What is your opinion on vegetarians who drink and/or smoke?

Question

Is the only requirement of vegetarianism to not eat meat?

Answer 1

So you know, I've been a vegetarian for eight years. I drink socially and do not smoke.

Technically, the only requirement of vegetrianism is to restrict the consumption of animal products. I say restrict because there are several levels of vegetrianism, ranging from lacto-ovo vegetarians to vegans, frutists and raw foodists. Some people who eat fish also claim to be vegetarian. Many vegetarians also choose to refrain from other products based on political, spiritual, health or well being issues or because said products contain animal by-products (e.g. many cosmetics).

People become vegetarian for many different reasons, and I've met all types. Some have limited all intake of what they deem unhealthy, others don't feel the need to. Honestly, I hope that vegetarianism is wide enough to encompass both views. I've found that, often, vegetarianism has beem interpolated with other social movements and used, wisely or illy, to accent other agendas such as tolereance movements, Straight Edgers, animal rights activists, health food gurus, anti-consumerist movements. There's nothing wrong with this as these people can contribute viable things to the vegetarian community. But we should also retain a sense that vegetarinaism is not just a sum of these parts. It is, ultimately, a very personal choice.

How people choose to justify and rationalize this choice is dependant on their reasons for being vegetarian, their socio-economic position, even their location (trust me, being a vegetarian in rural Texas is hard, I've done it). For example,
some vegetarians cite that beer more "healthy" than other beverages. Others retort that beer often contains all sorts of nasty animal products like albumin in those "trace ingeredients." So do most cheeses, by the way, so based on this, people would logically have to give them up as well unless they were able to fully determine their gastronomic heritage. Because of this, many groups have put together lists of "vegan beer" that is okay to consume. As such, it would seem that beer is often deemed "okay" or not based on its relationship to animal products, not it's status as an alcoholic beverage. As far as smoking goes, I find it unheathly personally, but I also realize that it is an addicition. As I'm not a certified addicition specialist, I find that it is my role to be supportive if a smoker friend requests help, ask that they not smoke around the asthmatic members of my family, and butt out otherwise (pardon the pun). I do not consider them a "bad vegetarian" or anything else.

I'm sure that there are people who would disagree with what I've said, and that's fine. Ultimately, however, I'm not here to legislate other adults's bodies (vegetarian or otherwise) unless there is overtly compelling reason to do so. I think that there is already enough pressure on vegetarians from non-vegetarians--You wouldn't believe how many times I've heard, "Just try my venison, it'll convert you" and "So are you one of those crazy animal liberation people" and even "You know, Mussolini was a vegetarian."--for me to actively participate in infigthing over more or less useless catagorizations within the vegetarian ranks. I've never heard of a vegetarian tribunal, and hope I never do.

Answer 2

The only requirement for being a vegetarian is to not eat any part of an animal--meat, gelatin, lard, whatever. Drinking and smoking is as bad as eating meat though. Did you know cigarette companies test their products on animals? Oh, no, it's not to see if they're safe--which they certainly are not--it's to try to find a result that says cigarettes are not as bad as they really are. That's just stupid. Check out the site...
http://www.smokinganimals.com

Answer 3

I think thats true, I know vegetarians who both smoke and drink. Health is only one of the reasons a person might chose to be a vegetarian, some people do not believe its right to kill animals, some that its horribly cruel to animals to raise them in feed lots or coops or pens, some that there is a karmic interest in not killing other living beings.

Answer 4

I have no opinion. One has nothing to do with the other. Vegetarians simply do not eat meat or other products from slaughtered animals. Some do it for religion, some for health and many, like me, do it because consuming flesh is wrong.

Answer 5

I am a vegetarian, and I smoke and drink. There is no "requirement", as there are no veggie police, but to be considered a vegetarian, you simply dont consume meat, poultry, fish or seafood. Vegans take it a step further, and dont consume dairy or eggs, or use anything that comes from or is tested on an animals, such as leather, wool, honey, etc.

Answer 6

hmmm... I smoke (not cigarettes) and drink, but i'm careful when i drink not to drink non-vegan beer (guiness, foster, new castle, etc.) and if by chance i do smoke a cigarette i only smoke American Spirits, because unlike most other tobacco companies, american spirits does not conduct toxication tests on animals.

Information of Cigarette Companies that test
on Beagles, Monkeys and Rosters (etc..)
http://www.smokinganimals.com/facts.html

Information of Non-Vegan and Vegan Beer:
http://www.foodfightgrocery.com/downloads/vegbeer.pdf

Therefore, Smoking and Drinking Heedlessly could possible run you into an altercation with the Vegan Police.

Answer 7

I guess I'm a more radical example? I'm a vegan, yet I smoke cigarettes.
People tell me all the time I am a hypocrite.... but, I became a vegan for more than health reasons.
I think people forget thet each Veg turns this way for all various reasons, not just for one or the other.

Answer 8

The Fact they drink and/or smoke wouldn't stop them being vegetarian, so long as the drink was veggie I suppose.

Answer 9

I believe so but I have a vegetarian neighbor who buys all organic food and still smokes cigarettes. Sounds crazy, right? Organic is supposed to be all natural (no hormones, pesticides, etc.) but cigarettes are full of that stuff, so go figure!

Answer 10

yes. vegetarians aren't always vegetarians for health reasons. They may think that it is wrong to kill animals for food. In this case, while it may not be healthy, it is perfectly okay to smoke or drink.