Why does the term vegetarian cause so much confusion? Some people assume it means avoiding red meat but still eating chicken. And is there a term for a vegetarian who also eats fish and poultry? Plus, screwball comedies from the 1930s mix slapstick...
Ilima in Vancouver, Canada, reports not everyone understands when she tells them she’s vegetarian. Some people assume, for example, that she doesn’t eat red meat but may enjoy chicken. Part of the issue may involve what linguists call prototype...
Kevin, a longtime vegetarian in St. Louis, Missouri, queasily recounts how he accidentally ordered sweetbreads in a fancy restaurant, thinking they were some kind of deep-fried bread, only to discover that it’s a kind of meat — a thymus gland...
The term vegan was coined in 1944 by Donald Watson, the founder of the U.K. Vegan Society, who insisted that the original pronunciation was VEE-gin. However, some dictionaries now allow for other pronunciations, such as VAY-gin or even VEDJ-in. This...
lo-vegetarian n.— «Gradually, “lacto-ovo vegetarians” grouped and shortened their title to “vegetarian.” This is why I sometime use the term “lo-vegetarian” where the “lo” stands for...
vegecurious adj.— «Tomerlin says about half of Spiral’s customers aren’t vegetarian, but folks she dubs “vegecurious” (sounds vaguely naughty). She advises first-timers to start with more entry-level dishes such as the taco...