Ovo vegetarianism

Ovo vegetarians or colloquially eggetarians are vegetarians who eat eggs but not meat or dairy products.

"Ovo" comes from the Latin word for egg. Pronunciation: /oe' voe/.

A common health reason for choosing this diet is lactose intolerance.

An ethical reason for choosing this diet is the necessity for the cow to give birth in order to lactate, the upshot being that dairy consumption supports the meat industry by increasing the population of animals that cannot be sustained for any other purpose, as well as the immediate issue of denying the calf its natural source of milk. In contrast, however, hens are able to lay eggs for human consumption without being fertilized or reproducing. (The common practice of keeping free-range hens in the backyard illustrates this, and also demonstrates that hens can be treated as pets rather than egg-laying machines.) This standpoint is in contrast to the ethical argument for lacto vegetarianism.