Do vegetarians or vegans consider insects to be the same as meat?

[ketfoen]

This question popped into my head while answering a vegan question.

I eat plenty of deep fried and chocolate coated insects daily and think they taste pretty good. They also contain more protein then your daily meat or all the vegetables in the world.

Would a vegetarian consider trying to eat insects and include it into their diet or do they think it's just as disgusting as normal white and red meats?

[Dovahbear]

Vegans don't include animal products like dairy and eggs in their diet but vegetarians do. Lacto-vegetarians consume dairy products but not eggs, ovo-vegetarians eat eggs but not dairy products and lacto-ovo-vegetarians eat eggs as well as dairy products. Vegetarians also do not eat products that contain gelatine or other meat-based products. So if anyone who eats even one type of meat is not really a vegetarian. Now, if someone's diet includes meat, insects and such then they are non-vegetarians.

I was born a vegetarian so I wouldn't consider eating insects and I find them creepy although they are important to the eco-system, I don't find meat disgusting and I have always wanted to try it. To this day I have never eaten meat and I'm okay with that. It's alright if someone wants to eat insects and meats I have no issues but it's annoying when both the parties are always at each other throats. Both plants and animals are an important source of food. Live and let eat is my motto and I swing by it.

[sceneofthecrime]

I can't speak for every single vegan out there, but every vegan I personally know wouldn't eat insects. Vegans think every sentient being has the right to live, and that includes insects as well, which is why we do not eat honey as well. I personally do not and would not eat them, nor do I kill them on purpose. As to if I think if it is just as disgutsing, yes it's just the same to me as I am against killing any living sentient being (Though I know it's not 100% proven that they are, why take the risk?). Hope that helped :)

[DutchAtheist]

Plants are sentient beings.

[sceneofthecrime]

No they are not, they are sensitive to sounds and gases and yes they are living organisms. But they are not sentient.

[Cryostatic]

"They also contain more protein then your daily meat or all the vegetables in the world."

Well, most vegans would object to eating something that's been deep fried or covered in chocolate, regardless of what it is.

But as far as bugs go, it really depends on their motivation for eating the way that they do. If they're vegan because of political objections to the way meat is raised and processed, then they probably aren't going to have an issue with bugs. If they're vegan because they feel that every single life on this planet has a soul, then bugs are absolutely off the menu.

Most people in general, at least in societies that spawn vegans in the first place, object to eating insects because... well, we associate them with filth and disease. They're viewed as pests to be eliminated and avoided, not food to be consumed.

[kheserthorpe]

I liked the phrase 'in societies that spawn vegans'

[ketfoen]

lmao@societies that spawn vegans, that really made me laugh. Only poorer societies I know off that don't eat meat like vegans are Buddhist monks, or it's the other way around. Can we say that many vegans lead a Buddhist believe?

[Sean-the-Scot]

Wasteful! So much for saving the earth.

[Prof_Don]

From the vegans/vegetarians I know, they consider insects as an animal, and therefore don't eat it (and vegans don't eat products from them).

I live in Santa Barbara; lots of hippie vegetarians and vegans over there, so I'm speaking from first-hand testimonies.

[Winteredrose5162]

As a vegetarian I wouldn't eat insects because I wasn't brought up eating that so as a result I find it unappealing. Honestly, I wouldn't eat it as a vegetarian because any sort of being that moves I don't think I could bring myself to eat. If I was in a forest about to die then yes I'd eat them and probably gag in the process. Lol I actually just spoke to someone who is a vegetarian based on a sort of tradition and way of life that has been around for a while. The caste he is in is I think Brahim and they traditionally never eat meat and apparently they don't eat onions or potatoes either because as roots they are sort of the life force. I just found that very interesting. :)

[kennyk]

Jains are similar, they don't eat anything that kills the plant. Only food that can be harvested without harm. So that means nothing that has to be pulled out of the ground like carrots or onions or peanuts.

[Winteredrose5162]

Really? Wow that must be very difficult! I cook with onions all the time, I would hate to give them up but I really marvel at their dedication. :)

[kennyk]

Yeah same here :)

[Anonymously7]

i'm vegan and I do not eat insects. but being vegan is a bit different than vegetarian. vegetarian is no meat and that's it really. some of them eat fish even.

vegan is a bit more extreme and I would say most vegans would not eat bugs. because it's more any creature than just meat vs. non-meat creatures.

like I don't have dairy .. I don't have eggs.. and I do not have seafood even though technically it is not meat it is still a living creature.

really it varies, some vegetarians eat fish some do not. there's tons of levels. it can get

pretty confusing. xD I just leave it alone and call myself vegan.

however I do realize plants are living but hey I gotta eat something ;D

[kennyk]

Vegetarians don't eat fish by definition; the term for that is pescatarian. They just have a poor vocabulary or are trying to simplify things for their carnivorous friends.

[sugarpop]

I'm a vegetarian, formerly vegan. Insects are living beings and technically a type of animal so I would never eat one. However, if I wasn't a vegetarian, I wouldn't eat insects anyway as the idea is gross. You can easily get all the protein you need from vegetables and beans/nuts anyway.

[DutchAtheist]

Plants are also living beings.

[Hidden_P]

A vegan absolutely wouldn't I don't think. They don't eat even a bi-product of an animal (milk, eggs, etc) so I can't see them eating an animal!

Vegetarians... I think it's person to person. I know a lot of veggies who eat fish to get their vitamin intake. But likewise, there are a lot of people who are 'meat is murder' and won't eat any animal. I imagine most of them wouldn't though.

Each to their own.

[onlygodcanjudgeme]

CHOCOLATE-COATED INSECTS?!?!?!?!?!?!?! O_O

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! xD

R you serious? O_o I never knew there was ever such thing omfg omfg omfg ew lol

Omg I am not able to see an insect and stay standing without becoming pale and fainting or crying,I cannot believe people actually eat that! :O

I hate everything that has legs and can move its just ewww to eat thatt...

Plants are green,fresh and beautiful,and don't scare the sh*t outa me O_o

[SunshineAmy]

I'm vegetarian and I have to say no. My first reason for saying no is because...honestly I think it's a little gross. I couldn't imagine eating insects and bugs. Further to that, if it came down to it, I wouldn't eat insects because it still comes down to the fact of killing something that's living. Vegetarians and vegans do not do that.

[Anonymous]

vegans eat foods that are on the top of the food chain, fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds... and insects eats those plants too so they are lower on the food chain just as the other animals are... so no bugs should be part of a strict vegan's diet... no bee products either.

[DutchAtheist]

You mean bottom of the food chain.

[Koldhearted]

lol'd seriously now

[palek]

Vegetarians ae hypocrits, who engage daily in the senseless slaughter of billions of inncocent vegetables.

[Fiona83]

That joke is older than you.

[palek]

Firstly, it's not a joke, it's an irrefutabel fact; and secondly I'm not old - you're young.

[Sean-the-Scot]

Technically plants are living and eating them is killing them, so Vegans I offer you 3 choices:

Eat mud (but pick out the micro-organisms first!)

Change

Die

[palek]

Boy howdy! ; - )

[djvtech]

This is so true! I just love hearing my vegetables scream in terror as I slice through their stems. And seeing all the blood squirting out all over the floor. And putting them through horrible emotional torment while I keep them locked them up in my fridge their whole lives. I I'm suuuuuch a hypocrite. ;)

[palek]

You love to lop of the head of a poor lettuce or the ear from a gentle corn stalk, and laugh like the fiend that you are as their life juices dribble down your vile chin. You filthy ghoul!

[thisusername2]

I think vegetarians would consider insects to be meat since they are living creatures and if I am not mistaken they have meat/muscle even if it is in the tiniest quantities.

[bettyboopdog]

eww.. I use to be a vegetation.. I've never intentionally eaten any form of bug! Once when I was a toddler (my mother told me about it) but ew never since!

[proudtexasgirl]

Could someone please explain the mentality of a vegetarian to me? Or specifically someone who won't eat cows, etc. but they are okay with eating fish? Are fish not animals?

[Cryostatic]

Most of the time, it's objections to the meat industry, which admittedly has some fairly disgusting and inhumane practices where food processing and animal treatment are concerned. In the case of someone who's okay with eating farmed fish, it's probably because they find mammalian food sources to be too cute and cuddly to consume.

[VALEN_tine_ANGEL]

regardless,... I think what people should eat is food that has very low poison level. for me pork is more poisonous than fish. I am not a vegetarian though.

[kheserthorpe]

I had an uncle who wouldn't eat beef (generally) but ate fish, primarily because of concern about arable land that could grow enough to feed more people being used to produce less beef. That's what he said anyway.

[Anonymously7]

technically people that eat no red meat/white but eat fish are called "pescetarians"...

it exists I looked it up in my dictionary. however most people do not realize this. there are many reasons on being vegetarian and I suppose this links to different limits as well. I am vegan but when I was vegetarian I did not eat fish because I love all creatures. however my friend did and she reasoned that she did not eat cows because they are produced/packaged with hormones and are most unhealthy.

[djvtech]

Cows to me are to similar to human, biologically. They're cognitive and emotional responses are similar to. A fish is a much lower lifeform to me.

And Cryostatic got it, I don't like the meat industry, the chemicals, hormones, way they treat things, raise things, feed things. I'd probably eat a wild or healthily farmed animal, but don't want to eat a feedlot animal.

[RedSmartie]

I'm not a vegetarian or a vegan, but I don't think they would eat insects. Especially not vegans, who won't even eat eggs.

[Justthinkingaloud]

Vegans are more strict on diet and animal consumption. But vegetarians do tend to eat fish or insects seeing as they are not mammals.

[kennyk]

As a vegetarian, no I would not eat bugs. I don't eat anything in the kingdom animalia.

[Anonymous]

I've been a vegetarian for about 20 years, and I wouldn't eat insects. But then again, I probably wouldn't eat them even if I wasn't a vegetarian.

[Anonymous]

I would assume they would as an insect is still a living creature.

[Anonymous]

Yes, but without the moral issues.

Personally the only meat I like is fish and sea food. I consider it meat, but without the moral issues.

[Anonymous]

that one girl would claim that since they aren't sentient, it's OK to eat them

[jpinka]

save the animals just went to save the incests lol

[MochaKisses]

I am a vegan and I would not eat any insects.