Vegetarianism is the practice of not consuming the flesh of any animal (including sea animals) with or without also eschewing other animal derivatives. This includes other food such as dairy products or eggs. Some vegetarians may choose to also refrain from wearing all clothing that has involved the death of animals. This includes items such as leather, silk and fur. Veganism, sometimes called "strict vegetarianism", excludes all animal products from clothing and food, whether or not their production has involved the actual death of an animal (dairy, eggs, honey, wool, silk and down feathers). Vegetarians have varied motivations including religious, cultural, ethical, environmental, social, economic, and health concerns.

Vegetarianism may have been common in the Indian subcontinent as early as the 2nd millennium BC. Hinduism preaches that it is the ideal diet for spiritual progress all its followers need to be vegetarian.

Vegetarians in Europe used to be called "Pythagoreans",after the philosopher Pythagoras and his followers, who abstained from meat in the 6th century BC. They followed a vegetarian diet for nutritional and ethical reasons.

Vegetarianism in the 19th century was associated with many cultural reform movements, such as temperance and anti-vivisection. Many "new women" feminists at the end of the century were vegetarians

Most vegetarians claim that they became a vegetarian for one of three reasons.

The first reason, which most vegetarians claim, is that they have ethical problems with eating meat. Most disagree with how chickens are debeaked, forced to live in small cages, and are then slaughtered when they do not produce eggs fast enough.

Most vegetarians also disagree with the crowded and stressful environments animals are forced to endure; and the hormone-laden feed utilized to make them grow faster and produce more.

People who become vegetarians for this purpose often draw ethical boundaries in different spots, depending on their personal beliefs. For instance, some staunch vegans will not consume yeast, wear wool, or even eat certain vegetables, such as carrots, that require killing the

plant to harvest.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, some vegetarians--sometimes referred to as pseudo-vegetarians--will actually eat fish and chicken on a regular basis.

The second biggest reason vegetarians claim for not eating meat is that it conflicts with their dietary preferences. Some of these vegetarians simply do not like the texture and taste of meat; others do not eat it because it is high in cholesterol and often contains high concentrations of hormones and preservatives.

The third and smallest group of vegetarians cite environmental reasons for not consuming meat. They complain that consumption of meat causes farmers to continually deforest land to create grazing land for cattle.

In addition to these three major groups, there are a number of other smaller groups of vegetarians who stopped eating meat for entirely different reasons.

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Many nonvegetarians ponder what drives vegetarians to give up meat and adopt an entirely different lifestyle. There is no single answer to this question. Nonvegetarians become vegetarians for a number of different reasons - some even for multiple reasons.