<p>This is after a year, but I’d like to correct @greenwitch: it’s Jain, not Jainist.</p>
<p>And you got the reason for that wrong. If harvesting would cause the death of the plant, we probably wouldn’t eat any plants at all. We believe that the amount of life–the death of microorganisms and small bugs that live in the ground–that is destroyed from harvesting those plants (carrots, onions, garlic) is not worth eating it. And most modern Jains, especially those who live in the United States (although certainly not all of them) eat them unless there are certain festivals going on.</p>
<p>It’s actually somewhat surprising how many people get things about Jainism wrong. My history textbook from four years ago had a page on Jainism, and other than the basic principle, they got everything wrong. Every. Single. Thing.</p>