食素自然和蔬菜有关，英语中有关吃素的词语也就和vegetable一词密不可分。吃素的人分为两种：

vegetarian素食者，不吃任何肉类食品的人

◆The vegetarian restaurant around the corner attracts many tourists each year.

vegan严格的素食者（除肉类外，也不不吃鸡蛋和任何奶制品）

◆She became a vegan after she believed in Buddhism.

除了各种蔬菜之外，素食者还会吃些什么样的食物呢？下面是他们可以选择的两种食品：

vegeburger（vegetable+burger）植物蛋白饼，即蔬菜包（面包里夹有蔬菜，虽然不像汉堡包（hamburger）里有大块的肉饼，但是形状上看似肉夹饼，望上一眼，多少也就果腹了）

◆The newly marketed vegeburger is claimed to be more healthy and tasty than the traditional hamburgers.

vegelate (vegetable+chocolate) 素巧克力（用植物油脂vegetable fat作稳定剂的巧克力）

◆Incredibly the Europeans think it’s being reasonable – they had originally wished to label British chocolate by the mouth-watering term, “vegelate”.

在vegetarian/vegan等词的基础上，还衍生出一些表示其他意义的词汇和短语，例如：

vegetate过无所事事的单调生活

◆I got fed up with vegetating at home during the holiday.

veg out既可表示过素食者生活,又可表示过单调呆板的日子

◆Vegging out! is dedicated to promoting plant-based food and nutrition, whether you are a vegan, vegetarian, or someone who simply wants to eat more foods from the earth.

◆We found ourselves having nothing to do during the weekend but vegging out for hours watching TV.

除此之外，在日常口语或非正式的场合中，还有两个简略的词语，通常用来表达蔬菜或素食者：veg (=vegetable英国英语), veggie (=vegetarian, 英国英语，或vegetable，美国英语)。

选择吃素还是吃荤是个人的自由，关键是要有个均衡的饮食（balanced diet）。不过，吃素也好，不吃素也好，我们可能都不想自己的生活处于vegging out的状态。