When Veggies Come to Dinner, Part 1: Vegetarians, Pescatarians and Flexitarians

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the “When Veggies Come to Dinner” series. When I started this blog, I knew that I wanted to share different aspects of my life, like my love of gardening and crafting. I also knew that I wanted to share recipes and information about being a vegetarian. Writing about gardening and crafting is easy, everyone can understand and enjoy it.  Writing about vegetarianism is not as easy.

When you choose to become a vegetarian, you unexpectedly inherit new personality traits, many of which are not flattering.  Traits like being “judgmental”, an “angry activist” and even “crazy” are now yours to contend with. Just like all stereotypes, some people embody these traits and some do not. I do not.  It’s important to me that anyone who has a question about being a vegetarian, meat-eater or otherwise, doesn’t feel intimidated to ask. So when I’m asked time and time again “what do you eat?”, I’m always happy to answer. It’s in this spirit that I started the “When Veggies Come to Dinner Series”, to help everyone better understand their veggie family, friends, neighbors and co-workers.

I know that feeding a vegetarian can seem like an intimidating and stressful event, afterall…what DO they eat?  So, not only for for those with a vegetarian in their life, but for those that are thinking about adopting a vegetarian lifestyle, I’ll give you definitions to help you better understand the different veggie diets. In each part of the series I’ve also included a list of sneaky ingredients that you may not realize are veggie unfriendly.  There’s also suggestions for easy meat-optional meals, fast food choices and restaurant choices that are great when eating out with your veggie friends. These are just guidelines, so when in doubt, just ask your veggie friend what he or she doesn’t eat.

PART 1: VEGETARIANS, PESCATARIANS AND FLEXITARIANS DEFINED

Vegetarian – “Nothing with a Face”

Sometimes “vegetarian” is used as a blanket term for a lot of different eating choices. Most people define vegetarian as someone who will eat eggs and dairy, but not any type of animal, including fish. This type of vegetarian is sometimes referred to as a lacto-ovo vegetarian.  There are vegetarians that will eat eggs, but not dairy (ovo-vegetarian) or dairy but not eggs (lacto-vegetarian).

Sneaky Foods/Ingredients: gelatin/Jello, gummy bears, Frosted Mini Wheats, marshmallows (but not marshmallow fluff), most gravy,some varieties of beers, refried beans, some brands of white sugar, lecithin (but not soy lecithin), some yogurt parfaits (which contain gelatin-the one at Starbucks did the last time I checked), caesar dressing (which contains anchovy paste)

Easy Vegetarian Meal: Fajitas!  I recently went to a dinner party (Fajitas and Ritas Night) where I was the only vegetarian and it was no biggie.  They cooked up the chicken and steak separately, then set all the ingredients out on the buffet.  I was able to build a huge burrito filled with black beans, onions, peppers, cheese, sour cream, salsa, guacamole and cilantro.

Fast Food Vegetarians: Burger King – Whopper sandwich with cheese, no meat (and I prefer no mayo).  They do have a button for “no meat” and sometimes they charge you separately for each ingredient and it comes to less than a dollar for the sandwich.  Some Burger King restaurants offer an actual veggie patty to replace the beef one, just ask at the counter.  Select one of their many sides to complete your meal.

Restaurant Vegetarians: Anywhere that has a breakfast menu.  I could eat breakfast for every meal of the day and between eggs, toast, hash-browns and fruit, I fill up and never even miss the meat.

Pescatarian – “Only if it Comes From the Sea”

Sometimes a vegetarian will eat fish, but no other meat, this is referred to as pescatarianism.  Some pescatarians eat only fish but not shellfish.  While others eat only shellfish but not fish and of course, some eat both fish and shellfish.  Pescatarians are so similar to vegetarians that some people use the terms interchangeably, though “true” vegetarians will make the distinction.

Feeding a pescatarian is similar to feeding a vegetarian, so anything a veggie will eat, so too, will a pescatarian.

Flexitarian – “It Depends…”

Flexitarians do eat meat, but not very often.  Sometimes this group will only eat a certain type of meat, like chicken but not pork or red meat.  My mother also refers to this as “making vegetarian choices”.  As indicated by the name this type of diet is flexible, you don’t often need to make special accommodations to include a flexitarian at your table.

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That’s it! If you have questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments and be sure to keep a look out for the rest of the “When Veggies Come to Dinner” series.

The “When Veggies Come to Dinner” Series
Part 1: Vegetarians (lacto-ovo), Pescatarians and Flexitarians Defined
Part 2: Vegans and Raw Vegans Defined
Part 3: Tips for Feeding and Understanding Your Veggie Friends and Family