We humans label everything.

We label some things tall and other things short. We call some things dark and other things light. There are things we call easy and things we call difficult. The list goes on and on…

Labels help us understand ideas and they help us communicate those ideas to each other. With that in mind, here are some labels that apply to eating habits:

• Locavore: Someone who eats only or mostly locally grown foods. Can be done in combination with any other labels below.
• Slow foodist: Someone who eats only or mostly locally grown foods, prepares them in “traditional” ways, and emphasizes using the food to connect with community. Can be in combo with other labels, such as flexitarian or vegan.
• Organic: Someone who eats only or mostly foods that haven’t been treated with pesticides, hormones or other man-made chemicals. Can be in combo with other labels, such as vegan or raw foodist.
• Sustainable eater: Someone who eats in a manner that is environmentally and socially directed. Usually this is a combination of locavorism, slow food, organic, and flexitarian, vegetarian, or vegan.
• Meat-reducer: Someone who eats meat on a regular basis but is trying to eat less of it.
• Flexitarian: Someone who eats vegetarian or vegan meals on a semi-regular basis. This person doesn’t eat animals at every single meal. For example, they don’t eat meat on Mondays or they eat vegan until 6pm.
• Part-time vegetarian: The same as a flexitarian, but leans a bit more towards vegetarianism.
• Pescatarian: This person does not eat land animals or birds, but eats fishes and/or other seafood. Often a stepping stone to vegetarianism, this person may or may not also consume eggs and dairy.
• Lacto-ovo vegetarian: The most common type of vegetarian. This person does not eat animal flesh, but eats animal products, such as eggs, dairy, and sometimes things like gelatin.
• Lacto-vegetarian: The same as a lacto-ovo vegetarian, but doesn’t eat eggs.
• Ovo-vegetarian: The same as a lacto-ovo vegetarian, but doesn’t consume dairy.
• Vegetarian: Either a “dietary vegan” who eats no animal products, but may use animals for non-food purposes, or a lacto-ovo vegetarian.
• Strict vegetarian: Someone who eats only plants. Sometimes called a vegan.
• Vegan: Person who seeks to exclude the use of animals for food, clothing, or any other purpose. Vegans do not eat animals or animal products like dairy, eggs, or honey.
• Beegan: A vegan who eats honey or uses beeswax.
• Raw foodist: Eats only unprocessed, uncooked foods. Foods can be dehydrated or “processed” in ways that do not involve heating above 118 degrees Farenheight. These people are usually raw vegan, but a rare few people who call themselves raw foodists eat raw meat or cheese.
• Living foodist: The same as a raw foodist but they take it just a tiny step further by sprouting seeds before eating them. Their food must not be dormant. They do not eat animals.
• Fruitarian: Eats only fruit, seeds, nuts and fruit-like vegetables (tomatoes, cucumbers, etc.) that can be removed from the plant without harming the plant.

Here’s the label I proudly wear:

That said, I also eat organic when I can, raw when I want, local when I can, slow when I want, and of course it’s always sustainable because veganism is one of the least environmentally and socially damaging ways of eating.

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Sections: Vegan Food
Topics: definitions, flexitarian, fruitarian, labels, raw foodist, types of vegetarian, veg, Vegan, vegan mofo, vegetarian