Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
Even though people have been vegetarian for centuries, the term ‘vegetarian’ was coined in 1839 and referred to people who ate a plant-based diet.
For the last 200 years, since commercial slaughterhouses were invented, people became strong meat eaters and the result has been devastation on the planet. Now both realisation and reaction has set in all over the world. Being vegetarian is fashionable. Few people will now insist in public that they are die-hard meat eaters. Many people will say they are vegetarian, but they eat some fish, others eat eggs, others milk. The road from carnivore to vegan is paved with small concrete steps, each with their own designation and description:
Omnivore: One who eats everything.
Carnivore: One who eats meat.
Pescatarian: Someone who doesn’t eat meat but eats fish. The term ‘pescatarian’ was coined in the early 1990s and is a combination of the Italian word for fish, ‘pesce’, and the word ‘vegetarian’. Some Bengalis call themselves vegetarians because they won’t eat meat, and fish are labeled ‘Jal Torai’ or vegetables of the sea. Even with pescatarians there are subgroups: for example, Jews eat fish, but are not allowed to eat shellfish.
Lacto-ovo vegetarian: Someone who won’t eat meat, chicken, seafood or fish, but will eat dairy products and eggs.
Lacto-vegetarian: Someone who won’t eat meat, eggs, fish, seafood or chicken, but will take dairy products. Punjabis and Gujaratis come to mind.
Ovo-vegetarian: Someone who does not eat meat, fish, seafood, chicken or dairy products but eats eggs. This is usually justified by saying that the eggs are not “fertilised” so they are vegetarian.
Pollovegetarian: Someone who doesn’t eat meat, fish, eggs or dairy but will eat chicken.
Pesco pollo vegetarian: This person avoids red meat but eats chicken and fish.
Macrobiotic: A follower of this diet is mainly vegetarian, but it sometimes includes seafood. This “vegetarian” focuses on eating local and seasonal foods that balance each other. More than a philosophy, this is done for health reasons.
Living food eater: I don’t think this includes raw meat or fish. This person eats only raw foods. The concern is that heating foods above 116°F destroys important enzymes that help with digestion. This person also believes that cooking diminishes the vitamin and mineral content of the food.
Fruitarian: A person who eats only fruits and vegetables, often including beans, nuts, and grains, usually raw. These foods are taken from the plant without killing it.
Vegan: No meat, poultry, fish, seafood, eggs and dairy products, and foods that contain these products. No honey, gelatin, albumin, rennet.
Whatever the path being taken and the level of commitment, the reality is that cutting your meat consumption benefits your health, promotes animal well-being and helps the planet support the growing human population.
The word most currently in vogue is ‘flexitarian’ which means ‘semi vegetarian’ – primarily a plant-based diet but can include meat, dairy, eggs, poultry and fish on occasion, or in small quantities.
While the number of vegetarians and vegans remains low in most countries, the number of flexitarians is far larger, with numbers as high as 14 per cent in the UK, according to a recent poll. According to the poll, 18 per cent of women from 18-24 are flexitarian, and three per cent are vegan. For men in the same age range, 10 per cent are flexitarian and one per cent are vegan. For both men and women, individuals under 35 are more likely to be vegan or vegetarian.
But vegetarianism isn’t just a diet choice. It’s a lifestyle and identity chosen for a variety of reasons, including moral, environmental and health. Vegetarians differ psychologically from omnivores. So what is the psychology of flexitarians?
Researchers found that there were no age or income differences between flexitarians and vegetarians on average. Both had a large number of vegetarians in their social network. But unlike vegetarians, flexitarians were much less likely to say that avoiding meat was central to their identity. They were less judgmental of omnivores’ choice to eat meat, and less likely to feel that eating meat was morally wrong.
However, the flexitarians believed that society judged them far more positively for avoiding meat. Researchers found that flexitarians were less likely to be avoiding meat for a cause beyond themselves, like animal welfare or the environment, or even personal benefits like health.
Vegetarians were much less concerned about how their diet was viewed by society.
Researchers asked flexitarians whether they intended to go vegetarian at some point. Almost all of them said yes.
Both the study and poll showed that flexitarians are nearly three times more likely, than the general public, to say that they are “actively trying to reduce their meat consumption.” The poll showed that flexitarians, who intend to go vegan or vegetarian, are more likely to be students or part-time workers, live at home or with housemates, and expect a child in the recent future.
Flexitarians are also more likely to engage in general socially-conscious behaviour like recycling and buying fair trade. Flexitarians and pescatarians consume dairy or meat substitutes at a far higher rate than the general population.
So, how does one turn a flexitarian into a vegetarian? If one goes by this data, I would think the best way to do it would be to make the word flexitarian far more popular, and bring it up constantly when introducing, or talking to, someone who has decided to lessen their meat habit. You need to solidify their meat avoiding identity, and to encourage them to take pride in it and bring it up in their own conversation. If they felt they were part of a large community going in the same direction, they could be persuaded to walk on the same road as vegetarians.
These are people who are very aware of society and its trends. Which means that personal benefit is a strong
psychological factor.
So, pushing the health benefits to them would be helpful as a backup tool.