If you’re thinking of changing your diet to vegan, you might be wondering why vegans eat the way they do. You might also be hesitant to make these decisions until you understand and accept them yourself.
To assist you in making your decision, I will explain the two prominent vegetarian positions on eating eggs in this article.
Ovo-vegetarians, the sub-category of vegetarians I’ll discuss, accept the regular consumption of eggs because they do not believe it conflicts with an ethical vegetarian diet. They don’t consider eggs to be living things, so they don’t see the link between eating eggs and causing animal suffering or death.
Furthermore, many ovo-vegetarians believe that going completely vegan limits their options unnecessarily, especially since eggs are an excellent source of complete protein and a nutritionally viable alternative to meat.
When it comes to eggs, many vegetarians prefer “free range” eggs to regular–or “battery”–eggs. This is usually motivated by ethical concerns about how egg-laying hens are treated.
On the other hand, Vegans do not eat eggs regularly and are generally opposed to the institution. They claim that buying “battery hen” eggs supports an organisation that confines up to nine birds together, debeaks them, and forces them to lay eggs until they are calcium-depleted and on the verge of death, at which point they are slaughtered.
Furthermore, vegans despise “free range” eggs, which do not require a caged hen. They claim that most free-range hens are confined to houses with limited access to the outdoors.
They also point out that even producing “free range” eggs necessitates fertile eggs, half of which will hatch into male chicks who will be slaughtered shortly after birth or fed to a certain weight before being culled.
In addition to these two viewpoints, some vegetarians do not eat eggs for a variety of reasons. Some vegetarians refuse to eat eggs because they are high in cholesterol, while others believe that the animal farming industry contributes to environmental degradation.
Take some time to think about where you stand ethically and nutritionally before making a decision.