an occasional cheat in that time when I was in situations with limited menus.

I eat a lot of chicken and fish, mostly salmon.

I respect ethical vegetarians and vegans. But I like meat too much to voluntarily give it up. I enjoy a lot of vegan food, but then I get to craving meat.

I have made an attempt to source most of my meat from pastured animals and via slaughter houses that are not inhumane to their workforce.

And then, someone sent me one of my favourite clips from “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World”. Take out the space, and start at 4:30 if you only want to watch the Vegan Police…

https://youtu. be/OBqUVPsm9X0?si=icRFXZ28IOP5zik-

Flex, for reasons I’ve mentioned in the thread that inspired the OP to make this one (in short: had colitis, in remission 5+ years now; eating red meat is associated with failure of remission). That leaves you with fish, fowl, dairy, eggs… and, increasingly, vegetarian - because the variety is nice. And once I got my head around vegetarian being okay, I can happily go a week without fish or fowl. So Flexitarian is closest, I guess.

Having a healthier diet is nice. Having a reduced environmental impact is nice. But I’d be a liar if I said these were my initial motivations.

j

I’m not vegetarian, but I eat very very little red meat. Most of my protein comes from canned tuna, canned sardines, milk, Greek yogurt, and beans. And occasionally poultry.

I have chickens that lay eggs, and a milk goat for milk, yogurt, chevre. Those are my sources of animal protein, pretty much. I eat fish sometimes, more because I think I should, healthwise, than any interest in it. I’ve never been a big meat eater, but recently I made a more conscious choice not to eat it. Mostly for environmental reasons. Meat production is one of major drivers of climate change and ecological degradation.

It’s too bad I don’t like legumes more.

Just heard on NPR today, that the relationship between consumption of red meat & type 2 diabetes is very strong (pork is a red meat explicitly for purposes of this study-- I’m assuming from the way it was described that pretty much all 4-footed, terrestrial animals were, including rabbit & venison, although will not swear to game animals).

Anyway, I do know that DH went from being total vegan to Ovo-lacto while stationed in Iraq, because there was not enough calories to be had, and may have occasonaly have his JATED beef. But hias choloaster

I’ll let the bpoychik lertellllo