History and context
Vegetarianism has ancient roots in Jain, Buddhist, Hindu, and Pythagorean traditions but became a modern secular movement in mid-19th century Britain, culminating in the founding of The Vegetarian Society in 1847. It remained a minority practice until food-safety scandals (BSE, factory-farming exposés) drove growth from the 1980s onward. Today an estimated 8-10% of adults in the UK and India identify as vegetarian, with much higher rates among under-25s worldwide.
🐇 The animal-rights angle
Vegetarian diets eliminate all slaughtered land and sea animals but still involve animals in dairy and egg production, which typically end in slaughter. Buying higher-welfare dairy (pasture-raised, RSPCA Assured) and eggs (free-range or genuinely pasture-raised) — or leaning on plant milks and egg replacers — meaningfully reduces the welfare gap. For a bigger step, our vegan hub explains what changes with dairy and eggs out.
🌍 The sustainability angle
A well-planned vegetarian diet cuts food-related emissions by around 40-50% versus a typical omnivorous diet, per Oxford modelling. The main environmental hotspots that remain are hard cheeses (very GHG-intensive per gram of protein) and industrial egg production. Choosing plant milks over dairy and shifting cheese consumption downward closes most of the remaining gap.