Vegetarianism

There are many different categories of vegetarianism because there are many different reasons that people choose an alternative diet. Whether you choose a Su Vegetarian diet, Ovo-Lacto Vegetarian diet or Vegan diet depends on why you are excluding certain foods. Generally speaking, people choose a diet for reasons including health, ethics, environment, religion, culture, aesthetics, allergies and economics. I've broken down the definitions of the various vegetarian diets below.





Ovo-Lacto Vegetarianism

The ovo-lacto vegetarian is the most common category of vegetarian and is usually simply referred to as vegetarian. Ovo-lacto vegetarians do not eat meat. They don't eat fish, crustaceans, poultry or red meat. The "ovo-lacto" qualification in the title means that they do eat other animal products such as eggs and milk products.





Lacto Vegetarianism

Lacto Vegetarianism is very similar to ovo-lacto vegetarianism. The only difference is that lacto vegetarians don't eat eggs. To be clear, lacto vegetarians don't eat any animal flesh or eggs, but they do eat milk products.





Ovo Vegetarianism

As you've probably already deduced, ovo vegetarians don't eat any animal flesh or milk products, but they do eat eggs.





Veganism

As the vegan diet becomes more mainstream, the distinction from vegetarianism is more clear. However, I still come across quite a few people who don't know what vegans eat and don't eat. Vegans do not eat any animal flesh or animal products, such as eggs or milk. There is some debate in the vegan community on whether honey is included in the vegan diet.





Raw Veganism

The raw vegan diet includes only fresh, uncooked vegetables and fruit, nuts and seeds. Raw vegans do not eat any animal meat or products.





Fruitarianism

Fruitarians do not eat any animal products or flesh. The fruitarian diet includes only fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds that can be collected without harming the plant that produced them.





Su Vegetarianism

This vegetarian diet is mostly followed by Buddhists. Su vegetarians do not eat any animal flesh or products and also exclude vegetables in the allium family, such as onions, garlic, scallions and leeks.





Some people identify as vegetarians, but still eat fish and/or poultry. Strictly speaking, a vegetarian diet excludes all meat by definition. There are probably a lot of reasons for this mistake in labels but a more accurate term for this diet is semi-vegetarian.





Vegetarianism is usually associated with diet but many vegetarians do not use or purchase any product that is tested on animals or comes from an animal, such as skin or fur. Many animal-friendly brands will advertise that they don't test their products on animals.





I've included some great resources below, for different perspectives on the vegetarian diet. If you still have questions, feel free to leave them in the comments section and I'll do my best to answer.