"everwestward" > wrote in message
m...
> In my life I've gone from bloodfaced carnivore to vegetarian
> to vegan to what I am now. I'm trying to figure out the word
> for what I am now.
> Is there a catchy name for this dietary niche?
Forget the lables, and just do what you do.
As there are no meaningful and widely-accepted definitions for the major
dietary classifications: vegetarian, vegan, omnivore, ... attempting to
imply finer dietry resolution from labels will be a waste of effort.

> I don't eat anything that's alive or that's a contiguous part of
> anything that's alive.
Scavenger? You'd have to come up with a viable definition of what's
"alive" and what is not. This is not a trivial exercise.

> I've heard the term "fruitarian" which is pretty close to the mark
> (although it does sound a little wimpy), but it's still not entirely
> applicable, since I eat grains and beans.
Grains, nuts, seeds, and beans are fruits, in the botanical sense.
"A fruit is a matured ovary.
Once the pollen has fertilized the egg cell contained within the ovule, the
ovule develops into a seed, and the ovary of the enclosing carpel begins to
enlarge and ripen, forming the fruit. This is the botanical definition of a
fruit, and is not the same as the popular usage of "fruit". For example, a
botanist considers acorns, tomatoes, green beans, and coconuts to be fruits.
The individual grains of wheat and rice are also fruits by this definition.
By contrast, strawberries are NOT fruits; the individual hard bits on the
outside of the strawberry are the matured ovaries, and are properly
considered fruits, while the fleshy red portion is actually stem tissue
stimulated to growth by the maturing fruits."
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/anthoph...hophytamm.html

The problem with not eating things "alive" is that one has difficulty
establishing what "alive" means. I.e., are grains, nuts, seeds, beans,
legumes, ... "alive", since they can sprout and produce a live plant? If
they're dead, they could not produce a living plant. Are they in "suspended
animation"?

> You'd never believe how tough it is living with this inability to
> classify myself.
"Classifying" yourself with obscure, idiosyncratic argot won't help,
either.

Laurie