20210819 : Eggs

Few days back, one of my nurses, who is a non-vegetarian, asked me if eggs were vegetarian. I didn't know how or what to answer. So she asked our nanny/ housekeeper as to if we are vegetarian then how come there are eggs in the house? My other nurse chipped in, and very confidentiality stated that eggs were vegetarian.

I was surprised with her conviction for it's a fairly debated topic. So I dug around online a little bit. Summary below:

Eggs are definitely not vegan, as it an animal product.

They are not considered Satwik in traditional categorisation. 

If we go with a strict thinking that non vegetarian being anything alive before landing up on the table, eggs don't fit the bill. There was no life in the farmed eggs as these eggs are unfertilized. Roosters are not let anywhere near the hens.

They are just laid by hens everyday, fertilized or not. 

Gross warning:

There are lots of debates online, whether its a cycle and can be considered as a hen's period.

Well there are animal rights groups (like PETA) who think so, but give no rational basis and leverage emotions mostly.

On the other hand, there are several folks, who give very balanced arguments against that thinking. In a nutshell, only very few mammals (not all mammals even), have cyclic periods. Let alone birds.

So, I'd argue they are vegetarian. In fact, most vegetables don't meet the criteria that they were not alive before hitting the table.

They in fact qualify for an extreme form of Fruitarian, where folks don't even approve of plucking fruits and only consume fruits that naturally ripen and fall off.

That's about what I found and what I think as a result.

One can choose to not consume eggs because one is against cruelty to animals and the poor state of poultry farms and the general industrial growing and harvesting. Which is very fine. But one has to stop consuming milk too. For its equally or more industrialised.

One can choose not to consume eggs for we may not like the taste, the texture, the smell, we may be allergic to them or very simply, we have not been brought up with it and don't feel like changing.

However, there's enough evidence that the are a very good source of protein.

Well, those are the facts I have found.... Irrespective of beliefs...