One of the commenters on my last post nicely pointed out my error in calling my daughter a vegetarian when she will sometimes eat fish (making her a pescetarian).
I was also wrong in calling myself a carnivore, when really I am an omnivore, namely, a person who eats everything – and, I might add, can’t stop …
But the real problem with defining my daughter’s eating habits is that they still vary. One week she is off all meat and fish, then another week it’s okay as long as the animal is raised humanely (ie., farm-rised or free range).
I completely respect her choices, and understand them. I, too, am sometimes uncomfortable with my omnivorism, or more correctly, with the way our society currently grows and raises the foods we omnivores eat.
And so I give my daughter full permission to eat whatever she is comfortable eating, and change her mind as often as she likes. I only ask that she keep us in the loop. After all, food choices are very personal, often political, and can be difficult to maintain given busy lives and tempting dishes on the table.
But I’ve decided we need a new word for folks like her who are not fixed in their food choices, or are trying out out different ways of eating. So here it is:
Am∙bi∙va∙ri∙an [am-bi-vair-ee-uhn]
–noun
1. a person who is not sure if they are a vegetarian or a pescetarian or a even a vegan, but knows that they do not want to be an omnivore.
2. a person who vacillates between various forms of vegetarianism
3. Variant or short form of ambi-vegetarian
-adj
1. of, or pertaining to, ambivarianism, ambivarians or ambi-vegetarians
[Origin: 2007; (AMBIV)ALENT +VEGET(ARIAN)]
How long, do you think, before it gets an entry in Wikipedia?
l call myself an opportunivore; I think it covers all the bases quite nicely. It’s much nicer than sugarwhore, which is probably more accurate.
I think the key is to be a philovore, to care about what you eat. Most of the harm vegans complain about comes from people who eat fast food and junk.
If you love what you eat, you will care that it was not prepared in a wasteful and destructive fashion.
I love your word! It describes a lot of the eaters I know!
Ambivarianism
northwoods baby – EXCELLENT word!
McHebert – Agree. We need to get back to caring about our food. I think the Europeans are far ahead of us on this…
Katiez – Including myself, sometimes…
Empty John – Oh my god! I’m in Wikipedia! Thank you! (Do you think it’ll stay?…..)
Empty John –
My Wikipedia entry is already gone – no sooner had I snuck back for a second look, and it had vanished from the page! Those Wikipedia police are one nasty crew….
Ah well, what was that? 5 minutes of fame? Thanks anyway, it was glorious while it lasted….
What do you think of omnitarian – a person who is all “tarians” as they so chose.
AKA Fruitarian, a casual reference to the movie Notting Hill where Hugh Grant’s character is set up with a woman who will only eat what comes falls off of a fruit tree…
The Indian colleagues that I work with refer to themselves as chickitarians since they have abandoned a completely vegetarian diet, but won’t consume beef.
If for one am an omnivore like you. I am in Milan right now and at present I am an Italianatarian – consuming all things prepred in a traditional Italian way until my NASH kicks in and my liver enzymes sky rocket (which I can tell is absoluletly happening, but I won’t stop until I get back…).
Once I am home and on the NASH diet, I will be a desire-it-all-atarian. A simply torturous “tarian” as I don’t like to deprive myself of food. Perhaps this will evolve into imaginatarianism, much like a Bugs Bunny character who sees a bird turn into a warm meal right in front of their eyes.
I give you a lot of credit that you give your daughter that kind of freedome of choice with her food. Not that the freedom isn’t an issue, but I would be unhappy if my child turned me into a short-order cook. Do you make her prepare her own meals should she be a particular “tarian”?
Lastly, congrats on making Wikipedia, if only for 5 minutes. It’s a very Andy Warhol moment of fame!
Hi, love your blog! I am “consuming” a book called “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” right now. A great read if you want to think about the consequences of America’s eating habits, both on our bodies and on the earth. You certainly will think about your food with a different consciousness after reading this book.
Schruggling –
Milan! How jealous am I! That would make you a Pastaterian, I believe.
Didn’t know you had NASH. Sounds like you know what to do to keep in under control. I lost 8 lbs in Italy eating as the Italians do, I wouldn’t assume you’re doing yourself harm. The Italian diet is a healthy one…
Laurie-
Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll add it to my reading list…
I found ambivarian quite an apt term for myself hence the experiment in adding it to Wikipedia.
I noted also no mention whatsoever that some persons (eg kids, the pregnant, certain medical probs such as many of the anaemias) should seek professional(medical, dietitian etc) advice before embarking on one of the stricter regimens such as veganism, to ensure essential needs often provided via “flesh” are accounted for elsewhere, as can certainly be done. I politely added a note about seeking professional advice before instituting radical dietary changes for anyone.
The Wikipedia police, who certainly are not professionally vetted as such – pounced literally within 2 minutes, to erase all the above.
Shame. I liked the term, and shall retain it in my personal lexicon
EJ:
THanks again.