A vegetarian is a person who refrains or does not believe in eating meat, fish, poultry and, in the case of vegans, dairy products. Instead, vegetarians subsist primarily on vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts and so forth. The reasons an individual might abstain from consuming animal products include (but are not limited to): health concerns, environmental degradation, moral objections, religious tradition or even a simple dislike in taste.

 

Vegetarian and vegan diets are common among environmentalists because the production of meat requires far more expenditure of energy and resources than that of produce, grains, soy products and other non-meat staples. (Source: WordNet, The Vegetarian Society / Photo: Flickr)