Vegetarianism and veganism have been on the rise, both in households and on store shelves, but it has become less widespread what these terms cover and where they come from.
The origin of the vegan term itself comes from Donald Watson, co-founder of the British Vegan Society, who has created the word for the non-dairy vegetarian term in the 1940s. Later, it expanded further, when it marked a kind of worldview, a notion that one can live without the exploitation of animals. We need to distinguish between two concepts in order to be able to describe vegan well: vegans and vegetarians. What is the difference between them?
Vegans, like vegetarians, do not consume meat, but unlike vegetarians, they do not eat eggs, fish or dairy products either. We also distinguish between lacto-ovo (dairy products and eggs), lacto (dairy products only), and ovo-vegetarians (eating eggs only).
Officially, vegans do not eat any food of animal origin (such as gelatin and honey), instead they only follow a plant-based diet. Sometimes, however, a distinction is made between vegans and different types of veganism. A dietary vegan is one who excludes animal products from his or her diet. The term ethical vegan or lifestyle vegan is often used by people who not only follow a vegan diet but also extend vegan philosophy to other areas of their lives.
Of course, there are “alternative” vegetarian diets, but they are not officially considered vegetarian because they consume fish or meat, however, in small amounts or rarely. Fish consumers are called pescarians and occasional meat consumers are called “semi-vegetarians” or flexiterians.
