# eat legume



## Silver

Hi,

Context:

I know that there many vegeterians in the western countries, and I'm a vegetarian in China. But here many people just don't understand if you don't eat meat, how can you live healthily? I'm just a vegetarian, not a vegan.

I guess even meat eaters know that if you don't eat meat, you could still live healthily. But I sometimes still need to explain, then I avoid I eat beans, vegetables, nuts and fruits, etc. 

I simply say:

*I eat legume.*

I wonder if it is natural and it can express my thoughts.

Thoughts:

I learned the word from my notebook, it means "vegetables and beans". Since it's inclusive, I use it. But I still wonder if it is natural here.

Thanksa  lot


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## owlman5

If you only eat legumes, then "I eat legume*s*" is fine.  That remark is also fine if you are explaining that you get enough protein from your diet.  If you are talking about eating plants rather than meat, "I eat legumes" doesn't cover many fruits and vegetables.  I wouldn't use it to mean "vegetables and beans".   Here's WR's definition for "legume".  It is accurate; your other source is not:


Plant Biology a plant, esp. one used for feed, food, or as a soil-improving crop; it is part of a family that includes peas, beans, alfalfa, clover, peanuts, and acacia.


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## Silver

Thanks a lot, Owlman.

You know, I found the entry and thought about posting the thread.

Since legumes include vegetables and beans, is it natural to say?

I eat legumes, nuts and fruits. Or it's better to say:

I eat vegetables, beans, nuts and fruits, etc.

Thanks a lot

Legume isn't a daily word, I think.


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## owlman5

You're welcome.  You can certainly use "legume" in your list, Silver.  I'd probably use the second version if I wanted to list all the different types of plants that I ate.  It would be simpler, of course, to use "vegetarian" or "vegan" to express the same idea.


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## Silver

Thanks a lot, Owlman. One last simple question, if I use this:

I eat vegetable*s*, beans, nuts, and fruit*s*, etc.

I wonder if the bold "s"s are needed. "vegetable" and "fruit" seem to be two collective nouns.


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## owlman5

Use "s", Silver.  It's unnatural to say "I eat vegetable."  It's normal to say "I eat vegetables."


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## Silver

I see. Thanks a lot, but as for fruit, I guess "s" is optional, right?


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## owlman5

That's right.  In fact, "fruit" sounds slightly more likely to me than "fruits" in that list.  This is just another little oddity in English, Silver.  "I eat fruit" is fine but "I eat vegetable" is not.


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## Glenfarclas

Silverobama said:


> Since legumes include vegetables and beans, is it natural to say?



"Legumes" does _not_ include vegetables.  Broccoli, potatoes, cucumbers, carrots, and almost anything else are vegetables, but they are not legumes.  "Legumes" are basically limited to peas, beans, and peanuts.  It's an uncommon word which I do not suggest you try to use outside of botany.  I think that the majority of people would not have any idea what a legume was.


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## Parla

I agree with Glenfarclas. It's not a commonly used word.


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## velisarius

It's the same in BE. I think of legumes as a category of plants that are useful for replenishing the soil with nitrogen. The dried peas and beans we eat in soups  and stews? - I call those "pulses".


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## heypresto

To avoid worrying about definitions and classifications, you could simply explain to these people that you eat everything they eat, except for the meat.


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## Silver

Hello, Heypresto.

That's a good idea. But many people have told me that "You can eat prawn, shrimp, fish, they are not meat".


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## Dale Texas

Here's one WR definition of "meat" which clearly states the exclusion of seafood:


the flesh of* mammals* used as food, as distinguished from that of birds and fish. 
Sometimes people in fact do talk about "turkey meat/chicken meat,) etc, but still will not apply that to creatures living water.  It doesn't mean "*any *flesh from any living creature."


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## AutumnOwl

Silverobama said:


> That's a good idea. But many people have told me that "You can eat prawn, shrimp, fish, they are not meat".


I'm a (lacto-ovo) vegetarian and when I explain this to people I say that I don't eat meat, fish or sea-food.


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## Parla

People I've known who are vegetarians use that word to mean that they don't eat the flesh of any animals. _Animals _include mammals, birds, fish, mollusks, . . .


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## JulianStuart

"I eat everything except animals or their products (i.e. eggs, milk, cheese)"?


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## sdgraham

> *I eat legume.*
> 
> I wonder if it is natural and it can express my thoughts.


Even with the proper 's,' I'm not sure that the average U.S. English speaker is familiar with the word. It might even be considered pretentious by some.

If it were not for the use of the cognate in French and Spanish, I don't think I would be.

Or perhaps, as a practicing and enthusiastic omnivore,  I'm being too cynical. 

You're quite safe with "vegetables."


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## Silver

JulianStuart said:


> "I eat everything except animals or their products (i.e. eggs, milk, cheese)"?



I still eat animal products. 

And JS, what you are talking about is called a "vegan".


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## Silver

Dale Texas said:


> Here's one WR definition of "meat" which clearly states the exclusion of seafood:
> 
> 
> the flesh of* mammals* used as food, as distinguished from that of birds and fish.
> Sometimes people in fact do talk about "turkey meat/chicken meat,) etc, but still will not apply that to creatures living water.  It doesn't mean "*any *flesh from any living creature."



You are right, DT.

When I argue with them, I use my dictionary. I think they are just trying to stop me.


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## JulianStuart

Silverobama said:


> I still eat animal products.
> 
> And JS, what you are talking about is called a "vegan".


This seems to be the first time in this thread that you have told us that...
So, eggs, milk, cheese
FIsh, seafood??


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## Silver

I mentioned "vegan" in earlier post.

No fish and seafood, like DT said.

My college spoken English teacher Jesse told me the word, he's from California.


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## Florentia52

Veganas don't eat any animal products, including eggs, milk, and cheese.


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## Silver

Absolutely correct, Florentia52.

Also, no honey.


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## sdgraham

Actually, true vegans are stricter than just avoiding _eating_ animal products.

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

*vegan* /ˈviːɡən/n

a person who refrains from using any animal product whatever for food, clothing, or any other purpose


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## JulianStuart

Silverobama said:


> ...
> I'm just a vegetarian, not a vegan.





Silverobama said:


> I mentioned "vegan" in earlier post.
> No fish and seafood, like DT said.


Now you definitely have me confused.
Plants and plant products (honey comes from plant nectar + a ittle insect stuff)
Animals of the land??
Animals of the sea??
Any animal products??


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## Silver

You are right, JS.

But that's still a vegan.

Vegetarian=no meat, no animal flesh, any animal.


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## JulianStuart

Silver,
Please list the things you eat (just for me)
You have not been consistent in your answers
Eggs, milk, cheese- yes/no (You said "I still eat animal prducts")
Fish and seafood - yes/no. (Fish eggs?  Like chicken eggs?)
Plant material (inc beans nuts rice vegetables etc) YES


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## Silver

My pleasure.

First of all, I'm not a vegan but a vegetarian.

I eat dairy products and I also drank honey water. Now, I don't do that any longer.

I don't eat meat, nor do I have any animal fleshes. It's quite complicated.

Anyway, any questions will be welcome.


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## emma.learns

I'm vegetarian too, I just say I don't eat anything that's alive, like animal alive.


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## manfy

Well, that would probably make you a lacto-ovo-non-melo vegetarian! A unique sub-species of vegetarians. 

PS: Lacto-ovo vegetarian is a common term. The 'non-melo' addition is my own creation from Latin _mel_ for honey.


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## Silver

emma.learns said:


> I'm vegetarian too, I just say I don't eat anything that's alive, like animal alive.



So you eat animal when they are dead, and non-vegetarian does, I guess only Bell eats things when they are alive.


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## emma.learns

No... that's not what I meant!


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## Silver

emma.learns said:


> No... that's not what I meant!



As your fellow countryman, I know what you mean, but how about our native friends?

You can simply say, I'm a vegetarian. Clear. If you go further, things become snarled.


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## emma.learns

The concept of vegetarian is no meat or seafood, but do eat animal products like milk, egg, cake...

They normally ask, you are not a vegan, are you? Just to be clear.


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## manfy

Silverobama said:


> You can simply say, I'm a vegetarian. Clear. If you go further, things become snarled.


 
Yes, but it's hard to generalize that globally.
Here in Asia, different types of food restrictions and vegeterianisms are common and widespread, so restaurants and the common population are not really surprised about any kind of peculiarity.
In Europe less so, but lacto-ovo vegetarian will be understood by most people in the food industry. The general population will have heard of it, even though they migh not know the details. Vegeterianism in its different forms has been a growing trend since the 1970's, 80's.
I guess, it's the same in North America.


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## Silver

Thanks a lot, Manfy.

I think for Emma, and me and most Chinese vegetarians, we need to at least command two ways to express ourself:

1)I'm a vegetarian. This means you don't eat meat but probably you use dairy products, honey and something similar.
2)I'm a vegan. No meat, No dairy products, just vegetables and nuts, something like that.


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## JulianStuart

From the wiki on the subject - if you eat chicken or animal seafood, you are strictly not a vegetarian:


*Vegetarianism*/ˈvɛdʒətɛəriənɪzəm/ is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood and the flesh of any other animal), and may also include abstention from by-products of animals
...
an ovo-vegetarian diet includes eggs but not dairy products, 
a lacto-vegetarian diet includes dairy products but not eggs, and 
an ovo-lacto vegetarian diet includes both eggs and dairy products. 
A vegan diet excludes all animal products, including eggs, dairy, beeswax and honey. 
Some vegans also avoid animal products such as leather (and possibly silk) for clothing and goose-fat for shoe polish.


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## JamesM

(I didn't even know goose fat could be used for shoe polish!)

I wanted to underline Julian's order of prefixes, at least for Americans.  It's common to hear "ovo-lacto-vegetarian", but not "lacto-ovo-vegetarian".  The two "o"s next to each other is a little awkward, in my opinion.


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## AutumnOwl

emma.learns said:


> I'm vegetarian too, I just say I don't eat anything that's alive, like animal alive.


You could say that you don't eat the flesh of creatures that have once breathed oxygen, that would cover mammals, poultry, fish, seafood and insects.


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## Hildy1

Back to legumes, and to recall owlman's remarks in post 2:
_Vegetable_ is a general term. _Legume_ is a more specific term.

Legumes are vegetables, but not all vegetables are legumes.
Examples of legumes: peas, beans, lentils.
Examples of vegetables: tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, beets, celery, lettuce, cucumbers, peas, beans, lentils.

Most vegetarians eat many different kinds of vegetables, including those that are legumes and those that are not.

So in the first post, Silverobama should simply say 
"I eat vegetables."
If you want to mention that specific family of plants such as peas and beans, you could say 
"I eat legumes and other vegetables." 
If you want to explain your source of protein
 "I get protein by eating legumes."


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## JulianStuart

AutumnOwl said:


> You could say that you don't eat the flesh of creatures that have once breathed oxygen, that would cover mammals, poultry, fish, seafood and insects.


Well, plants breathe oxygen too, so I presume "creature" means any eukaryote that is not a plant  (I see we need to be quite specific here )


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## Barque

I believe most plants "breathe in" carbon dioxide and use it to produce oxygen.


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## srk

Barque said:


> I believe most plants "breathe in" carbon dioxide and use it to produce oxygen.


During the day.  They take in oxygen at night.  (I just checked online to make sure, and I am, more or less.)


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## JulianStuart

(Well, plants "respire"* which is taking in O2 and releasing CO2, just like animals, but one could be picky and say they don't "breathe" - that _could_ imply using muscles and inhalation, while for plants it's passive diffusion.  Some insects don't use muscles either.  So "breathing" isn't the greatest parameter for this categorization of food in a diet, while "plants vs animals" is simpler)

*As noted, during the day they can _also_ photosynthesize sugars which involves taking in CO2 and releasing O2)


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## manfy

Right! It's called plant respiration. Plants do that day and night, except that in the presence of daylight, the net production of oxygen via photosynthesis is much much higher than the oxygen consumed via plant repiration.
Actually photosynthesis also works with artificial light, but it doesn't work very well if spectrum and spectral intensities are too far off the spectral distribution of sunlight.

Hmm, looking through this thread I can't help thinking: That's a lot of collected knowledge you have to have, just to explain yourself being a vegetarian with added kinks, isn't it?


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## Dale Texas

manfy said:


> Right! It's called plant respiration. Plants do that day and night, except that in the presence of daylight, the net production of oxygen via photosynthesis is much much higher than the oxygen consumed via plant repiration.
> Actually photosynthesis also works with artificial light, but it doesn't work very well if spectrum and spectral intensities are too far off the spectral distribution of sunlight.
> 
> Hmm, looking through this thread I can't help thinking:_That's a lot of collected knowledge you have to have, just to explain yourself being a vegetarian with added kinks, isn't it? _



You bring up a good point which I'd thought about mentioning before.  It's hard to just simply define various terms because this subject (vegan, vegetarian, etc.)  often arrives with heated disputes similar to those found in political/religious debates concerning who is a "true" liberal, conservative, believer, etc. and extremists can attack others and each other for not being "pure" or for being ignorant about how to "correctly" identify themselves. 

So I think it's just easier to spell out what you will eat and what you won't, and ignore any attackers.


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## Silver

Thanks a lot, DT.

But that would be a long list.


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## owlman5

I'd use "vegetarian", Silver: I'm a vegetarian.  If your listener truly wants to know more about your diet, then he or she will ask you to specify exactly what you eat or whether you are a vegan or a vegetarian.


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## JulianStuart

Silverobama said:


> Thanks a lot, DT.
> 
> But that would be a long list.


Do you eat anything besides members of the plant kingdom and dairy products (lacto-vegetarian)?


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## Silver

No, I meant to say that if I am asked to list what I eat, that would be a long list.


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## JulianStuart

And I meant that you could answer with a short list: 
 "plant and dairy products


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## Silver

Does nuts belong to plant family?

If not, I think I still need to add that, right?


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## Hildy1

Silverobama said:


> Does nuts belong to plant family?



Yes, they do.


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## Cagey

The original question about 'eat legume' has been answered. 

In addition, people have explained in detail their understanding of terms referring to specific types of dietary restrictions. 

This thread has drifted far from the original language question, and is now closed. 

Thank you all for your contributions. 
Cagey, moderator.


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