First, you have to define what _is_ a vegetarian. This is harder than it seems, if you want to be official. Since there is no Universal Vegetarian Overcouncil, it becomes a matter of which group of nutbags vegetarians you ask, or perhaps which non-vegetarian you ask.

We can all agree that a vegetarian is one who chooses to eat vegetables. Right? _{Shut up, Norman - nobody cares what you think!}

But we cannot all agree on what meats, if any, can be eaten. And just saying that it is someone who won't eat meat doesn't leave out people who also don't eat vegetables.

So we have to go by the people who specifically choose to eat vegetables and fruits. That is, they don't eat people of certain behavior patterns, but apples and oranges and the like.

So we've got these people who claim they eat vegetables - and for argument's sake we'll even stipulate that they claim not to eat meat. These people are the potential vegetarians.

But vegetarians are temporally defined, as much as anything else. We are naturally omnivorous, so it takes an act of will to make us spurn that behavior. And acts of will are so easily changed.

So you are a vegetarian in fact so long as you consciously determine to eat vegetables. Or are you?

Am I a vegetarian when I refuse to eat meat for breakfast? I know, it almost never happens. If anyone offered me a few pieces of bacon when I'm eating a bowl of cereal, I'd definitely do so. But what if?