50 Fun Facts About Vegetarianism

A lacto-vegetarian diet includes dairy but excludes what?

An ovo-vegetarian eats eggs but no dairy; lacto-ovo vegetarians eat both, and all of them include honey.

Which is described as the strictest of the vegetarian diets, excluding all animal products?

Some vegans also refuse leather shoes and silk clothes.

In which year was the world's first Vegetarian Society founded, in England?

It was formed at Ramsgate in Kent, and its founding popularised the word 'vegetarian' itself.

Which actress and abolitionist first wrote the word 'vegetarian', in an 1838–39 journal?

Before that, the practice was called a 'vegetable regimen' or 'vegetable diet'.

Alcott House, linked to the earliest uses of 'vegetarian', opened in 1838 on which London common?

From 1841 it was known as the Concordium, and its pupils ate no animal products at all.

Which Salford sect, founded in 1809 by Reverend William Cowherd, made a meat-free diet part of its creed?

Cowherd had split from the Swedenborgians; his followers saw abstaining from meat as a form of temperance.

The Vegetarian Society split in 1888 into branches in London and which other city?

The reunited body became the Vegetarian Society of the United Kingdom.

A 2025 study of nitrogen isotopes in fossil teeth found which early human ancestor was almost entirely vegetarian?

The research was published in the journal Science.

Which Indian religion made strict vegetarianism mandatory for ascetics and laity alike?

Its foundational story tells of the prince Neminatha abandoning his own wedding on hearing the cries of animals to be slaughtered for the feast.

What is the Indian principle of nonviolence towards all living beings called?

Mahavira and Pārśvanātha, the 24th and 23rd Jain tirthankaras, revived and advocated it between the 8th and 6th centuries BCE.

Which Indian pilgrimage town banned the sale of meat, fish and eggs in 1956?

Several other Indian pilgrimage towns have since followed with bans of their own.

Which ancient Indian holy city bans the sale of meat, fish, eggs and alcohol?

It is one of the world's oldest cities and a major temple centre.

India has the world's highest share of vegetarians. Which country is said to have the second highest?

Even so, vegetarians remain a minority in almost every country.

According to a 2018 Indian government survey, which state has the highest share of vegetarians, at nearly 75%?

Haryana, Punjab and Gujarat followed; Kerala, Bihar and Jharkhand had among the lowest.

Indian packaged food carries a green mark if vegetarian and what colour if non-vegetarian?

The marks became mandatory in 2011 and even apply to toothpaste.

Which town in Israel was founded in 1958 on vegetarian principles?

It had 865 residents in 2022, was still meat-free, and offers vegetarian guest houses.

The Farm, a meat-free community founded in 1971 by Stephen Gaskin, is in which US state?

Loma Linda in California, with its Seventh-day Adventist population, is another heavily vegetarian US town.

In antiquity, abstaining from meat was a hallmark of the way of life named after which Greek philosopher?

Whether he really banned all meat is unclear; he may only have prohibited certain kinds.

What happened to vegetarianism in Europe after the Christianization of the Roman Empire?

It re-emerged only in the Renaissance.

Which Renaissance polymath was among the first to back vegetarianism's revival in Europe?

The French philosopher Pierre Gassendi followed a century later.

Which Romantic poet published the essay A Vindication of Natural Diet in 1813?

He had been influenced by John Frank Newton's Return to Nature of 1811.

Which Russian novelist was one of the most prominent advocates of vegetarianism in his country?

Vegetarian restaurants and societies in Russia became symbols of intellectual opposition under his influence.

Which Irish playwright is named alongside Henry Salt as a famous vegetarian activist?

Salt, a friend of Gandhi, founded the Humanitarian League.

Whose example of nonviolence towards animals helped popularise vegetarianism in the West?

His spiritual mentor Shrimad Rajchandra had urged him to reject animal sacrifice.

In which country did Elisabeth Förster-Nietzsche and her husband found a vegetarian colony in 1886?

Nueva Germania's vegetarian aspect did not last long.

The International Vegetarian Union was founded in 1908 in which German city?

The Vegetarian Society's secretary Albert Broadbent had invited societies worldwide to meet there on 18 August.

Who represented Jainism at the 1893 World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago and defended vegetarianism?

He dismantled the assumption that a meatless diet led to physical weakness.

On what date is World Vegetarian Day observed?

It opens Vegetarian Awareness Month, which closes on 1 November with the equivalent day for vegans.

Which organisation established the 1977 annual celebration promoting 'the joy... of vegetarianism'?

The International Vegetarian Union endorsed it the following year.

Who is credited with coining the 'VegeBurger' in London in 1982?

He and his brother had run a natural food restaurant in Paddington since the 1960s; a Southampton hypermarket sold 2,000 packets in three weeks.

Quorn products are made from mycoprotein derived from what?

Fusarium venenatum is grown in vats; egg white binds most products, potato protein the egg-free ones.

Quorn was launched in 1985 by a joint venture between Rank Hovis McDougall and which chemicals giant?

Imperial Chemical Industries brought the fermentation know-how.

John Harvey Kellogg's meat alternative Protose was a patty made of peanuts and what?

He served it at the Battle Creek Sanitarium, run by a health-minded church; his brother Will invented corn flakes.

Which Christian denomination has advocated a vegetarian diet since its founding in the 1860s?

Co-founder Ellen G. White championed the meatless diet, and Loma Linda in California remains heavily vegetarian.

Tofu, or bean curd, originated in which country and has been eaten for over 2,000 years?

An English merchant even mentioned 'towfu' in a 1770 letter to Benjamin Franklin.

Tempeh, a cake of fermented soybeans bound by a Rhizopus fungus, comes from which country?

It is a traditional food of Java, where its name is pronounced 'tempe'.

Seitan, a meat substitute known in Japan as fu, is made from what?

In Chinese it is miànjīn and in Japanese fu.

Which musician and photographer launched a vegetarian sausage and burger brand in 1991 that still bears her name?

It has been called one of the most successful mass-market celebrity brands and is now owned by Hain Celestial.

Which US president proclaimed meatless Mondays during the First World War?

Herbert Hoover, then head of the Food Administration, ran the campaign, which called for nine meatless meals a week.

The word 'pescetarian' blends 'vegetarian' with the word for fish in which language?

The term was coined in the UK in the late 1980s; about 3% of adults worldwide are pescetarian.

Vegetarians without eggs or dairy risk a deficiency of which vitamin in particular?

Lacto-ovo vegetarian diets are also associated with a higher risk of iron deficiency.

Chinese Buddhist and Taoist monks follow a vegetarian diet that also excludes eggs and which vegetable?

The belief is that animals possess immortal souls and that a grain-based diet is healthiest.

A vegetarian diet is one of two example healthy eating patterns in which country's 2015-2020 dietary guidelines?

The eighth edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans included it.

Mintel data from 2006 put the vegetarian share of the Western world's population in what range?

India, by contrast, is estimated at anywhere from 31% to 40% vegetarian.

Which plant's berries were sold in capsules as vegetarian rennet in late 19th-century India?

Lacto-vegetarians avoid cheese set with animal rennet, preferring microbial sources.

Which Indian act made the vegetarian and non-vegetarian symbols mandatory on packaging?

The detailed regulations followed in 2011.

Which benefactor led the 1843 Alcott House society promoting 'Abstinence from Animal Food'?

It was one of the groups that came together to form the Vegetarian Society four years later.

Which two Jain tirthankaras, the 23rd and 24th, revived nonviolence and strict vegetarianism?

Jain vegetarianism is described as the most comprehensive and strictest form there is.

Which Indian religious town's 2002 meat-sales ban was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2004?

Palitana in Gujarat banned meat sales in 2014.

The Concordium school opened in 1838 south-west of London was founded by whom?

It was named Alcott House after the American transcendentalist Bronson Alcott, and published a pamphlet called The Healthian.