Vegan, Vegetarian, Vegan ... the Meatless and their Labels

Small vocabulary today: how to distinguish vegetarian, vegan and vegan? What are the labels in France to guide these diets?

Do you know how to distinguish between a vegetarian, vegan or vegan?

Vegetarians

A vegetarian does not eat meat, that is, no beef, no poultry, no fish.

Pan-vegetarian?

"French vegetarianism" as some like to call it, includes fish but vegetarians know it: it's not vegetarianism.
Flexitarians are also not vegetarians. It's a step towards vegetarianism, by reducing meat consumption, and can lead to vegetarianism, but it's not a vegetarian diet.

Whatever the adjective that one sticks to the word "vegetarian", the person is omnivorous since it consumes animal flesh. Whatever the reason for which he is a vegetarian, he makes no distinction between animals: he does not eat any.

If it consumes no animal flesh, a vegetarian, on the other hand, will sometimes consume dairy products, honey and eggs, which are animal products but not animals in themselves: it is called vegetarian ovo-lacto diet.

The vegetarian may have animal welfare in mind but sometimes vegetarianism is needed for health reasons.

A vegetarian does not consume any byproduct of slaughtering animals, such as gelatin, caviar, rennet.

• Lacto-ovo-vegetarians consume, in addition to plants, eggs and milk,
• lacto-vegetarians consume, in addition to plants, only milk, or ovo-vegetarians, who consume, in addition to vegetables, only eggs.

Vegans

A vegan does not consume any product derived from animal exploitation. This concerns animal flesh, but also milk, honey or eggs. This is a strict diet.

The vegan therefore does not consume animal flesh, meat, poultry, sausages, fish, crustaceans, shellfish, and no animal products such as milk, eggs, cheese, yogurt, etc.

The vegans

The vegan extends its idea beyond a diet. One rarely goes without the other and borrowing English often means "vegan" in the head of the person who uses it in the Francophonie. There is, however, a subtlety: the vegan is engaged in animal welfare and defends them in all areas.

There is no question of wearing leather or wool, silk, or even using cosmetics containing animal derivatives, or household products tested on them. Then you have to hunt for gelatin, lanolin, and so on.

A balanced diet

Without demonizing the vegan diet, remember that it is useful to learn to prepare its meals so as to have no deficiency, but the protein intake for example are quite easy to find. Nothing to do with extreme omnivorous diets like Dukan and others. It's a good way to rediscover vegetables, grains, legumes, seaweed, nuts, spices.

In case of vegan diet, one of the contributions to monitor is vitamin B12: food supplements and fortified foods are to be added.

Vegetarians / vegans / vegans have their labels

France is not the most advanced country in this field and it is not always easy to go to a restaurant and find a suitable dish. On the shelves of a supermarket, or even a pharmacy, a grocery store, it will then be necessary to be patient and learn to read carefully all the labels, this is why prejudices on vegetarians are spreading when it is all but unhealthy to know what is being swallowed or put on one's skin.

In the same way that additives are prevalent, hidden animal byproducts are legion. Associations have therefore found it useful, rightly, to set up vegan labels so that the product is identified as containing no animal product without having to read fifteen lines in type 8.

The vegan labels

Cruelty Free, Cruelty Free and Vegan

The Cruelty Free label relates more specifically to cosmetics. We had talked about it a long time in a file on animal testing.

The Cruelty Free label was created by the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics (CCIC). It guarantees that products bearing the logo have not been tested on animals and that they do not contain any ingredient that has been tested on animals. It does not guarantee the non-presence of ingredients of animal origin. This label was created by PETA, an association fighting for animal protection. No test on the animals either, and no product from animal exploitation.

The Vegan Action label

Vegan Action is a non-profit organization dedicated to animal welfare, the environment and human health.

Its goal is to educate people about the benefits of a vegan lifestyle and encourage the spread of the vegan diet, including increasing opportunities for restoration. Vegan Action was created in the 2000s to certify vegan products. It concerns both food and cosmetics, clothing and everyday objects. It also guarantees that there has been no test on animals.

The charter of this label is precise: the list of ingredients of the products must be clear, and the transformation as the disinfection must be detailed. The suppliers are also examined, as well as the machines.

The Vegan Society label

This label, easily recognizable thanks to the word "vegan" and the sunflower, is probably the best known of all.

The Vegan Society was the first vegan organization in the world, created in 1944, and its creator Donald Watson even coined the word. The label concerns food products and certifies that they are free of animal ingredients, GMOs of animal origin and that they have not been tested on animals. This label is found in many shops and restaurants.

Useful labels

Unscrupulous brands do not hesitate to display the word "vegan" even when their products are not completely, hence the interest labels.

It remains to adequately detail the labels, even if the study of them is not necessarily obvious, especially for fats, plants and animals are sometimes not easily distinguishable. The simplest is still to consume only natural products, as it was A Nut, a grocery store that offers a complete and varied range of organic products.

You want to eat less meat or adopt a vegetarian, vegan or vegan diet? Take the advice of a specialized dietician-nutritionist: Workshop Discovering vegetarian diets: eating less meat, vegetarian or vegan, how?