“Isn’t being vegetarian enough?”

Vegetarianism is a diet. Veganism is about how we treat animals — on the plate and everywhere else.

If you’re vegetarian, you already care about this. Going without meat comes from the same place veganism does, and it is a real step. So it’s a fair question — and the answer starts with what the two words actually mean.

One is a diet, the other is a way of living

Vegetarianism is about what you eat. The Vegetarian Society puts it simply: stop eating meat and fish.

Veganism isn’t a diet. The Vegan Society defines it as a way of living that seeks to exclude — as far as is possible and practicable — the exploitation of animals and cruelty to them “for food, clothing or any other purpose”. What vegans eat is only the part people notice most. The definition itself calls it the dietary side of veganism, not the whole of it.

What veganism covers beyond the plate

• Clothes and accessories — no materials taken from animals, such as leather, fur, wool, silk or down.
• Cosmetics and bathroom products — nothing made with animal ingredients or tested on animals.
• Entertainment — not visiting zoos or aquariums, and not taking part in dog or horse racing.
• Medicines — where there’s a real choice, asking for versions without animal ingredients such as gelatine or lactose. Never at the cost of your health: that’s what possible and practicable means.
• Charities — some vegans choose medical charities that fund research without animal testing.

And on the plate: milk and eggs

Even within food, the line is in a different place.

• Eggs. Hens of egg-laying breeds are bred to lay. Their brothers can’t lay and don’t grow well enough to be raised for meat, so across most of the egg industry male chicks are killed shortly after hatching — several billion a year worldwide. Germany became the first country to ban this, in 2022.
• Milk. A cow makes milk after she gives birth. In dairy farming, calves are usually separated from their mothers soon after birth so the milk can go to people; the European Food Safety Authority has recommended keeping them together for at least the first day. Male calves don’t make milk, and many are raised for meat.

So why go further?

Not because vegetarianism is “wrong”, and not to be perfect. It’s the same reason you stopped eating meat — just applied to everything, not only to what’s for dinner. Many people get there step by step, and that’s fine.

Saying it at the table

“Vegetarian is a diet. Vegan is more of a way of living — it’s about not using animals, on my plate and everywhere else.”

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