So when I decided to go Vegetarian in October in solidarity with my son. I learnt a lot of things. I also learnt that many people don’t understand the differences between the different plant based diets.

I found that I had to explain myself to a lot of people,which prompted  me to do research so I could better explain it. This is when I found out that I don’t know as much as I thought.

But since I like to play teacher teacher (say anything twice in South Africa and it becomes a game) I decided to share the basics around the more popular plant based diets. That way you don’t accidently offer your vegan sister in law honey glazed carrots at Christmas lunch.

Who is who with plant based diets

Vegetarian

Becoming vegetarian is what I set out to do in October, but I ended up pescetarian. Vegetatians are classed into the following groups:

1. Lacto-ovo vegetarians do not eat meat , which means no beef, pork, poultry, fish, shellfish, insects, or animal flesh of any kind (like Aidan). However, they do eat eggs and dairy products (jip like Aidan).
2. Lacto-vegetarian is a type of vegetarian who does not eat meat and eggs, but eats dairy products. Lacto = milk (get it, get it)
3. Ovo-vegetarians do not eat meat or dairy products, but eats eggs. Think of “ovo” which is the Latin word for eggs.

Vegan

This is what I’m trying out for January. Really hoping some of you will join me as I need the encouragement:

Basically in my mind Vegan’s are hard core vegetarians. Vegans avoid meat, chicken, fish, shellfish, eggs, dairy, and honey, as well as any other products containing animal-derived additives. So nothing that needed animals to be produced.  

Pescatarian

This is what I have been for the last two months:

A pescatarian is someone who adds fish and seafood to a vegetarian diet. However, a pescatarian is not considered a vegetarian—the diets are separate from each other. A vegetarian diet excludes all animals.

Flexitarian

My deep craving for salami sticks has made me consider this:

Flexitarians are people who eat mostly vegetarian but occasionally eat meat which includes red meat, poultry, seafood and fish. Also referred to as a semi-vegetarian, when they do choose to meat, it’s sometimes free-range or organic animal products. There is no firm definition as to how much meat you should eat during the week, whether it’s once a day, once a week or occasionally, this diet is up to the individual person. 

• I have signed up to work with The Fry Family Food Co. for December and January so keep an eye out for my Meat-free posts on Mondays where I will be sharing what I have learnt about going plant based.