Do vegetarians eat eggs,milk,fish or shrimp?

Question

I'm trying to become vegetarian, but I love eggs, milk, fish and shrimp. Can I eat these and still be considered a vegetarian?

wow there are so many different answers how do I know which one is right?

Answer 1

Not all of them.

Vegetarians only avoid eating meat. This means seafood as well.

Vegans are the ones that cut out the dairy, eggs, and all other animal products. I would suggest being vegan.

Pesco-vegetarians are the ones that exclude all meat except for seafood from their diet. However, fish often contains high levels of mercury, so I would not suggest doing this.

I am posting a site that will give a lot of information you can use.

Answer 2

It is hard to know the correct answer because there are alot of opinions out there about what is and isn't being vegetarian.

Vegetarian in the common sense means no animal meat and yes fish is meat as far as I am concerned, and generally not using any products that require animals be killed.

Veganism involves the eating/using no animal byproducts in addition to not eating meat. i.e. things you can get from an animal without killing it (milk, eggs, wool, beeswax, etc.)

That being said, I think you need to consider why you want to make the change to vegetarianism and what your needs are. I think it is a very good stepping stone to vegetarianism to eat fish if that is something you think would be good for you. Remember that it's better to eat less meat than not take any steps towards vegetarianism at all.

I think alot of the hang-ups people have with what is "perfectly" vegetarian and who can call themselves vegetarian get in the way of alot of very well intentioned people making the important first steps and eliminating only some meats or animal products from their diets at first because it "isn't vegetarian enough" to join the club.

I say, start with the eggs, fish and milk, but at the same time start introducing yourself to more strict vegetarian dishes a little at a time. Eventually you can phase out the fish and milk and eggs.

Answer 3

Yeah technically vegetarians only eat vegetables.

If you eat egg and milk products then you are an ovo-lacto-vegetarian. I already think that's stretching the word too far. Egg and milk aren't vegetables, and they do cause death and suffering to chickens and cows. Eggs must be free-range and cheese and whey products must use vegetarian rennet.

Fish and other water creatures are most definitely not allowed. Nor chicken or duck.

At the end of the day you can call yourself what you want, but when people claim to be veggie or vegan and then eat fish or chicken or whatever, then people get confused about what vegetarians really eat.

Vegan is simpler - vegetables only. No animal products or byproducts at all.

Answer 4

People become vegetarians for many different reasons. I'm an ovo-lacto vegetarian, but I buy cheese and milk that's not loaded up with the chemicals and antibiotics found in the milk products sold in mainstream stores. The eggs I buy are from free range chickens.

Absolutely no problem eating fish and shrimp, but you might want to do a bit of research here to find out which species are being overfished or farmed to make sure you're getting the kind of food you want to eat.

Kudos to you for your efforts. Don't worry about what others think. Just do what you think is right.

Answer 5

Wow -- you got a good number of ridiculous answers.

Vegetarians don't eat fish.

They can eat eggs and dairy, though.

Foods allowed in the main vegetarian diets
Diet Name Meat Eggs Dairy
Lacto-ovo vegetarianism No Yes Yes
Lacto vegetarianism No No Yes
Ovo vegetarianism No Yes No
Veganism No No No

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarian

There are some people who've defined "does not eat red meat" this way:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pesco/pollo_vegetarianism

Any reputable web site or book on vegetarianism will tell you exactly what Wikipedia does. Yeah, "it's all about personal choice," but the people here who're vegetarians-who-eat-fish (tr.: confused) do not, apparently, have much traffic with the outside world. It gets a bit weird being offered fish, or denied egg and dairy, when looking for "vegetarian" food. Just ignore them.

If you don't want to eat meat and poultry, but you still want to eat seafood, go for it. It's a healthy diet. Not vegetarian, but why worry about that?

Answer 6

NO. First there are two different types of vegetarians. There are vegans and there are just plain vegetarians. Neither of these two groups eat any flesh from any animal, fish, poultry etc., No flesh of any kind. Rule of thumb, if its ever had a mother or eyeballs, don't eat it. Vegetarians do eat cheese, eggs and drink milk. Vegans do not eat ANY products made from animal. Meaning cheese of any kind, eggs, milk, etc. Vegans drink soy or rice milk, use tofu for scrambled eggs, which I might add, is VERY good!, eat the cheese substitue that you can find in almost any store that sells cheese. There are tons of products and recipes that you can eat and make for delicious meals.

If you have any questions, just shoot me an email and I'll hook you up with lots of resources! Good luck, it really is healthier for you, especially nowdays with all the madcow disease, and stuff going on with chickens, etc.

I suggest that if you are just starting out, don't be too hard on yourself.

Answer 7

there are many different types of vegetarians. technically, you can still eat eggs and drink milk and be a vegetarian (a lacto-ovo vegetarian). fish and shrimp, however, are out, but maybe you can try weaning yourself off them. it's ok to take it slow. don't give up, you're doing a great thing!!! =D

Answer 8

Fish and shrimp are animals so no..you are not a vegetarian.


Vegetarians do not eat animals or parts of dead animals. This is the right answer. Vegetarian diets are based on plant matter
There is no such thing as a pesce-vegetarian. That's an oxymoron. If you eat fish butno other meat..you would be an omnivore (one that eats both flesh and plants) or a fancy term would be pescetarian..

Answer 9

Technically a vegetarian can eat any of those things, but it is really up up to u and what u believe in eating as a vegetarian. There are different types of vegetarians that eat different things

lacto-vegetarians eat dairy products

ovo-vegetarians- eat eggs

lacto-ovo vegetarians eat both eggs and dairy products

pesce- vegetarians eat fish as well as eggs and dairy products (some people do not consider pesce- vegetarians to be real vegetarians, but many do!)
I hope I could help!!

Answer 10

Well vegetarians eat only vegitables and NO meat....seafood is not considered meat in some strange way.

Vegans do not drink milk or anything that has to do with animals (seafood, meat, milk, cheese, dairy stuff, etc.)

If you want to become vegetarian you can still eat your eggs, milk, fish and shrimp