Vegetarians don’t eat meat, fish, fowl, or the flesh of any animal. There are many different types of vegetarians. Some vegetarians eat dairy and eggs. This is called lacto-ovo-vegetarian. Some vegetarians exclude all products made from exploiting animals, such as leather shoes and clothes made by leather, wool, or silk. They might then call themselves vegan. There are many different names for this way of life.
Halifax Association of Vegetarians seeks to unite all these groups into a social movement to promote a lifestyle that excludes the flesh of animals in our community. We arrange discounted vegetarian group dinners, social meetups, at restaurants around the HRM.
We hope that having these dinners will make restaurants realize the importance of offering and serving great vegetarian options. Most vegetarians (especially vegans) know that, although it seems obvious that restaurants should know to carry vegetarian options on their menu, there are still places were the only option is green salad and/or fries.
The Vegetarian Society defines a vegetarian as follows:
"A vegetarian is someone who lives on a diet of grains, pulses, legumes, nuts, seeds, vegetables, fruits, fungi, algae, yeast and/or some other non-animal-based foods (e.g. salt) with, or without, dairy products, honey and/or eggs. A vegetarian does not eat foods that consist of, or have been produced with the aid of products consisting of or created from, any part of the body of a living or dead animal. This includes meat, poultry, fish, shellfish*, insects, by-products of slaughter** or any food made with processing aids created from these."
The Vegan Society defines veganism as follows:
Veganism is a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose.
The plant based society explains that there are 4 reasons for promoting a plant based diet:
- Health - prevent diseases such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease
- The environment - minimize the bad effects of our food production, such as deforestation and climate change
- World hunger - our food production today is inefficient due to the high number of animals raised (read more in this article)
- Stop the mass killing of animals
The plant-based movement is a group of people working together to advance the plant-based lifestyle, which has the ability to significantly impact four major crises our world faces today.
We are saying that we want to unite vegetarians and vegans, but what is the difference? Check it out in the links below!
There are lots of people out there that are interested in vegetarianism. Some just want to incorporate more vegetarian dishes into their diet. Some want to stop eating meat entirely. But how do you transition to a vegetarian diet?
If you are interested in trying it out, maybe we can help you? Let us support you with our knowledge - and our friendship. We have dinner events approximately once a month. Come join us - and find like minded friends. You don't have to become vegetarian to come join us. We welcome everyone.
There are also lots of help to be found on the internet. Here below is a list of a number of pages that may help you. We hope you decide to join us on your journey to a better life!
- The Beginner's Guide to Becoming Vegetarian
- How to Go Vegan: Key Info & Essential Advice
- Plant-Based Training - Learn the Benefits of the Plant-Based Lifestyle!
- How to Become a Vegetarian, the Easy Way
- How to go vegan
- Whole Food, Plant-Based Diet Guide - Center for Nutrition Studies
- How to go vegetarian
- HowDoIGoVegan.com
- Whole-Foods, Plant-Based Diet: A Detailed Beginner's Guide
Halifax Association of Vegetarians
Credits:
Created with images by Capri23auto - "tomatoes trusses bush tomatoes" • Capri23auto - "tomatoes panicle tomato fresh" • jplenio - "romanesco vegetables green" • pya8300 - "salad whole meal real food" • dbreen - "vegetables carrot food" • moigram - "fruit oranges sliced" • Couleur - "cucumber harvest food"