Can Eggs Be Considered Vegetarian?

Eggs are generally considered to be non-vegetarian but there are a few facts which suggest that the egg is a vegetarian food. As per the definition of vegetarianism, it is a practice of abstaining from the consumption of flesh and hence according to this classification, the egg is a vegetarian food as it doesn`t have life or flesh.

There are three parts of an egg: the shell, the yolk and the egg white.  However, among these, the egg white doesn`t contain any animal cell and therefore egg whites belong to the vegetarian category and all products that are made up of egg whites are considered to be vegetarian.

There are some people who are vegetarians and consume eggs but they refrain from eating fish and meat. As per terminology, these people are called ovo-vegetarians.

However, some people may argue that as eggs are laid by chickens, they must be considered non-vegetarian foods. But even though eggs come from chicken they are not procured by killing chicken. The milk is a product that comes out of cows but is a vegetarian food. Hence, going by this argument, eggs are vegetarian only.

It is also noteworthy that in some regions of the world, especially in India, a section of vegetarians don`t consume eggs. These people include Hindus who are vegetarian and they abstain from eating eggs considering them to be non-vegetarian foods. Therefore, though most of the people living in the West consider the egg to be a vegetarian food a section of people from Asian countries believe that eggs are non-vegetarian.

So if you are looking for an answer to the question as to whether you should consume eggs or not if you are a vegetarian then let me inform you that it depends on whether, according to you, eating eggs is morally correct or not. If you don`t feel like consuming eggs that instead of eating eggs, you can go vegan.

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