Why Vegetarians Eat Eggs & Non-Vegetarians Don't Eat Humans

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Out of all the vegetarians that I know, atleast 80% of them eat egg regularly or have ate an egg directly or indirectly ( via cakes or chocolates that contain egg) at some point of time in life. The idea of eating an egg does not disgust the common vegetarian as much as the idea of eating meat does. I have been a vegetarian since birth and I recently started eating eggs again. This means that I have converted from being a lacto-vegetarian to a lacto-ovo vegetarian. If those terms confuse you, here is a rough idea about the various bifurcations of vegetarianism.


The types of vegetarianism are based on few groups or types of food included or excluded from the diet. Excluding smaller divisions like jain and sub-divisions of veganism, here are the main bifurcations of vegetarianism.

  1. Lacto-ovo vegetarianism - This is the most common type of vegetarianism and the diet excludes all types of meat products i.e. fish, beef, pork etc but includes diary products (lacto) like milk, cheese and paneer and also includes egg (ovo).
  2. Lacto vegetarianism - Same as above but the only difference is that, this diet excludes egg too along with other meat products.
  3. Veganism - This diet excludes both egg and diary along with other meat products from the diet.



I said in the very start of the post that, the idea of eating egg does not disgust MOST* vegetarian as much as the idea of eating meat does. And before I explain the reasons for it,  lets move over to the non-vegetarian side of the question for a while. My thought is simple, if a non-vegetarian enjoys eating the meat obtained chicken, cow, pig, bull, turkey, ox, sheep, goat, varieties of fishes, ducks, lambs, dogs, horses and maybe two dozen more variety of meats, why does it disgust a non-vegetarian to eat another human? I am not exaggerating with the list there, you can check on the Internet that millions of people eat every single animal mentioned there, even if you find it disgusting. Also, it is perfectly alright if you are a cannibal and are okay with eating human body parts, but I am talking to the remaining 99.99% of the non-vegetarians. Think over why you are okay with eating every other form of meat except perhaps your girlfriend's arm or maybe your neighbour's neck? No really, seriously think over it.



Why Vegetarians Eat Eggs And Non-Vegetarians Don't Eat Humans


Humans refuse to eat what resembles them: You must have seen the morbid expression on the vegetarian's face when he passes by a butchers shop or when a typical non-vegetarian describes how tasty KFC chicken wings are. The thought that irks the vegetarian in such moments is "How can you eat an animal which has feelings and blood and emotions just like a human?" which translates into how can you eat something that resembles you so closely. But the same vegetarian hardly feels the same when he eats a cake or chocolate which contains egg and the reason for which is that, the egg doesn't move, it doesn't contain the same red blood that a human contains, the egg cannot express any feeling or emotion, egg can't speak or make any noise. In short, even though the egg is an animal product, he feels the egg doesn't resemble him in any way. So when he eats an egg, he does not feel like he is killing or eating something that resembles him.



The same reason supports why a non-vegetarian eats meat and also why he doesn't eat a human. Although non-vegetarians don't hate animals, they do not feel that they possess the same resemblance and similarity to an animal to the extent that a vegetarian does. So although they love animals, they have no problem eating them or feeding it to their pets. But the very same non-vegetarian is utterly disgusted with the idea of putting human flesh into his mouth because of the obviously super-strong resemblance that another human shares with himself.



Childhood Conditioning: Our childhood conditioning can be used to trace back the purpose and existence of almost every single one of our current actions and behaviour patterns and our eating habit face no exclusion from it. Childhood conditioning is what decides if one feels if he shares any resemblance to another animal or no. If you grew up on a strict vegetarian diet during childhood, the thought of eating meat in adulthood will disgust you. Whereas if you grew up on a strict non-vegetarian diet in childhood, then later you would laugh at vegetarians and question how they can survive without eating meat.



This is also the reason why Hindus don't eat cow meat and Muslims don't eat pig meat whereas a Christian eats both. Eating habits at much higher scale can also be supported by the same reasoning. Eastern Asian nations are perfectly alright with eating worms and reptiles, whereas many European countries consider snails and animal lungs and intestines to be delicacies. But the same food disgusts an average American or Canadian even though they are hardcore non-vegetarians.




*I figured this theory out for myself when I was in a turmoil over the thought of whether I should re-start eating eggs after a 10 year hiatus. This post is for the stereotypes that hold true for some of the above given patterns. These pseudo-logical reasoning may not apply to you if, you consider yourself to be way out of any or all the stereotypes that I considered while formulating the whole thing.