The 4 differences between being vegan and vegetarian

With the advent of new times, there also comes a new way of relating to the environment and, of course, with the beings that inhabit it. Our ethical stance on how we should treat animals has evolved, and in recent decades we have become much more concerned with their welfare and health.

In fact, today we are involved in debates that would be difficult to imagine a hundred years ago, and that touch on different issues related to empathy towards other sentient life forms. In this article we will review What are the differences between being a vegan and being a vegetarian?, two life philosophies and sets of routines that have a lot to do with the new ethical positions that are spreading throughout the Western world.

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Expand ethics and empathy towards animals

Both veganism and the tendency to adopt a vegetarian lifestyle have started to become popular especially since the beginning of the 21st century. Of course, this expansion of two ways of living so different from the one that has traditionally prevailed in Western culture has not been without controversy. Its repercussions on our attitudes of perceiving and living with animals generate all kinds of debates about morality and

what is the best way to live consuming products and resources.

It must be borne in mind that for centuries there have been groups and societies concerned with the welfare of animals, who have made the need not to harm them one of the pillars of their way of life.

Differences between veganism and vegetarianism

However, normally these groups of people behaved in this way because of a mystical or religious feeling that dictated rules of conduct in relation to nature. It is recently when it appears a feeling of empathy with animals of a secular type, disconnected from a certain conception of what the cosmos is or of how we are dictated that we should be as parts of a divine creation.

Now, there is no single way to express that feeling of connection to other sentient beings. The differences between veganism and vegetarianism are proof of this. In the following lines we will see what are the main differences between being a vegetarian and being a vegan.

1. Vegetarians can consume animal products

The concept of vegetarianism covers many lifestyles that are characterized by having a much more restricted consumption of products of animal origin than is usual. Vegetarians don't eat meat., but in some cases they do consume egg products, in others they consume dairy, and in others they consume both egg and milk derivatives. The incorporation of honey in the diet of vegetarians is also something common and frequent.

On the other hand, vegans try not to consume any products of animal origin; neither derived from eggs or milk, nor honey. While vegetarians are characterized rather by adopting as a frame of reference the diet that includes everything that is edible and nutritious, and from there are created exceptions, in the case of veganism, this kind of food is discarded from the beginning.

2. Veganism is more than a diet

Normally, the concept of vegetarianism refers to a type of diet characterized by the absence of certain products, since to produce them animals must be killed or harmed.

Veganism, on the other hand, goes far beyond what is eaten, and also affects, for example, the clothes that are worn, the cosmetics that are consumed, etc. If to produce any product you have to cause pain in an animal or even kill it, either to experiment or to be able to manufacture a product, the tendency of vegan people is not to make use of it.

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3. Veganism can mutate with technological development

The raison d'être of veganism is not in itself not to eat organic matter that is not of plant origin, but not to cause pain to animals. Therefore, if in the future a way is found to produce meat, milk or eggs directly, without having to extract it from animals mature and with a nervous system or without the participation of these, a vegan person could, hypothetically, consume that product.

Instead, like vegetarianism has been first defined as a type of diet, meat is not consumed, regardless of its origin.

4. Vegetarianism can contain veganism, but not the other way around

As vegetarianism is a very broad concept in terms of diet, the dietary aspect of veganism can fit into it. Specific, veganism can be considered to be a strict version of vegetarianism. However, this is a nominalist debate, and there is no consensus as to whether there is a quantitative difference between vegetarians and vegans or whether the difference is rather qualitative.