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Q - What are the different types of vegetarian?
A -
- A vegetarian does not eat meat, fowl or fish. Some describe it as not eating anything with a face.
- A Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian does not eat meat, fowl or fish, but consumes dairy and eggs.
- An Ovo-Vegetarian does not eat meat, fowl, fish, or dairy, but eats eggs.
- A Lacto-Vegetarian does not eat meat, fowl, fish or eggs, but consumes dairy.
- A Vegan does not eat any animal products including meat, fowl, fish, eggs and dairy. Many vegans also do not eat honey and will not use animal products such as leather, silk, wool, etc.
Q - What is rennet?
A - Rennet is the clotting enzyme used to coagulate milk in the cheese making process. There are 3 different kinds - Animal, Vegetable and Microbial. Animal Rennet is extracted from the stomach lining of a suckling mammal - calf or lamb. It is used in many European cheeses and the harder types of cheese. Cheese containing this type of rennet is definitely not vegetarian. Vegetable rennet is extracted from plants and microbial rennet is made from microorganisms through a fermentation process. Unless it specifies vegetable or microbial rennet on the label, it's probably animal rennet. The enzymes used in cheese are microbial unless it states otherwise on the label.
Q - Was Jesus a vegetarian?
A - Since Jesus was born into an Essene sect called the Nazoreans, who were vegetarian, it stands to reason that he was raised that way. There are many clues in the bible to support this theory. Jesus described himself as the "Lamb of God". During the Last Supper he instructed his disciples to eat his flesh and drink his blood symbolically by consuming the bread and wine. He meant for them to do this instead of sacrificing and eating the flesh of animals and birds.
When Jesus turned the so called money changers out of the temple, the people he was turning out were actually selling animals and birds for sacrifice and consumption. Jesus "lost it" with these people. He upset their carts, releasing the animals and birds. It is possible this was the main reason he was put to death although there is good reason to suppose he actually survived the cross because he was not up there very long before the Roman soldiers were distracted by an uprising in a neighboring province. But that's another story.
It is reasonable to believe that vegetarianism would be consistent with, if not mandated by, the spirit of early Christianity, a spirit that followed the teachings of Jesus, advocating kindness, mercy, non-violence and showing disdain towards wealth and extravagance and waste. Meat eating would hardly have been considered the way of the humility, non-extravagance and love for all of God's creation. Hence, the orthodox early church father, Christian Hieronymous, could not but be compelled to conclude:
"The eating of animal meat was unknown up to the big flood, but since the flood they have pushed the strings and stinking juices of animal meat into our mouths, just as they threw quails in front of the grumbling sensual people in the desert. Jesus Christ, who appeared when the time had been fulfilled, has again joined the end with the beginning, so that it is no longer allowed for us to eat animal meat."Postscript: What Happened After Christ?
Maybe an even more important question than that of whether or not Christ was a vegetarian, was why Christianity later abandoned its vegetarian roots. Steven Rosen in his book, Food for the Spirit, 1987, argues:
The early Christian fathers adhered to a meatless regime...many early Christian groups supported the meatless way of life. In fact, the writings of the early Church indicate that meat eating was not officially allowed until the 4th century, when the Emperor Constantine decided that his version of Christianity would be the version for everyone. A meat eating interpretation of the Bible became the official creed of the Roman Empire, and vegetarian Christians had to practice in secret or risk being put to death for heresy. It is said that Constantine used to pour molten lead down the their throats if they were captured.Ironic indeed that pagan Rome would have this longstanding influence upon Christianity.