Am I Vegan????

[LitigatorChick]

I go between calling myself a vegan and a vegetarian. Here is the issue - I do eat cheese every once in a while. So that is off-side on the vegan front. But 90% of the time, I eat vegan. So am I a "vegan"? Or am I being dishonest if I call myself a vegan?

Thoughts???

 

[SapphireLover]

No, you are vegetarian! Vegans don''t eat any animal products. Its like somebody saying "I''m a vegetarian but I eat steak at birthdays and Christmas"!

Do you check labels to see if foods are egg and dairy free?

 

[Julianna]

I believe you''re supposed to steer clear of leather altogether as well, if you''re vegan.

If I were non-carnivore, that part would jack up any vegan plans for sure.

 

[SeattleSweetheart]

I''m a vegetarian. And before I gave up meat I did a lot of research on what lifestyles people had chosen for themselves.

From what I read, being a vegan was more than just diet choices, it was also about doing as little harm as possible to all living creatures. No leather shoes, handbags, furniture . . etc. No honey or other animal products that are taken from animals. No gelatin which can be in all sorts of food as a thickening agent, in medicine and movie film. Vodka and other spirits are filtered through charcoal which is made from animal bones so alcohol is out. Certain cosmetics use bug parts for pigment so most of those are out.

So I guess my point is being a vegan is more than whether or not you eat cheese. I''d say, without knowing more about you, you''re definitely vegetarian.

Eating mostly vegan is hard and I really respect the effort you are making.

I couldn''t do it, giving up meat was a big deal to me and I love baked goods and my leather handbags too much.

 

[tlh]

If you tell people you are a vegan so that they don''t prepare dishes w/ gelatin, eggs, etc... than i think it is okay. Problem is people don''t always know what that entails, but if you eat cheese, I think I''d just call you a vegiatarian, who doesn''t eat most of all animal products, than a vegan who eats cheese and sports a pretty purse.

But I guess that is the trouble when the need to label everything starts. Just be yourself, and enjoy!

 

[neatfreak]

If you eat cheese you are a vegetarian IMO. But if you want to communicate to a hostess about no animal products you could let her know you usually follow a vegan diet.

 

[monarch64]

I''m a vegetarian. From what I understand, to really and truly call yourself a vegan, you have to avoid all animal products, period. You can EASILY miss animal ingredients in many products, food or otherwise. For example: did you know that in some vitamins or drug capsules, gelatin is used? Yeah. I didn''t know that for a long time!

 

[LitigatorChick]

I like the way you worded that neatfreak. That is really the point I want to convey. I sometimes feel like I have to "categorize" my diet, and then feel bad saying I am vegan when I cheat with the cheese sometimes (oh yummy yummy cheese). I am really just trying to tell people/restaurants that I want to eat vegan and if anything is outside that, lemme know or whatever.

As an aside, I do in fact avoid dairy/eggs in baking - make my own stuff and ensure it is compliant. I was aware of the vitamin issue noted above, and follow that too. I do all this for health reasons, not animal reasons, so I still enjoy leather shoes/purses.

Thanks all (esp. neatfreak!!!).

 

[Haven]

It sounds like you came up with a good solution. I was raised ovo-lacto vegetarian, and we always just told people that we were vegetarian if we would be eating food they prepared, so I was going to say "Tell your food preparers whatever they need to hear to get your meal right."

I started eating meat at age 19 and haven''t stopped since, so I''m no longer a vegetarian. When I was younger (12-ish) vegetarianism became somewhat of a trend in our area, and it used to annoy me *beyond belief* when people said they were vegetarians, but still ate foods with gelatin rennet (which is in a lot of cheese,) or other animal products. I grew up a little and decided it doesn''t really matter what people call themselves, and people seem to have such varied definitions of "vegetarian" that you''re probably better off telling waitstaff that you''re vegan, anyway.