What Does The Name “November” Mean? Vegan buttercream frosting and more people are following vegan or vegetarian diets. And you’ve probably noticed a lot of restaurant menus marking whether a dish is vegan or vegetarian. But what exactly is the difference?

The difference involves more than just whether a person eats cheese. We’ll break down what each word means, what vegans and vegetarians do and don’t eat, and what the word vegan means beyond eating. We’ll even define some related terms, including plant-based, flexitarian, and pescatarian. In general, vegans avoid eating or using things that are either from animals or made by animals. In terms of diet, this means not consuming any meat or dairy products, or other animal-derived products, such as honey. There are many reasons why a person may be vegan.

While many people adopt a vegan diet for health or nutrition reasons, many vegans base their consumption choices on a belief in the importance of animal welfare. Others may have climate-related concerns about the contribution of meat production to carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. A vegan diet is often considered plant-based—meaning it consists entirely or mainly of foods that come from plants, including vegetables, fruits, and grains. Vegan protein sources include beans, nuts, legumes, and seeds. There are many processed products that serve as vegan alternatives for these items. There are some foods that are considered nonvegan even though they are not meat or dairy. Honey is typically considered nonvegan because it’s a product of honeybees.

Some products are considered nonvegan not because they contain animal products but because they’re processed with them. For example, some sugars are considered nonvegan due to being processed using a product from animal bones. A vegan diet is often associated with healthy foods, like vegetables, but just because a food is vegan doesn’t necessarily mean it’s healthy. Some processed candy is vegan, for example. Vegetarians may avoid meat for a number of reasons, including concerns for animals, personal health, and the environment—or a combination of these factors and others. Like the diet of vegans, a vegetarian diet is often primarily plant-based.

The main difference is that vegetarians eat nonmeat animal products, especially dairy products and eggs, which are often used as primary protein sources, along with non-animal sources like beans, legumes, nuts, and seeds. Some foods sometimes considered non-vegetarian are not obvious. Get the fascinating stories of your favorite words in your inbox. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Some people may adhere to diets that are primarily vegan or vegetarian, but may sometimes consume foods that are usually avoided in such diets. The word flexitarian refers to a person whose diet is largely plant-based, but who occasionally eats meat, fish, and poultry.