If you are a vegetarian, there could be occassions when you become a “curiosity generator”.  When people around me learn that I am a vegetarian, I usually get a series of questions in this order(more or less).

1. Do you eat fish? No.

2. Do you eat egg? No.

3. Do you eat milk-based products? Yes.

4. What is the reason for being a veggie – Religous? Yes.

I have to say that this happens mostly when I happen to be outside India. In India, vegetarians are pampered with choice. And the questions are very few. After all, 31% of Indians are vegetarians(according to this study). While living in USA, the choice for veg. food got drastically reduced, but the situation was still managable. There was a veggie burger,a veg. pizza or cheese pizza,  a veg. sandwich, a bean burrito or  veg noodles available somewhere nearby. The situation is quite similar in Europe as well. But China was an altogether different experience.

During my initial days in China, I did not have the courage to go to a restaurant alone. Either the menu is all in Mandarin, which I could not read, or in some cases when a menu had the pictures of the dishes, I could not ask and confirm if a dish was vegetarian. So, one of the first things I did was to get a note written in Mandarin from one of my Chinese colleagues which said ” No meat, no fish, no egg please”. I showed this note to the waiter while ordering food. Whenever I went outside my house, I never forgot to carry my home key, mobile, wallet and this “food ordering note”. And when I started my Mandarin classes, the first thing I learned was how to say I am a vegetarian.

The “fun” didn’t stop there. China is a predominantly non-vegetarian nation where only Buddist monks or very pious people are vegetarian. So when I order a vegetarian food, the unmistakeable look on the face of the waiter(es) is ” Is this guy from Mars or Jupiter?”. During a couple of occassions, I heard some giggling immediately after I ordered food. Perhaps I was the butt of some joke ??!!

Even though I have been a vegetarian for so long, I didn’t know quite a few things about vegetarianism. Like, some of the classifications of vegetarians or some jargons. There are also different definitions of who is a vegetarian. But now, I know better, thanks to an article from BBC. The article talks about a “classic vegetarian, vegan, meat-avoider, meat-reducer and green-eater”. Then there is a “flexitarian”. The article also points to “The Vegetarian Society” , which has been in existence since 1847(long time indeed).

The list of jargon doesn’t end there. Here is a sample.

•  Lacto-vegetarian – a vegetarian who eats dairy products but not egg
• Ovo-vegetarian – a vegetarian who eats egg but not dairy products
• Lacto-ovo vegetarian – a vegetarian who eats both egg and dairy products
• Fruitarian – someone whose diet has only fruits and related things
• Raw vegan – one who eats only raw vegetables

There are more definitions, but I guess most of the vegetarians fall in one of the categories above. So, next time someone asks me what type of vegetarian I am, I have a two word answer – “Lacto vegetarian”. Only thing is, I will still have to explain what it means 🙂

PS: The BBC article titled “The rise of the non-veggie vegetarian” is available here – http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8341002.stm

Image credit –http://www.flickr.com/photos/yolagringo/ / CC BY 2.0