Today, October 1st, is World Vegetarian Day.

Vegetarianism is the practice of not eating meat, including poultry and seafood, and can include eating any by-products from animal slaughter (such as gelatin). It is not as strict as veganism, which also abstains from the consumption of any animal by products, including eggs and dairy products.

The Vegetarian Society (which was founded in Manchester, UK, in 1847 - the world's first) states that the name does not derive from the word vegetable, but instead from the Latin vegetus, meaning lively, fresh, vigorous.

There are a number of different branches of vegetarianism, some of which do eat animal products.

Image: By Peggy Greb, USDA ARS [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons