Figs?
Posted by OrganicGirl on May 05, 2011 · Member since Aug 2010 · 4 posts
Maybe someone can clear this up for me:
To my understanding figs are polinated by a specific type of wasp laying her eggs inside the fig flower which then maturues around the developing wasps. After the fruit is fully developed the mature wasps hatch out of the fruit leaving behind dead wasps (all males die in the fig), old body parts, ect.
So I'm lost, are figs vegan? I see them used in many vegan cook books so I'm confused what makes them different from an animal product such as honey. I understand that no wasps are intentionally harmed and that I probally have unknowing eaten bugs in other foods. I guess I see figs as vegan grey area; what do you think?
I've never heard anything about that, regarding figs, and I've seen several documentaries on them and how they are dried etc. I should think if that were true it would be common knowledge.
This is really funny, because I just heard this same thing on Monday. I was wondering the same. Any ideas?
#1) this is only some types of figs
#2) these wasps NEED the figs to reproduce and carry on their species, the figs you are eating include already dead wasps that dies in order to propagate. they would be dead with or without you eating that fig.
=vegan
Figs are pollinated by fig wasps. It's one of the most amazing stories of symbiosis - one of my favorites. Each type of fig has it's own type of wasp with which it coevoled. Nature made a great documentary about fig trees called Queen of Trees. I highly recommend it - it goes into detail about the life cycle of the tree and the wasps.
It's true that there are dead male fig wasps inside (wild) figs, having completed their jobs of mating with the female inside the fig and digging a hole for her to escape. There is also a "cheater" parasitic fig wasp that has much the same lifecycle as the pollinating wasp, but it does not pollinate the tree, which has led to a fascinating evolutionary arms race between the tree, its "rightful" pollinators, and the parasites.
http://www.figweb.org/
D:
let me rephrase that:
D:
Read this, from the website I posted above:
http://www.figweb.org/Frugivores/humans.htm
As for me, I eat figs.
I had no idea! I think I've only had figs a couple times.
yabbitgirl- well there a lot of nasty things that are not 'common knowledge'. Look at the meat, egg, or milk industry; people don't want to hear that would make their food seem unappetizing.
Figs are awesome, will continue eating them.
yabbitgirl- well there a lot of nasty things that are not 'common knowledge'. Look at the meat, egg, or milk industry; people don't want to hear that would make their food seem unappetizing.
Yes, thank you, I am fully aware of that. I've been around long enough to be your mother. ::)
i didn't mean to be rude, i was just saying that not everything that isn't common knowledge should be thrown out...
I'm not eating figs anymore.