Figs are not vegan?!

[Pirate]

I just read on the depths of the internet that "Many vegans and vegetarians will not eat figs" because they sometimes have 'digested' a wasp when being pollenated and contain the enzymes.

Figs: Are They Vegan? - Organic Authority not a very official website I know.

I'm not convinced that this makes them non-vegan (although a bit creepy). Just thought I'd share as I'd never heard it before yet many websites tout it as common knowledge that vegans avoid figs.

 

[Blues]

 

[robert99]

Not all vegans avoid figs - a good article about figs and wasps and the vegan debate at are figs vegan | insufferablevegan

 

[Chryssie]

I never heard this before. Then again.... I am not a fan of figs anyway!

 

[shyvas]

Apparently ketchup contains fruit flies……

I like figs but hardly ever eat them as they are quite expensive. I have never heard the fact about a fig
containing a dissolved corpse of a wasp.

 

[ledboots]

I don't think I have ever had a fig tbh. I love dates, though, and for some reason read the title as 'Dates are not vegan'. Funny the tricks your mind can play.

 

[Naturebound1]

I eat them on occasion, though not on a regular basis (and yes I have been well aware of the connection with wasps for a long time). They are a great plant source of calcium. I tend to like the Turkish variety. There are a lot of fresh fruits that have stuff like wax put on them that is made with crushed insects, for example conventional apples are often coated with shellac (I do buy organic apples without wax on them). It is impossible to avoid every speck of animal ingredient. Also, eating figs doesn't exploit wasps, since they die in a natural way. Their bodies are absorbed into the fig and become part of it, much like dead insects underground in the soil that may become part of the plants that grow in the ground. By the time a person eats a fig, the wasp no longer exists in it's original form.

I am also aware that not all varieties of figs are pollinated by wasps. I don't know offhand which are and which aren't though.

 

[Naturebound1]

I don't think I have ever had a fig tbh. I love dates, though, and for some reason read the title as 'Dates are not vegan'. Funny the tricks your mind can play.

You've never had a fig newton?

 

[ledboots]

You've never had a fig newton?

Oh lol ahaha yes I have! Was thinking of whole figs i guess

 

[Calliegirl]

I heard about the wasps years ago and it grossed me out to where I couldn't eat fig newtons anymore. I've recently gotten over that and have started eating Trader Joe's fig bites.

And of course they are vegan. Don't blame the fig for it's terrible reproductive system design.

 

[Andy_T]

Oh, then you might not want to read this ...

Spoiler

I remember hearing a broadcast of the early (now sadly discontinued) Vegan Freaks podcasts where Bob Torres talked about an etymology professor who developed an allergy to insects ... and after that could not drink coffee any more, as coffee typically contains a lot of insect fragments that infest the beans after harvest.

Are there roaches in your coffee and chocolate?

But, the way I read the linked articles, they are suggesting that every fig contains a dead wasp. Wow. Did not know that.

 

[Calliegirl]

Oh, then you might not want to read this ...

Spoiler

I remember hearing a broadcast of the early (now sadly discontinued) Vegan Freaks podcasts where Bob Torres talked about an etymology professor who developed an allergy to insects ... and after that could not drink coffee any more, as coffee typically contains a lot of insect fragments that infest the beans after harvest.

Are there roaches in your coffee and chocolate?

But, the way I read the linked articles, they are suggesting that every fig contains a dead wasp. Wow. Did not know that.

You know when you say that then we have to click on it.

 

[Andy_T]

I know (evil laughter)

 

[Moll Flanders]

I never heard this before. Then again.... I am not a fan of figs anyway!

+1.

 

[KLS52]

I love fresh figs. Or should I say, used to love. [emoji45]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[shyvas]

I eat so few of them that I'm not going to sweat over a maybe disintegrated wasp in one of them. Chances are virtually nil to eating a wasp.

 

[Poppy]

Damn, I'm really NOT vegan!

<<<— adores figs.

I have never, ever heard of this.

 

[robert99]

The whole fig/wasp mutual relationship explained -
Are figs really full of baby wasps?

And -
In order to qualify as U.S. No. 1 Grade, the commodities listed below cannot exceed the following limits of contamination:
Ketchup -- 30 fruit fly eggs per 100 grams
Canned corn -- 2 insect larvae per 100 grams
Blueberries -- 2 maggots per 100 berries
Peanut butter -- 50 insect fragments per 100 grams
Curry powder -- 100 insect fragments per 100 grams
Wheat -- 1% of grains infested
Sesame seed -- 5% of seeds infested
Coffee -- 10% of beans infested
Insects in Food

 

[Pirate]

I'm glad it isn't just me who'd never read it before! I thought I'd share my horror I will be avoiding them for a while but no doubt will get over it.

So don't appreciate reading about coffee. I've drunk quite a lot of it recently haha

 

[Tom L.]

Although I don't collect insects, I do find them very interesting. They're a main interest of mine, along with plants and mammals. But although I knew that small wasps pollinate most figs, I didn't know that female flowers were death traps for the wasp. (We mentioned figs in a thread in the gardening subforum here- I think indoor varieties don't need wasps but I'd have to check, and I don't know if they would attract and trap wasps if placed outside. Actually, in my area, since no figs grow outdoors, there shouldn't be any wasps of that kind either way.)

EDITED TO ADD: I was wrong- a few of us posted in a thread about growing fruit indoors over at VB, not here.