What are flexitarians and/or flexitarian vegans ?

Question

I see these names used in V and V but don't really know what they are.

So they are meat reducing omnivores.

Answer 1

Hey Andie...let me put this in very clear terms. They are both omnivores. They like to pretend they are vegetarians (and how they imagine they're even close to being vegan is beyond me).

The word vegetarian was coined by the vegetarian society in the mid 1800's. They are the only authority to define the word. You can see from the definition that no animal flesh is allowed if you wish to be an actual vegetarian. Anyone else's definition is irrelevant. Nobody acknowledges these people's claims except themselves and their attempts at acceptance have long since lost any glimmer of hope.

The one true definition:

http://www.vegsoc.org/info/definitions.html

Please everyone, understand they are just attention seekers in this forum and their claims are without merit.

Answer 2

omnivors that try and count themself as a sub group of vegatarians when they have nothing to do with it. the flexitarian vegans rearly make no sense as they even say they can use leather ect when vegans try to avoid all animal use.

Basicly the flexitarians came out off people finaly understanding that fish and chicken eaters who do not eat red meat are not vegatarians like most general people use to think a few years ago so they come up with this term. Mainly a term used in the USA as they seamed to be one of the highest % of people who use to claim vegetarian when they where not.

Do a search this question has been asked befour aswell. Hopefuly one day they will relise that they are omnivors just like majority of the worlds population.

I dont know anyone other then flexitarians and confused other people who if told just asume it must be real who acnolage this term.

Jessica Nice way of discribing it

Answer 3

Well, flexitarians lack social skills, are socially isolated, they're stupid, they smell and they're all gay and at the same time all heterosexual because gays wouldn't be so stupid, they're bad tippers and lousy lovers and hypocrites and not 'true' to their chosen lifestyle the way people in (unspecified) other cultures are and so are an increasingly insignificant group

Does that sound like crap? OF COURSE it's crap. One can't possibly generalise about a group of people in that way. It's actually a brief list of a few of the things that the 3 or 4 self-proclaimed flexitarians who use this board have posted about veg*ns recently.

Abusive users of this board aside, flexitarian is a recently coined word to describe a person who eats only a little animal produce, the rest of their diet being plant-based. Language evolves and I guess this word will appear in a dictionary soon. It's a healthier diet than one which includes meat every day or every meal and if those adopting it feel the need to have a special collective label to describe themselves, fine by me.

The nonsense starts when it's used as an adjective before vegan or vegetarian, as these also recently coined words have a specific meaning, defined by the person/people who coined them.

Answer 4

A contradiction in terms. A vegan by definition does not eat any animal products, a vegetarian by definition does not eat meat. How can you be a vegetarian who eats meat sometimes?!

I have a friend who professes to be a vegetarian but every time she has a row with her boyfriend, eats a big mac. Therefore, she is not a vegetarian of any sort. If you eat meat as well as vegetables, you are an 'omnivore' or 'meat-eater'.

Flexitarian vegans are similar to 'tee-totallers' who drink alcohol, 'law-abiding citizens' who sometimes steal or non-smokers who sometimes smoke cigarettes. A joke, in other words.

Answer 5

Flexitarians are those that reduce meat from their diet, but don't eliminate it entirely. They are trying to get some of the health benefits of a vegetarian diet without making the large commitment that vegetarians have to make. It is a popular form of vegetarianism, and is a good stepping-stone to full vegetarianism for many people.

For some reason, vegetarians on Yahoo seem to have some sort of problem with it, as you can see from the other answers.

Answer 6

It is just a diet that is mainly vegetarian but has some exception(s) that very per individual. Such as a vegetarian 364 days who eats honey baked ham on christmas.

flexitarian vegan(s) is just one person on yahoo answers that has a funny name to irk vegans.

Answer 7

Meat eaters who are reducing meat in their diets without really becoming vegetarian.

The only time I find them annoying is when they call themselves "vegetarian" or "vegan."

My father, my step-mother, my brother and my sister-in-law are all doing that, but they don't try to convince me they are "vegetarians" because they know they aren't.

It's kind of like when Dan Quayle called himself a "Vietnam era veteran" and real Vietnam veterans were annoyed with him because he never really served in Vietnam.

I guess it comes from a superficial need to identify with something but without having the fortitude to make any real commitment.

Whenever I have asked them to explain how being "flexitarian" is any different from just eating meat like everyone else; they stoop to name calling ("fanatics who live in their mothers' basements") and nasty emails. If there really was something to it, it seems like they would have an intelligent way to explain their views.

As far as I can tell, the "flexitarian" thing is kind of a joke to make fun of vegetarians.

Answer 8

Here are some links and quotes that explain flexitarian vegetarianism/vegans. Flexitarians are tranforming the entire veggie world.

"The earliest known use of the term "flexitarian" occurred in the October 17, 1992, issue of the Austin American-Statesman. In this issue, reporter Linda Anthony wrote an article titled, "Acorn serves up 'flexitarian fare'". The article discussed the recent opening of the new Acorn Café and stated that owner Helga Morath calls her fare "flexitarian"." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexitarianism

"In 2003, the American Dialect Society voted flexitarian as the year's most useful word and defined it as "a vegetarian who occasionally eats meat"."

Here is an excellent article that includes quotes from the head of PETA, Vegetarian Times, and Natural Health Magazine. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4541605/

Hope this helps. I like to think of flexitarian vegetarianism as "Vegetarianism for Intelligent People"

Answer 9

Yes, I do believe that flexitarians are proponents of "Vegetarianism for Intelligent People".

It is quite odd that the reality of the growing number of flexitarian vegetarians, use of the word, and recognition of the presence of flexitarian vegetarians is denied by some people. Denial of " reality" is one of the common denominator in all mental illness. So in effect, those who deny that there are "flexitarians" might be considered slightly mentally ill. It is quite true, you know.

Flexitarians are here and they are growing in modern societies and actually have been present in ancient cultures for centuries. That's "Reality' and that's simply the way it is.
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"Strict" vegetarians are very rare, and rarer still in modern societies whereas wannabe strict vegetarians who seek out "fake" meat, need supplements, consume huge amounts of time foraging for food, and adhere to an outmoded and rapidly disappearing idea of what constitutes vegetarianism. These are the "strict" vegetarians. They deny reality. They and their opinions simply don't count.


As flexitarians we take a measured, balanced, moderate and intelligent approach to diet and ethics. We minimize our meat consumption ... often limiting it to "white" meats like fish, seafood, and poultry while the overwhelming percentage of our diets are plant based.

So you will see rants, reality being denied, etc., etc., but that is typical of old ways undergoing change. Personally, flexitarians don't care. We aren't that rigid. We pride ourselves on reasonableness and social skills. We are not considered "odd" or "not normal" by society, because there are millions upon millions of us in modern societies and whole countries that have been "flexitarians" before the word came to be used.

To prove it to yourself, Google "Flexitarian Diets", "Flexitarian", "Flexitarian vegetarians", etc.

Answer 10

They're omnivores who want to classify themselves as vegetarians. :)

_________________________________________

Essentially this is how conversations would go.
First, with a vegetarian:
Host: "This has fish in it, so I don't think you eat it. You're a vegetarian, right?"
Vegetarian: "Yes, so no thank you :)"

Second, with a flexitarian.
Host: "This has fish in it, so I don't think you eat it. You're a vegetarian, right?"
Flexitarian: "yes. I'm a flexitarian so I eat fish."
Host: "Oh..um flexitarian?...what about chicken?"
Flexitarian: "Yes."
Host: "Beef?"
Flexitarian: "Yes."
Host: "Pork?"
Flexitarian: "Yep."
Host: "ok so essentially you eat the same thing as I, an omnivore, do... and don't cut out anything from your diet? ..hokay. And by 'hokay' I mean leave my party because you're an idiot."

The end. :)