Types of Vegetarians
There are a number of different kinds of vegetarians. Probably the three may types are (1) lacto­ovo vegetarians, who eat eggs and milk, (2) vegans, who eat no animal derived products including honey and (3) macrobiotic leaning vegetarians, who eat fish and try to stay away from dairy. There are other types, for example, Hindus eat dairy but no eggs. There are raw food vegetarians who do not eat any cooked food and focus their diets on sprouts. There are also fiuitarians who only eat fruit and nuts, since plants do not have to be killed to produce these. People become vegetarians for a number of reasons. Some of these are spiritual, i.e. following the ahimsa tenet in Hinduism, of non violence which Martin Luther King, Thoreau and Ghandi used in their teachings. The motivation here is not to kill other life forms. Most vegetarians will admit it is natural for humans to eat meat, but some may choose not to live by killing other lives. Others have an ethical or political motivation. For example, vegans are often motivated by our ecological crises, and see that the way we raise cattle as a major cause of environmental degradation. Others become vegetarians for health reasons, based on data that shows vegetarians have less heart disease and less of certain cancers. For people who are vegetarians for health reasons they also try to eat whole grains and refrain from refined sugar.  

Feeding Vegetarians
 For non vegetarians it may be a challenge to entertain vegetarians, since it is somewhat of a mystery as to what they eat. The safest way to entertain, since there are different kinds of vegetarians would be to have salad, pasta, or vegetable soup for example, as well as some sort of legume (i.e. soy, as in tofu, veggie burgers, soy milk etc. pintos, as in burritos or chile, garbanzos as in humus, white beans as in minestrone, kidney beans, etc.). Legumes have amino acids more similar to what might be in eggs, dairy or meat, and when combined with a whole grain, provide a complete protein of the eight essential amino acids. Usually a vegetable source of protein is very much appreciated by vegetarians. Most vegetarians over time grow away from relying on dairy for protein sources even though they are not vegan, so a lot of cheese may not always be a good substitute to serve. You can even buy tofu, and just cube it up with soy sauce. I recommend buying the "hippy" organic tofu, since unless you are in an area with a high Asian contingent, the Asian type of tofu can be sitting around for awhile. A good stir fry with tofu added is a wonderful boon to a visiting vegetarian. Because of some spiritual and ethical reasons for being a vegetarian, it may be insulting to ask them to pick vegetables out of a meat dish, pick pepperoni off a pizza, give them soups with meat or chicken stocks, or to give them food that is cooked with meat or is stored in direct contact with meat.     

Notes for New Vegetarians
It is also a mystery for new vegetarians as to what to eat, and you usually see brand new vegetarians eating a lot of peanut butter or cheese.Both of these products are hard to digest and high in saturated fats. France Moore Lappe's book, Diet for a Small Planet, is a classic and teaches how to combine legumes and whole grains to get complete proteins. It is also instructive to look at traditional diets (i.e tortillas and beans, beans and rice, lentils and rice, peas and rice) to see how to make sure you are getting complete proteins without blocking your colon. And of course, just not eating meat does not guarantee healthy eating habits. Vegetables, fruits and whole grains are equally important.