Veganism
At the extreme end of vegetarianism is the vegan. Veganism is about health and dietary choice but often incorporates much more than simply food choices. Some Vegans use their lifestyle to exert somewhat of a socio-political stance. Vegans abstain from foods derived from the flesh of animals, but they also do not consume eggs, dairy, or any foods that are made with animal products. Many vegans go so far as to abstain from honey, as well.
The philosophy of veganism often generalizes to other parts of life. For example, many vegans don’t use or condone the use of products made of fur, leather, or silk.
Freeganism
Spawning from veganism is freeganism. The lifestyle of a freegan is defined by their socio-political position against the corporate food system. Freegans adhere to the same extreme dietary principles of vegans, but instead of going to the grocery store to purchase food, they forage for food in the wild, actively promote and participate in community gardens, and even scavenge dumpsters for food that is discarded by supermarkets and restaurants.
Fruitarianism
Also a spin-off of veganism, the fruitarian holds the position that neither animals nor plants should be harmed in the food production process. As such, fruitarians find it only morally acceptable to eat products that fall naturally from plants such as fruit, nuts, and seeds. Vegetables are also eaten by fruitarians as long as they can be harvested without harming the plant. Following this line of reasoning, a fruitarian would not eat vegetables such as onions, garlic, beets, or radishes because they are harvested by pulling the plants up by its roots, thus destroying the plant.
Flexitarianism
People in this category are often not even considered vegetarians by their hard-lined counterparts. And, their diets do, indeed, include limited flesh food. Flexitarians who include fish and seafood products are often referred to as pescetarians. Pollotarians are people who occasionally eat chicken or other fowl.
Other Variations
It seems there are endless ways to modify the vegetarian diet. A couple more popular alternatives vegetarian diets are lacto-vegetarianism and evo-vegetarianism. The former allows for the inclusion of dairy products, while the latter tolerates the consumption of eggs.
Being a vegetarian is much more complicated than simply adhering to a preset dietary regimen. It seems that more and more, the way a person chooses to eat is motivated by more than health or weight issues. Oftentimes, vegetarianism as a lifestyle is prompted by personal convictions, social issues, or even an individual’s political sway.
The definition of freeganism above is wrong. I have been in contact with quite a few self-described “freegans” in my reporting and research. None are vegan, or even vegetarian, although some said they had respect for people making such dietary choices. Your confusion is surely due to that perpetuated by others who wrongly assume that because the two names rhyme, they are related. Some freegans avoid meat products from the garbage because they spoil faster, but basically, freeganism is an environmental-driven pursuit (about half of all food sold in grocery stores in the U.S. is wasted, either in transport, or discarded by the store, or by consumers) and/or economically driven. For example, easily 6 or 7 of the dumpster divers I encountered, who again are omnivores who eat animal-derived foodstuffs, said saving money…without stealing…was a key reason they practiced freeganism. While it’s possible someone wishing to be vegan has dumpster-dived, vegans tend to have cleaner-than-average food-handling practices.