Are eggs considered vegetarian?

Only to lacto-ovo vegetarians

They are not vegan.

Lots of vegetarian restaurants use eggs and dairy products (and honey, too). Vegan restaurants do not.

No. They do not grow out of the ground.

Yes, but not vegan.

What about balut?

Yes. Lacto Ovo vegetarians eat eggs, and the use of the word vegetarian is usually synonymous with Lacto Ovo vegetarians. Vegans usually call themselves vegan not vegetarian.

It’s always good to clarify with people though, don’t assume. I had one girl tell me she was vegetarian and then proceeded to eat fish in front of me. I let her know she is a pescatarian. To her fish wasn’t “meat” and so she classified herself as a vegetarian.

I don’t think most vegetarians care if an egg is fertilized or not.

Yes. They are suitable for vegetarians (ovo-lacto) like me, but not for vegans who do not eat any animal products (including honey, or sugar processed with bone char).

Vegans, and some vegetarians (such as myself) also avoid fur and leather products such as shoes and belts and purses made from animal hydes.

@Jleslie is correct. Vegetarians and vegans do not eat fish either, in addition to meat, and fowl (which are all considered to be the same thing—dead animals).

People who claim to be vegetarians, that also eat fish, can be called “peacatarians”, but they are not vegetarians. They are just people who don’t eat red meat, for whatever reason.

If you are hosting a “vegetarian” or attempting to find a suitable place to dine with a “vegetarian” it’s easier to ask that person what they can and can’t eat.

Yes, it matters if the eggs are fertilized.
Most lacto-ovo vegetarians would not eat an egg that might be fertilized in case some manifestation of independent life got started there.

^^Says who? I doubt my aunt ever gave it a thought. I never heard her ask if an egg was fertilized. She also was very liberal and pro-choice politically.

@JLeslie Would your aunt eat balut(food)?

I’m pro-choice. But balut makes me queasy. Trying to explore why from a vegetarian perspective.

Do our personal views on birth control extend to what we eat? Why or why not?

^^Well, if a person is ok with terminating a human fetus why would they care if a chicken egg was fertilized a few days before?

@JLeslie The thing is that I’m not even a vegetarian. I have no issues eating a fully grown chicken. I have no issues eating a regular egg either. But balut is a hard pass.

In America we aren’t talking about balut though. I’m pretty sure vegetarians would not eat, and I think most Americans who eat almost everything and everything would not eat it.

What you are talking about is an actual fetus, but what we really are talking about is a fresh egg with barely a cell division.

Most eggs for consumption in America are not fertilized.

If someone doesn’t eat chicken or newly-fertilized eggs, I get their objection to eating balut.

But for those who don’t have an issue with eating a chicken or a newly-fertilized egg, I want to understand their objection. (I include myself in this category. I don’t quite get why it makes me so queasy.)

Do you think what someone is okay with eating is directly related to their views on abortion?

The issue of “vegan/vegetarians and aborthion” is one of debate, with the anti-choice crowd calling pro-choice vegans as hypocrites.

What about pro-choice omnivores who won’t eat balut?

I do feel hypocritical. Though I don’t think it’s necessarily related to my views on abortion.

Maybe more so that I’m culturally-conditioned to not eat food that actually looks like the animal that it came from.

A different kind of hypocrisy. :/

Though I have no issues with eating a whole chicken or a whole duck? Maybe it’s similar to my objection to veal?

I don’t know.
Thinking out loud here.

@raum …pro-choice omnivores who won’t eat balut?

Seeing as balut is so disgusting as to make liver palatable, a decision about balut has nothing to do with one’s beliefs on anything except queasiness and nausea.