One of the most daunting questions that have given birth to multiple debates and arguments not even in the scientific community but also in our everyday household discussions is whether egg is veg or non veg.
At the surface level, the answer seems fairly simple, eggs come from hens, a living being, and also later develop to become chickens, again living beings. This means that something that is capable of becoming a living being is definitely non vegetarian. Actually, the answer is so much more complex. Scientists finally have an answer to shut down this incessant debate, the answer might surprise you! Eggs are actually BOTH vegetarian and nonvegetarian.
How are eggs vegetarian?
A vegetarian is someone who avoids eating animal products, referring to animal flesh that basically means meat and muscle in simple terms. Egg is simply considered vegetarian because it contains no meat OR life.
It sounds bizarre because eggs develop to give chickens so…? Well, most of the eggs that are sold at our grocery stores and markets are unfertilised eggs, meaning there’s barely a chance that these eggs would have hatched to give chickens.
Once a hen reaches 6 months of age, she begins to lay eggs almost every day and she can do so without having to mate. These eggs are unfertilised and therefore are not capable of turning into lifeforms.
Eggs contain three parts- the yolk, the whites(albumen) and the shell. The egg whites are completely vegetarian and have absolutely no animal cells present in them. The egg whites are the suspension of the protein albumen in water. So egg whites and all products containing eggs whites are entirely vegetarian.
How are eggs nonvegetarian?
Well, the yolks, the yellow part of the eggs, are mostly veg and are considered just suspension of cholesterol, fat and protein in water but these cells cannot be separated from the gamete(reproductive cells) cells.
This means that the egg yolks are non-veg. Besides, while most of our eggs are unfertilised there are still fertilised one that people sell in the markets. There’s no way for us to tell, right? Actually, you just find out whether your egg is vegetarian or nonvegetarian by just cracking open the egg.
If you see a white circle on it, in the shape of a “bulls eye”, which is basically a small white circle followed by another white ring, it's a fertilised egg. If not, it’s unfertilised.
So, finally, is egg veg or non-veg??
Since parts of it are both vegetarian as well as nonvegetarian, why don't we skip the tedious debate and hop on the popular bandwagon of the term- Eggetarians? It’s trendy and also very self explanatory- it refers to vegetarians who consume eggs and egg products. For vegetarians worrying about the ethicality behind it? Don't worry, there’s hardly a possibility that your egg could have birthed a chicken, had you decided to spare it.
