"Monkkey's Unkle" > wrote in message
news
> Hi, gang,
>

Why do you want to be labeled?








> I have a problem. I need to know what kind of veg* I am.
>
> First, let me tell you what I am not.
>
> I am NOT a vegan. However, my diet is very similar to a
> vegan's. From
> what I have read about vegans and from the vegans I've met,
> they are a
> bunch of people whose only reason to be any kind of veg* is out
> of a
> zealous animal rights fanaticism. I've been told that if you
> are not inot
> animal rights you are not a vegan. Furthermore, it seems that,
> to be a
> vegan, you must have the conviction that you must coerce the
> rest of the
> world into accepting your position. Count me out on both of
> those points!
> -- And, please, do not call me a vegan. By the way, one look
> at my old
> (and rather beat up) leather belt will tell you I am not a
> vegan.
>
> I am not an ovo-lacto-vegetarian because I do not do either
> eggs or dairy.
> Of course, that means that I am lacto-vegetarian or an
> ovo-vegetarian,
> either.
>
> If you are not an ovo-lacto-vegetarian (which means vegetables
> plus eggs
> and milk) or an ovo-vegetarian (which means vegetables plus
> eggs) or a
> lacto-vegetarian (which means vegetables plus dairy), then you
> would think
> that you would be a vegetarian (meaning vegetables plus
> nothing). Not so,
> apparently, for it would seem that the ovo-lacto-vegetarians
> have coopted
> the name "vegetarian" for themselves. A while back, I was in a
> restaurant
> that had "vegetarian black beans" on the menu. To my horror,
> it was
> smothered with cheese. I won't make that mistake again, though
> it still
> gets my goat that the ovo-lacto-vegetarians have coopted the
> name
> vegetarian when they have a name of their own
> (ovo-lacto-vegetarian).
>
> Well, what about "strict vegetarian"? It seems, though, that
> vegans (who
> already use the name vegan) want to coopt the name "strict
> vegetarian" as
> well.
>
> Now, all I eat are products of vegetation. However, since I am
> not any
> kind of animal rights fanatic, I am not a vegan (or,
> apparently, even a
> "strict vegetarian") and since I do not eat either unborn
> poultry or dairy
> products I am not an ovo-lacto-vegetarian (or even, it would
> seem, a
> "vegetarian"). So what am I?
>
> Sometimes I just feel like calling myself a herbivore, but
> someone has
> probably coopted that name as well.
>
> --
> Your friendly, neighborhood Monkkey's Unkle