What is a Vegetarian?

A vegetarian is a person who abstains from eating meat, fish or poultry. There are several subcategories of vegetarians.

Lacto-Ova vegetarians do not eat meat, fish or poultry but do eat eggs and dairy.

Lacto vegetarians do not eat meat, fish, poultry or eggs, but do eat dairy. Most of Amy's products are lacto vegetarian.

Pure Veg or Vegans do not eat any animal products, including dairy and sometimes honey. Amy's has several suitable dishes that are vegan.

Amy's - A Vegetarian Company

Our company is deeply committed to producing and selling great tasting vegetarian food. This is not a 'marketing gimmick’ with us; rather it's a reflection of who we are and how we live. Amy's is a family business, and we are a vegetarian family.

Seventeen-year-old Amy is a third generation vegetarian who has never eaten any sort of meat in her life. Amy's Grandfather was the first to become a vegetarian in 1968. Her mother, Rachel, became a vegetarian at 16 when she realized that the lamb chop she was eating was once a live lamb. When she and her brother Joel stopped eating meat as teenagers, their mother was afraid they would get sick and die from malnutrition. They didn't, and she soon joined them in following a meatless diet. This wasn't as easy to do in the 70's as it is in the 21st century.

Before Amy's Kitchen was set up in 1988, there were no convenient frozen meals in the marketplace that vegetarians could eat. Restaurants offered not much more than cheese sandwiches, salads and baked potatoes. Vegetarian airline and train travelers usually had to bring their own food.

Things have changed. Nowadays, all natural food stores and most supermarkets and grocery stores carry large selections of vegetarian frozen and grocery items suitable for vegetarians. Restaurants often have at least one vegetarian dish on the menu and airlines have several choices. (Continental Airlines and Amtrak even offer some Amy's Kitchen products.)

>> Read more about the effects of meat eating on the environment.