# Vegetarian Eggs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 24, 2000, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetarian-eggs/34323 "2000-09-24T00:59:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![milroyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@milroyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milroyj)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2000, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetarian-eggs/34323/1 "2000-09-24T00:59:14Z")
Our local supermarket chain is advertising “Vegetarian Harvest Eggs”. Any idea what those might be? Seeing that vegetarians don’t eat animal products, and plants don’t lay eggs, I’m befuddled. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2000, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetarian-eggs/34323/2 "2000-09-24T01:43:41Z")
Read [here](http://www.egginnovations.com/faq.html) ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2000, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetarian-eggs/34323/3 "2000-09-24T01:48:17Z")
I don’t mean this in a snotty way. I simply used “google” and typed in Vegetarian Harvest eggs. Of course, it doesn’t always work this easily. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2000, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetarian-eggs/34323/4 "2000-09-24T03:32:27Z")
> [@](#): > > Seeing that vegetarians don’t eat animal products… Not exactly. Vegans don’t eat any animal products, including dairy and eggs. Vegetarians just don’t eat meat. ---
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2000, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetarian-eggs/34323/5 "2000-09-24T03:49:20Z")
To answer the inevitable question that will arise from Chronos’ explanation, I’ll say this: An egg is **not** a chicken, nor is it a chicken-embryo. It is merely a sheet of paper that a chicken _could_ be written on, and is, thus, in its present state, not an animal, and okay to be eaten by vegetarians. ---
**Author:** ![milroyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@milroyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milroyj)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2000, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetarian-eggs/34323/6 "2000-09-24T05:46:03Z")
> [@](#): > > Not exactly. Vegans don’t eat any animal products, including dairy and eggs. Vegetarians just don’t eat meat. I’m not too sure about that, Chronos. There have been several threads on this board where our resident SDMB veggies have stated that people who eat eggs are NOT vegetarians. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2000, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetarian-eggs/34323/7 "2000-09-24T06:23:28Z")
Please give the links to threads where Veggie dopers say that vegetarians DON’T eat eggs. I thought I’d caught all the veggie threads, and I don’t recall reading that anywhere on this board. Vegans don’t eat eggs, vegetarians can. That seems to be the mainstream mind-set on the subject. I believe that a few hardcore vegans want to distance themselves from plain old ovo-lacto veggies, and will claim that ovo-lacto is not veggie. But it is my understanding that this belief is in the minority. The _mainstream_ belief is that dairy products can be consumed by ovo-lacto veggies. Some people get “vegans” and “vegetarians” mixed up, though, and try to use the terms interchangably. That probably casuses confusion. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2000, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetarian-eggs/34323/8 "2000-09-24T14:06:23Z")
Among Jains and Hindus, eggs are considered nonvegetarian. The Jain reasoning is that an egg contains a jiva – the spark of life of a living entity, which they don’t want to destroy because that makes bad karma. Mahatma Gandhi, whose vegetarianism had been influenced by his Jain friends, avoided eggs. Until someone pointed out that unfertilized eggs do not contain any chick embyro, hence no jiva. After that he ate eggs. The others who posted here were right: Lacto-ovo vegetarians eat dairy & eggs. Lacto-vegetarians (no ovo) eat only dairy, no eggs. Vegans eat neither. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of ovo-vegetarians (no lacto), though it’s conceptually possible. ---
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2000, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetarian-eggs/34323/9 "2000-09-24T14:50:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by milroyj \* > \*\*I’m not too sure about that, Chronos. There have been several threads on this board where our resident SDMB veggies have stated that people who eat eggs are NOT vegetarians. \*\* No, Chronos is right[sup]1[/sup]. The resident veggies on this board[sup]2[/sup] have deemed people who eat **fish** as unworthy of joining our cult. Oh? You didn’t know it was a cult? Wait 'til we control the school boards and decide the lunch menus. 😃 [sup]1[/sup]My first ass-kissing of this mod. [sup]2[/sup]At the Norfolk Dopefest, **Peta Tzunami** dubbed me the “Vegetarian Guy.” ---
**Author:** ![milroyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@milroyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milroyj)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2000, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetarian-eggs/34323/10 "2000-09-24T16:19:12Z")
> [@](#): > > An egg is not a chicken, nor is it a chicken-embryo. It is merely a sheet of paper that a chicken could be written on, and is, thus, in its present state, not an animal, and okay to be eaten by vegetarians. By this definition, all eggs are vegetarian. So what’s up with this “Vegetarian Harvest Eggs”? May as well have Vegetarian Lettuce! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2000, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetarian-eggs/34323/11 "2000-09-24T17:52:01Z")
Really, it’s all just a matter of semantics. The point is, there are some people who do not eat any animal products, and there are some people who do not eat animal flesh, but do eat eggs and/or dairy. The terms usually used of those groups are “vegan” and “vegetarian”, respectively. If you want to use different terms, or use those same terms in a different way, that’s fine, so long as the people you’re talking to know what you mean. As for how these eggs are special: They may not actually be any more “vegetarian” than ordinary eggs, but people who are vegetarians are also often proponents of organic foods and animal rights, and so might prefer these eggs. ---
**Author:** ![milroyj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@milroyj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/milroyj)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2000, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vegetarian-eggs/34323/12 "2000-09-24T21:59:00Z")
I agree that it’s a semantics issue, but I wonder if it isn’t also a bit of an advertising scam? After all, these eggs were on “sale” for $1.99/doz, when “regular” eggs sell for 99 cents or less. > [@](#): > > but people who are vegetarians are also often proponents of organic foods and animal rights, and so might prefer these eggs. While I understand the animal rights aspect, i.e. free-range vs. cages, etc., I wonder how Vegans handle the “organic” side of the question. Assuming organic farmers don’t use chemical fertilizers, do they use NO fertilizer, or organic fertilizers? If it’s the latter, then our Vegan friends are eating animal by-products.