You can’t really blame people for getting confused as there are all sorts of flavors of vegetarians.

Vegetarianism is starting to really catch on as increasing numbers of people begin understand the impact of a meat rich diet on not only their health, but the environment.

Some people go cold turkey (?) and fling themselves into veganism, others just attempt to cut their meat consumption dramatically or not eat red meat at all; often replacing it with mock meat products.

Before today, if you told me you were Pescatarian, I would have assumed you were mispronouncing your religious affiliation. I now know better.

In this article, I’ll attempt to sort out who eats what.

Vegetarian

A blanket term covering people who don’t eat meat.

Flexitarian

A diet focused on plant based foods, but very occasionally eating meat. Usually these people are cutting meat consumption with view to becoming a full-fledged vegetarian. Read more on flexitarianism.

Lacto vegetarian

A lacto vegetarian diet is made up of plant based foods – fruit, nuts, seeds, vegetables – and dairy products.

Ovo vegetarian

An ovo vegetarian diet is based on plant based foods and eggs.

Lacto ovo vegetarian

A Lacto ovo vegetarian diet is plant based foods, plus eggs and dairy products.

Pollo vegetarian

Also called pollotarianism, it’s a plant based diet supplemented with poultry; mainly chicken.

Pescatarian

A Pescatarian vegetarian diet consists of plant based foods, eggs, dairy and fish.

Macrobiotic

Macrobiotics have a focus on unprocessed whole grain cereals, legumes, certain vegetables, seaweed, fermented soy products and fruit, plus the occasional consumption of fish.

Vegan

Diet consists solely of plant based foods, with honey as an exception in some cases.

Freegan

Freeganism is more than just diet. It observes vegan principles relating to food, but freegans also limit the amount they participate in purchasing and selling and strive to consume as few resources as possible. Freegans grow their own food, but also supplement it with food that others throw out. Read more on Freeganism.

Fruitarian

Up until today, I thought that veganism was the extreme end of the vegetarian scale, but fruitarians take it a step further. Fruitarians only eat fruit, nuts and seeds. They will not eat anything that involves killing the plant.

Now that’s dedication.

Any other classifications I’ve missed?