Vegetarianism This write up began during authors business trips to Japan. Information on Japan is expected to be hepful to visitors looking for Vegetarian options.

The earliest records of vegetarianism as a concept and practice amongst a significant number of people are from ancient India (jains or asvikas), and the ancient Greek civilizations in southern Italy and Greece. The diet was closely connected with the idea of nonviolence toward animals (called ahimsa in India), and was promoted by religious groups and philosophers. Ancient Indian philosopher Valluvar wrote an exclusive chapter on veganism or vegetarianism in his work Tirukkural. In India, Vegetarian food is called Saivam, brahmin or Jain food.

The religions of Chinese Buddhism and Taoism require that monks and nuns eat vegetarian diet. In 675, meat was banned in Japan by Emperor Tenmu and subsequently, the Emperor Seimu approved the eating of fish and shellfish.
More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_vegetarianism

Individuals have to develop their own program, What to eat, when to eat it, and why to eat it - plus simple, sensible guidelines on how to prepare, serve and digest the food you eat.

What is life (from genetic view)?

Various forms of life

Who are we humans?
Let us start with animals. We are mammals (mammalia or animals with mammary glands and warm-blooded vertebrates), accounting for around 5000 species of animals.
Eurachontids is any mammal that has highly dexterous hands and arms, and a decently sized brain to judge distance and have a good sense of balance. Primates, have a more advanced brain. Humanoid have two major groups: Lesser Apes, which is mostly the gibbons; and the Great Apes. Great Apes have a huge brain relative to your body mass, have fingerprints, and a distinctive molar unique to the Hominids. In terms of physical differences, there’s not much that separates primates, humans, apes, or monkeys.

Different levels of vegeterians

• Fruitarian: Only eats foods that don't kill the plant (apples can be picked without killing plant, carrots cannot). Fruitarian diet at times refers to vegan diet which includes a minimum of processed or cooked foods. It consists mainly of raw fruit (75 percent) , fruit-like vegetables (e.g., tomatoes, cucumbers) , grains and nuts. Fruitarians eat only plant foods that can be harvested without killing the plant.
• Sproutarians eat mostly sprouted seeds, grains, pulses and rice.
• Plant-Eater: Mainly eats plants.
• Vegan: excludes animal flesh (meat, poultry, fish and seafood) , animal products (eggs and dairy) , and usually excludes honey and the wearing and use of animal products (leather, silk, wool, lanolin, gelatin...) . Vegan: excludes animal flesh (meat, poultry, fish and seafood) , animal products (eggs and dairy) , and usually excludes honey and the wearing and use of animal products (leather, silk, wool, lanolin, gelatin...) . The major vegan societies all disallow honey, but some "vegans" still use it.
• Dietary Vegan: follows a vegan diet, but doesn't necessarily try and exclude non-food uses of animals.
• Lacto Vegetarian: Plant based food, but also eats milk products.
• Ovo Vegetarian: Plant based food, but also eats eggs.
• Ovo-Lacto Vegetarian: Plant based food, but also eats eggs and milk products.
• Pesco-vegetarian or demi-vegetarian appears 'a person who eats fish but not meat'
• Nonmeat-Eater: Most definitions do not consider fish, fowl or seafood to be meat. Animal fats and oils, bonemeal and skin are not considered meat.
• Vegequarian - A vegetarian who eats fish but not red meat
• A pescetarian diet excludes meat and fowl but includes fish, although factory-farmed fish are usually avoided. A pescetarian diet is perfectly healthy.

Popular category of vegeterians

• Vegans do not eat meat of any kind and also do not eat eggs, dairy products, or processed foods containing these or other animal-derived ingredients such as gelatin (as opposed who vegetarians, who usually eat dairy products and eggs). Many vegans also refrain from eating foods that are made using animal products that may not contain animal products in the finished process, such as sugar and some wines. There is some debate as to whether certain foods, such as honey, fit into a vegan diet.
• Lacto-vegetarian (“lacto” comes from the Latin for milk) is used to describe a type of vegetarian who eat dairy products. Many Hindu vegetarians are lacto-vegetarians. Milk comes from animals, usually from cows, but it is not the flesh of the animal.
• Ovo-vegetarian (“ovo” for egg)) refers to people who do not eat meat or dairy products but do eat eggs. Eggs are not animal flesh (the meat, muscles or tissue of an animal). Some people are ovo-vegetarians because they are lactose-intolerant.
• Vegetarian for many people means, Lacto-ovo- vegetarians who do not eat beef, pork, poultry, fish, shellfish or animal flesh of any kind, but do eat eggs and dairy products.
• Flexitarian/Semi-vegetarian is a term recently coined to describe those who eat a mostly vegetarian diet, but occasionally eat meat.

Milk vs Egg

Egg is a single cell, containing female genetic material. An egg or ovum can be very small or very large. After fertilization, it is called as a fertilized egg (diploid) which is scientifically called as the zygote. There are vegetarian or unfertilized eggs in the market.

There are substitutes for cow's milk like Rice Milk, Soy Milk, Oat Milk and Almond Milk. Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Cow's Milk is 0.62 (kg CO2-Ceq per 200g), compared to 0.16 of Almond Milk

Healthy female chickens, known as hens, can lay eggs, whether or not a rooster is present (fertilized or unfertilized meaning the egg can never develop into a chick). Healthy hens can lay an egg about once a day, but may occasionally skip a day. It takes about 24 to 28 hours for a hen to develop an egg.
The yolk is created in the ovary and, when ready, gets ejected into the first part of the oviduct, called the infundibulum. This is where fertilization takes place if the hen has mated. Then the egg travels further along the oviduct where the albumen, or egg white, begins to form. Then the egg moves further along the oviduct, where the inner and outer shell membranes form. Once the shell is formed, the egg is pushed through the vagina and exits the hen's body via the cloaca (vent).

Why become a vegeterian?

• "Land, energy and water resources for livestock agriculture range anywhere from 10 to 1000 times greater than those necessary to produce an equivalent amount of plant foods. Meat industry does not merely use these resources, it depletes them. Most of the world's soil, erosion, groundwater depletion, and deforestation are due to destructive form of modern food production
• Many people are drawn to vegeterian for health, ecological, spiritual and other reasons.
• Cruel practices inherent in dairy, livestock and poultry farming is probably the reason for the adoption of veganism

Crop production and land resources

Vegetarian food from seas

Vegetarian Health Foods

1. Beans, legumes, pulses – A plant-based diet underpins the health of those who live longest according to experts. Beans, legumes and pulses (such as lentils and chickpeas), compared with any other food, are the most important dietary predictor of longevity. They probably offer the best bang for your nutritional buck than any other food out there.
2. Wild greens – Wild greens like purslane, dandelion and arugula are a great source of minerals as well as carotenoids— the colorful pigments our body converts to vitamin A.
3. Mushrooms – Mushrooms, particularly shiitake, contain more than 100 compounds with immune-protecting properties.
4. Okinawan sweet potatoes – Imo is a supercharged purple sweet potato that doesn't cause blood sugar to spike as much as a regular white potato.
5. Peppers – Residents of Nicoya, Costa Rica -- a population more likely to reach a healthy 90 years old than anyone else on the planet -- use small sweet peppers in most of their dishes, and other peppers are also a staple food in longevity-prone Sardinia and Ikaria in Greece. Peppers are rich in vitamins, especially vitamin C.
6. Squash – Squash, available in several varieties, belongs to the botanical family Cucurbitaceae, known for providing high levels of useful carotenoids.
7. Nuts and seeds – Nuts, as well as nut butters, are prominent in the diet of the Seventh-day Adventists, a religious group with a longer than average lifespan when compared to other Americans. One study found that those who ate a handful of nuts at least five times a week lived two to three years longer than those who didn't eat any nuts.
8. Corn – Lime-treated ground corn, or nixtamal, is used to make tortillas eaten at breakfast, lunch and dinner. It increases the body's ability to absorb calcium, iron and minerals.
9. Turmeric – Ginger's golden cousin is a powerful anticancer, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent.
10. Ikarians in Greece drink tea brewed from local rosemary, wild sage and dandelion — all of which are herbs known to have anti-inflammatory properties. Herbal teas – Ikarians in Greece drink tea brewed from local rosemary, wild sage and dandelion — all of which are herbs known to have anti-inflammatory properties.

Vegetarianism in India

Food and drink play a very important part in body and mind-control. In ancient Indian medicine, garlic was a valuable remedy used as a tonic, to cure a lack of appetite, common weakness, cough, skin disease, rheumatism, haemorrhoids etc. In the Vedas – the garlic was mentioned among other medicinal plants. Medical treatise Charaka Sanhita celebrates the onion as a diuretic, good for digestion, the heart, the eyes, and the joints. Indian priests were the first physicians and pharmacists, who used items such as garlic.

Many Indians or Hindus are non-vegetarians. The vegetarianism in India become popular after Buddhism and Jainism. Vedic literatures refer to pastoral people, who slaughtered cattle as food. Indus Valley people seems to be agriculturists. Emphasis on ahimsa, led to adoption of vegetarianism. For some Indians, their vegetarianism is itself their dharma. There are many communities living in the coastal stateswhere the consumption of meat or fish is very common. Early Indian kings and warriors who were expected to excel as hunters and warriors relied on a meaty diet. Manasollasa written during king Somesvara of the Western Chalukya Dynasty in the 12th century discusses many meat dishes. A suitable, healthy and hygienic diet included fatty pork fried with cardamoms and roast rump steak. With many types of vegetables, mutton, pork, sparrows and rats could all be found on sale in the markets of the Vijayanagara Empire. The Tantriks use fish, meat and wine freely in their worship.

Though Garlic and onion both have many health benefits, Some do not eat onions and garlic. Some, didn’t personally like onions and garlic. Some communities don’t use under ground veges like onions and garlic because they rip up the ground when they’re harvested. Onions and garlic are often used to flavor meat, so if someone was abstaining from meat they would give them up.

Some do not eat anything with seeds (this would prevent the plant from renewing its life) or any bulb for the same reason. Some do not eat plants that grow underground, including potatoes, because insects may be harmed in their harvest. Onions, ginger, or garlic, give off a strong odor and when a group monks meditate in forests or in a caves, it would produce a strong, pungent odor that would affect other people meditation.

Christian Vegetarianism

Vegetarianism in Japan

Japan has a rich tradition of cooking with vegetables. Few common vegetable dishes are listed below:

1. Gohan, Japanese rice is a short grain, slightly sticky variety. It's often possible to order a bowl of plain rice.
2. Nama Tofu is fFresh tofu served with grated ginger and shoyu. Tofuya specializes in tofu dishes.
3. Mochi 餅, most often found in the form of dense rice cakes, shows up in some okonomiyaki and monjayaki (where it is cut into little rectangles), and it can also be served either grilled (kirimochi) or fried (agedashimochi). Kirimochi may be topped with shoyu or kinako (roasted soy flour).
4. Eggplant ( なす nasu in Japanese) is often ordered as a side dish at Japanese restaurants. It is served grilled (yakinasu) or baked and flavored with a warm miso sauce (made from soy beans, sea salt, and koji). Other vegetables served as sides are konyaku (a gelatin type food made with yams), yamaimo potato, and pumpkin. Even raw cabbage leaves are served with salt.
5. Zaru Soba, Cold buckwheat noodles served with a dipping sauce, negi, sesame seeds and shredded nori. Considered a summer dish.
6. Kitsune Udon (literally: fox wheat noodles) are thick Japanese wheat noodles with aburaage on top. Aburaage is a favorite food of foxes and gods.
7. Ochazuke, A simple dish of green tea on cooked rice. Normally served with vegetables such as negi.
8. Edamame, salty young soybeans
9. Dashi is a simple Japanese soup and cooking stock made with umami ingredients such as kombu, shiitake mushrooms, niboshi, katsuobushi or chemical flavor enhancers. Dashi is most typically fish based but vegetarian dashi, especially kombu dashi is reasonably common. It's easy to find a vegetarian dashi stock at a supermarket in Japan. It's also easy to prepare vegetarian dashi by simmering kombu and shiitake.
10. Miso is produced by fermenting soybeans, rice, wheat or barley. Miso paste is another fundamental ingredient in Japanese cuisine. It's also used as a vegetable dip for fresh or steamed vegetables. Miso soup is a staple of the Japanese diet that's easy to find. At its most simple, miso soup is just dashi and miso. Many variations of dashi are vegetarian but many are also fish based.
11. Yakitori restaurants are focused on grilled meat. However, they typically offer a number of vegetable items such as skewered, grilled shiitake mushrooms (shiitake yakitori).
12. Kabocha, Boiled or steamed Japanese winter squash is a common bento item and side dish. It's naturally sweet and filling.
13. Taiyaki are fish shaped cakes filled with anko, custard, chocolate, cheese or sweet potato. They are a popular festival food.
14. Daikon are amongst the most common Japanese vegetables. They may be served grilled with a rich sauce such as miso.
15. Ganmodoki, A fried tofu fritter made with vegetables. Contains egg whites. Ganmodoki are said to taste like goose.
16. Nama Yuba (fresh tofu skin) has a texture similar to mozzarella cheese. It's served with a light dipping sauce such as ponzu.
17. Natto are smelly, slimy, stinky fermented soybeans that people love. It's a common breakfast food that's thought to be healthy. Anything that tastes like natto must be healthy.
18. Yudofu, A simple hotpot of tofu and vegetables in hot water. Served at Japanese temples.
19. Atsuage is a type of tofu that has been deep fried twice. This process makes the tofu strong enough to be grilled.
20. Kenpi, Sugar coated deep fried sweet potato.

HUMANISM

Administrator:NARA is a Consultant by profession and an Engineer by qualification. Nara holds an Engineering Masters degree and have worked 25 years for leading organizations.
Now working part time on country/technology research projects and Maintaining community Web sites.
Spending more time to pursue his interests on studying: ancient scriptures; maths & astronomy; physics; philosophy; history & culture and so on.