ddyment@water.UUCP (Doug Dyment) (07/16/86)
Comments on Sue Trowbridge's questions...
1) lacto-vegetarians eat dairy products
ovo-vegetarians eat eggs
lacto-ovo-vegetarians eat both of the above
vegans (pronounced with soft "g") eat only vegetable-source foods
fruitarians eat only vegetables whose harvesting does not require
killing of the plant (e.g., apples are fine, carrots are not)
breatharians claim to live by inhaling pollens, etc., but I never
met one (and I'm *not* making this up)
all of the above are collectively known as vegetarians; none of them
eat dead animals; if you eat dead animals, you are not (and should
not call yourself) a vegetarian -- you are just a person who doesn't
eat cows, pigs, or whatever you choose to avoid; please note that I
am not claiming that there is anything *wrong* with this, but life
gets more confusing than necessary if restauranteurs get told that
*some* "vegetarians" eat chicken, seafood, etc.
2) if you eat a good, *varied* vegetarian diet, you will get all the
vitamins, minerals, protein, etc. that you need; if you are just star-
ting out, you might want to take note of zinc and vitamin B-12, but
don't worry yourself needlessly.
3) see 1) above; I don't know *why* you've decided to become a vegetarian,
but all of the usual reasons (except for saving money) would seem to
suggest that you not continue to eat poultry; I think that you will not
notice a significant change in your health/lifestyle if you do not
eliminate dead animals from your diet.
4) I have been a vegetarian for 10 years or so, and have never experienced any
hostility; it's frequently an inconvenience, though, particularly in the
more conservative areas of the country (e.g., lack of restaurants with
anything more vegetarian than a tossed salad).
5) There is "hidden" animal content in almost everything :-) If you're
really a purist, you will almost never eat in a restaurant unless it is
specifically vegetarian; other than that, reading labels is the best
approach (you should read labels even if you're *not* vegetarian); I'm
not too paranoid about it all myself -- I never eat dead animals, and
never do any cooking at home that includes animal products, but I don't
avoid cheeses that have rennet, and I don't lose sleep over the refried
beens that your local Mexican restaurant is likely to cook in lard
(though I would avoid even this if there were an alternate Mexican
restaurant in town); actually, more and more places are using vegetable
oils for cooking these days, so that's less of a concern than it once was.
6) nowadays there are *many* good vegetarian cookbooks; I think the "best"
one is "Modern Wholefoods Cookery" (I forget the authors, a husband and
wife team -- I'm at work with no access to my books -- we have over 150
vegetarian cookbooks!), and it's recently become available in (large)
paperback; the two Moosewood books are good; "Laurel's Kitchen", easily
available in paperback, is very good for philosophy and nutrition, but
mediocre on recipes; the ubiquitous "Sunset" book series contains two
that are vegetarian, inexpensive, and quite good; there are *many* others
-- I could make you quite a list one day, but this should be enough to
see you through.
Good luck!
-------------------------------------------------------------
Doug Dyment |\
Dept. of Computer Science /| \
University of Waterloo / | \
Canada N2L 3G1 / | \
/ | \
office: 519/888-4451, home: 888-7895 _/____|======,
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