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spoopy figs (thelemmy.club)
submitted 4 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
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[-] Manticore@lemmy.nz 3 points 4 months ago

Depends on the vegan you're talking to.

Wild figs may be but as soon as you're cultivating fig varieties that require the fig wasp, you are artificially increasing the wasp population specifically to perish, in order to sustain human horticulture. Much like honey or milk, the fact you don't eat the animal's flesh might still defy the spirit of 'no animal exploitation'. Most pollinators do not explicitly perish as part of pollination; figs are one of the foods vegans may disagree on.

The good news is that there are a small number of fig varieties that can be fertilised without the wasp (either by hand, or self-pollinating clones). In a lot of countries this is the variety that may be grown because importing wasps could be ecologically dangerous.

[-] mathemachristian@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 4 months ago

Wild figs may be but as soon as you’re cultivating fig varieties that require the fig wasp, you are artificially increasing the wasp population specifically to perish, in order to sustain human horticulture.

That's still different to animal exploitation. Veganism are the consumption practices of people advocating for animal liberation. This is not contrary to that, "milk" and "honey" are produced by the animals for a specific reason, namely their young. Even if it were possible to obtain them without harming the animal (and there isn't, both require animal death if they are to be produced in consumer quantities) there still is the problem of consent. It is clear that bees and cows under normal circumstances do not want to give away their milk/honey. The wasp however is already dead, it is not harmed by eating the fig and it's consent is no longer part of the equation.

If the fig cultivation reaches a level where the wasps have to be kept under circumstances similar to the bees then yes I wouldn't consider the figs that require these wasps to be vegan.

this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2026
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