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?

Every vegetarian I know eats eggs. Some of the ‘vegetarians’ I know eat fish 🤨

Wonder whether caviar counts...?

(Joking!)

A DSis had a boyfriend who called himself a Veggan.
However he was very fussy about which eggs, strictly free range only from a particularly reputable source.

Exactly.

Do you avoid eggs in pre-made products and restaurant food or just in terms of eating/cooking with whole eggs? Just curious as have a vegan husband and know it takes quite an effort to be egg free.

A vegetarian can have free range eggs.

We visited a restaurant in Paris with a vegetarian symbol next to the frogs’ legs!

Eggs are generally considered to be vegetarian. That is the general consensus. However, they are not cruelty free by any means. To be honest vegetarianism is dying a death as the reality of the dairy and egg industry becomes more common knowledge.

He’s wrong about the eggs. By extension of his argument, a foetus is a child and although that debate rages on in “pro-life” groups, it is pretty well settled in law.

But it’s an interesting philosophical view about the amputated leg of pork. If it was done for the benefit of the pig, and was edible, then I can see where he might have a theoretical point. I don’t think it would be eaten by a vegetarian but I’d be interested what their view was on that.

We don’t buy anything with egg products in from shops. There are two places where we do eat eggs as we know which hobby farm the eggs are from. We’re dairy free, so most ready made things are already out of the question anyway.

He's arguing the difference (in Western terms) between lacto vegetarian and lacto-ovo vegetarian.

If you look at other cultures, such as Hinduism, 'We're vegetarian' will often mean either that they do not eat eggs or that they do not consume any animal products at all.

Fish eggs are open to debate - I don't think that eating them when a common method is to kill the fish in order to obtain them makes for a vegetarian food item (and roe is off the menu as a result) - but it is possible to obtain some without killing the animal.

But when it comes down to it, he's arguing for the sake of arguing, which makes it a pointless exercise. And the only way to win such games is not to play.

God, an obstetric consultant. One fears for the world

Also, does he worry about that every time he buys eggs from a shop? Or does he think that there is some kind of difference between shop eggs and eggs from people's home chickens?

Or does he think that there is some kind of difference between shop eggs and eggs from people's home chickens?

That reminds me of one of the school-gate mummies who came across as quite prissy (or "quayte" prissy as she would have said) who, on finding out that we grew a lot of our own fruit and vegetables, said "And you eat them from the garden? Ooh no! Ay wouldn't fancy that".
I wasn't up to telling her about our chickens at that point.

I wasn't up to telling her about our chickens at that point.

When my friend's husband realised hens don't have a dedicated oviduct and the egg comes out of the all-purpose vent (cloaca) he stopped eating eggs entirely.

"I'm not eating anything that comes out of an arse" 😆

Eggs are fine for vegetarians

Eggs are not ok for vegans

Me too- and I’m not a vegetarian.

I think there’s a lot of flex on the vegetarian-vegan spectrum depending on different ethics. I know vegetarians who don’t eat eggs or dairy but don’t consider themselves vegans because they do eat and use other animal products like honey, beeswax, wool, leather; and vegetarians who do eat eggs and dairy but don’t wear leather because they put leather into the “meat” category.

I find it’s best just to check if somebody tells me they’re veggie whether they do eat eggs.

Lots of Indian vegetarians will eat dairy but not egg.

OTOH SIL is vegan but will make an exception for happy backyard eggs.

I’m a vegetarian and I eat eggs .
I don’t eat meat , fish or animal fat .