Are eggs suitable for vegetarians?

[LaMarschallin]

Just been having an argument animated discussion with DH.
He says eggs aren't a suitable food for vegetarians because they have the possibility of becoming living things.
I said they only have that possibility if they have a cockerel with them and an unfertilised egg has no potential of becoming a living thing (there may have been some cases of parthenogenesis in hens for all I know, but that wasn't part of the conversation).
We have now ranged over the idea of whether a vegetarian could eat some of an amputated leg of pork if the pig hasn't been killed or whether a block of wood has the potential to become a chicken (no, but an egg does even if there's no possibility of it being fertilised it seems).
He's finished up by chuckling gently (not at me, he insists) and saying I don't understand his argument.
Am I missing something or do I form up the ducks and get a free hour with a shit hot lawyer NOW?

Well dh and dd are both strict vegetarians and both eat eggs. They’re not vegans. I believe your dh may be thinking of vegans who won’t eat eggs.

Vegetarians avoid animal flesh and an egg isn’t flesh.

Vegetarian here...I only eat eggs when I know the chickens!.
The egg industry is vile.

I would be annoyed at the laughing at you and the not understanding the argument comment. Whether that’s divorce-able is up to you!

Speaking as a vegetarian, eggs are absolutely vegetarian in the way that the term vegetarian is used in the UK. There are different types of vegetarians though, as some may exclude eggs or dairy, hence you might see the term lacto-ovo vegetarian or variants of that.

No vegetarian would eat the amputated limb of an animal, because the animal has been harmed by doing that.

Eggs are a period - an unfertilised egg coming away. Does he regard your periods as a potential person?

I suspect he doesn’t understand that to have eggs that may turn into chicks, you need a cockerel. A surprising number of otherwise competent and informed adults don’t understand this IME.
There is also the issue that male chicks are destroyed while still tiny because they can’t be used for producing eggs, although IME people who are vegetarian do eat eggs and it’s vegans who don’t, for this reason.

As a chicken owner I was surprised to have to have this conversation with an obstetric consultant who took some convincing that you needed a cockerel to fertilise an egg! 🙈🤣

An unfertilised egg has zero potential to become a hen, but even a fertilised egg, if it's still visibly just egg white and egg yolk rather than a baby chick surrounded by eggshell, is still vegetarian. Any microscopic cluster of fertilised cells would have no awareness or capacity for pain.

No one with any kind of ethical sense would eat the amputated limb of any animal because that would be horrible cruelty. Animals that are raised for meat should have no knowledge of their impending danger and should be killed as close to instantaneously as possible to minimise suffering - the months of recovery from an amputation would be a sickening thing to deliberately impose on any creature for the sake of a meal. I doubt there are many meat eaters who would be so cruel so I am certain that no vegetarian would.

The dietary regime that excludes eggs and milk is veganism. Some people also describe it as plant-based if their motivation for the choice is for health rather than ethical reasons.

If your DH was right there would be no such thing as a vegetarian quiche (there are many) and no such thing as a vegetarian fried breakfast (definitely exists, and always includes eggs - the vegan version doesn't of course)

Same here.

The eggs you can buy are unfertilised so can’t turn into chicks.

All of the vegetarians I know eat eggs.

This thread reminded me of a conversation I had with a vegan once about how ignorant some people are about what the words vegetarian and vegan mean - I had been telling her about the time a "vegetarian option" meal on a flight to France had been a seafood pasta with visible tentacles, and she told me about the time she was camping with some friends and the friend who was cooking breakfast said to her "I know you're vegan so I didn't use any milk or butter with the scrambled eggs, they are just done with oil" - seems like your DH is just one of the mass of ignorance. Is it the Y chromosome that makes it impossible to acknowledge the possibility of being wrong?

Just to add, he definitely knows the difference between vegetarian and vegan. A vegan relative keeps hens and doesn't eat the eggs produced but more because they don't like the idea of eating any part of an animal rather than the ethics.
He definitely knows you need a male to make the egg viable.
And no, I don't really think it's divorce-able (although the gentle chuckling could have led to a right ding round the ear if I was less self-controlled).

Is it the Y chromosome that makes it impossible to acknowledge the possibility of being wrong?

I suspect this has a lot to do with it.
He's interested in philosophy and likes a good debate but I think he's realised he didn't think this one through so is resorting to the cheap tactics of "You don't understand my clever argument".

That's shocking!

Although I'm now wondering how this conversation came about...

Does he know that women ovulate once a month?

You wouldn't believe the number of grown adults who refer to my hens as 'he'.

Then there are the ones that don't realise hens lay eggs even when there are no cockerels in the flock. It's basically a daily period.

Most vegetarians eat eggs, barring allergies. Some strict Hindus regard eggs as animal products that are banned while milk and dairy are 'gifts from the cow's and therefore ok.

That’s exactly how my biology teacher explained eggs to us…put quite a few people off I can tell you …

Vegetarians can eat eggs. A vegetarian is someone who doesn’t eat animals, and an egg is not an animal. Many vegetarians don’t eat eggs for various reasons, but it isn’t the strict definition.

Also sorry to be pedantic but an egg isn’t quite a period, it is more like a self contained womb. The actual DNA part (the equivalent of the egg a mammal releases from her ovaries) is a tiny part of the bird’s egg. You can sometimes see a tiny black dot in the egg - this is the DNA. The rest is nutrition and water for the embryo to feed on as it grows.

When the chick comes out, the egg is empty, but if you cut the chick’s stomach open (this sounds like an odd thing to do but it’s what you do when you feed day old chicks to birds of prey) then the yolk comes back out of their stomach.

Tell him about fungi then. Fungi are closer to being animals than they are plants.

That should keep his manly brain occupied for a while.😉

Have you listened to this ?
The whole series is interesting but ti's episode is all about the shroom and its mates .
( be aware the language is a bit strong ! )

Super strict veggies here, me because of allergies and Dd 1 by choice. I eat our own eggs and occasional free range ones where I have a fair idea what they are fed. Dd1 doesn’t but will happily bake with them becase neither of us are vegan.

I worked with him and brought him in some eggs from my chickens. He was checking there was no chance there might be a chick inside when he cracked them open. I said no it’s fine, I don’t have a cockerel. And he didn’t understand why that meant there couldn’t be a chick inside the egg.

There's a whole section of Indian and Hindu society that call themselves pure vegetarians for not eating egg

In many Indian communities, eggs are not consumed by vegetarians. So, culture and religion also play a role.