e have come to believe and fear that, in thesuffering and killing which occurs in commercial farming, wedemean ourselves, coarsen our sensitivities, dull ourfeelings of sympathy with our fellow creatures, and sobegin the descent down the slippery slope of torture and death, to a point where it becomes easier for us to contemplate andcarry out the torture and killing of human beings. (20) This moral argument for vegetarianism is also noted by John Robbinswho states that "the suffering these animals undergo has become so extremethat to partake of foodfrom these creatures is to partake unknowingly of the abject misery thathas been theirlives"(14). But whatever the reasons behind a person's choice to be avegetarian, it is important to understand the different diets thatindividual vegetarians can choose. In thewidest sense of the word, avegetarian diet is a diet that is madeup of grains, vegetables and fruit,but does not include any animal flesh, such as fish, pork, poultry, orbeef. But beyond these standards, there are many variations of diet thatoccur within the world of vegetarianism. The first, and most prominent, category of vegetarianism is alacto-ovo vegetarian. Mark Messina describes a lact-ovo diet as "...avegetarian diet (that)includes dairy products and eggs but no animalflesh"(7). This means that there isconsumption of animal byproducts, such as milk, eggs, or honey, but thereis no consumption of animal flesh. Another variation is thelacto-vegetarian diet that allows theconsumption of milk and other milk products, but does not include theconsumption ofeggs. And like all vegetarians, these two groups do not consume fish,poultry, or meat(Messina 7). Another category that vegetarians can fall into are vegans. Thevegan diet is by far the most strict of all the vegetarian diets. Accordingto Mark Messina, "Vegans avoidmeat, f...
