this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2026
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TIL figs aren’t vegan
I'm a vegan, although not super strict. But I knew some terror vegans who do not consider vigs vegan.
The definition of "vegan" differs. Like, I don't like products that had a nervous system. So technically I could eat oysters. But some vegans consider oranges not to be vegan because there might be an animal product in the pesticides used on oranges. Some claim they only use plant based products, but they get mad when I ask them about fungi, as their cell structure looks more like an animal cell than a plant cell (I love to make terror vegans mad).
Being vegan means you buy products which fit your idea of being vegan.
And sadly for some it means you need to be a fucking asshole to anyone you meet.
Regarding your last paragraph: that's unrelated. There are also lots of insufferably vocal meat eaters who feel personally attacked when someone else doesn't religiously stuff themselves with meat every meal.
I know zero (0) vocal vegans but 3 meat eaters who make a point on hating vegans and sometimes make it sound like they eat extra meat to spite vegans.
One of them once said to me a restaurant can only be good if it has no vegetarian options.
Someone has never tried falafel...
Yeah, I usually don't say anything, unless it's unaoidable and then I usually just say I don't eat all that much meat.
Most will leave it at that, but I'll happily answer. I don't really want to yuck people's yums, and the food industry is a bit of a special interest of mine.
Advertising is one hell of a drug. Everybody running around eating bacon and butter, and beef tallow, and haven't had a gram of fiber, getting colon cancer at forty.
Candidly, I think your vocal vegan is like your radical feminist, or social justice warrior, or diversity hire: mostly made up.
Oh, do tell.
I live in Bavaria. There are multiple politicians who don't get tired to performatively eat sausages and try to make laws that mandate calling oat milk “oat drink” and vegan burgers/schnitzel/… anything else. As if anyone would ever get confused by that. There's a common joke that they should rename “scouring milk” to “scouring drink” otherwise people get confused!!!
I’m just saying this specific fruit has a literal animal inside of it
All fruits have that, if you enhance your view enough. Put any fruit under a microscope and it's crawling with creatures.
Where do we draw the line? Seems like it’s impossible not to eat an animal
Also depends on whether you consider fungi an animal of a plant. As their cell structure resembles more of animal cells than plant cells. And fungi are everywhere. Humans, animals and plants would all die if fungi would seize to exist. They are in our body, create our food and medicine, they are the cycle of life as they break down dead tissue, they feed plants and trees. The oldest living organism is a fungus. They are what keep us all alive, they are basically mother earth. And we eat that. Seeing The Last Of Us suddenly makes a lot of sense. Revenge of the fungi.
But do they realize all atoms eventually cycle through the ecosystem?
I'm sure all carbon atoms were part of animal at some point. I guess your fake vegans are just molecular vegans and not atomic vegans.
Hahaha next time I meet one who is starting a discussion to fish (pun intended) for something to trigger on, I now have the perfect comeback 😎
"you're just a molecular vegan, not an atomic vegan, you're just a poser"
Veganism are the consumption practices of people advocating for animal liberation. It's not just about diet but also leather jackets/zoo visits etc. It's not like being part of an animal that imbues the individual molecules with some mystic energy that renders them off limits, it's that 99.99% of the time that obtaining these molecules in sufficient quantities requires overstepping boundaries of consent if not outright murder/slavery.
But I would consider scavenged meat for instance vegan, I still wouldn't because meat gives me the ick now, but I don't see how it is contrary to animal liberation (provided it doesn't disrupt other animals mourning rituals or something similar). Or rescued sheep still require shearing. It's not as brutal as farmers shearing and obviously not done with the wool in mind but rather the sheep. So the sheep are typically shorn(?) sooner than enslaved sheep and not as close to the skin, making "vegan wool" quite a bit harder to work with, but I would consider socks made out of that wool vegan.
That is one definition of vegan, and you seem to be happy living by it. But others might have other definitions. A good chunk does not even share your motivation for being vegan, there are plenty of religious practices, dietary reasons, ecological concerns... That doesn't diminish your definition of it, but that is something to keep in mind when talking about other people.
No this is what veganism is. Veganism goes back to the Vegan Society and it's fight for the rights of non-human animals. Many people claim to be vegan without actually being vegan and I will not be diluting the definition. Veganism is at it's core about animal rights. There are plenty of reasons to go with a plant-based diet. A plant-based diet is part of veganism, but they are very much not the same thing. If someone claims to be vegan but still goes to the zoo or buys pets they did not understand what veganism is.
Edit: here is the vegan societies definition
- https://www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/definition-veganism
Idk isn't that like saying all animal pollinated plants are not vegan?
Well, this one’s got a literal animal inside of it… Is all I’m saying
This one doesn't either, it's just a ghost.
Eating ghosts is vegan
I’m a level five vegan. I don’t eat anything that Casts a shadow
They are most fruit require insect pollination, as long there is no forced labor or murder it's still vegan
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.
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.
So vegans could eat unemployed animals that die of natural causes?
Vegan can eat meat produced in labs.
Not completely true. There's a tick which can make you allergic to animal cell structures, basically making you vegan. So lab grown meat would still be a no no. For me, I want to eat plant (and fungi) based products so I don't want lab grown meat (although I would like to try it once). I think lab grown meat is amazing, because people who desperately want to eat meat can do so without feeding the fucked up meat industry. Less livestock means less chance on virus mutation, so less chance of pandemics. I think this is the most important reason to reduce global livestock.
Your point about the tick is correct, but I'm not sure if that counts as veganism? Theres a significant difference between vegetarianism and veganism beyond the diet itself.
Vegetarianism is a dietary restriction around consuming flesh, whereas veganism is a philosophical restriction around animal suffering/exploitation. But even that philosophy can have different interpretations (what counts as suffering? What counts as exploitation?).
Thus vegans having a reputation of being inflexible, because eating nonvegan is a violation of their personal principles; whereas most vegetarians won't care what you eat so long as you still provide something they can eat.
Therefore I'd expect vegetarians don't eat lab meat (it's flesh) but many vegans may (if they believe it is developed ethically, and doesn't incentivise unethical practice).
But IMO both of the terms are pretty absolute and inflexible. An increasingly large number of people ate 'vegan except for X', or vegetarian [98]% of the time', and we don't have words to distinguish them from those who don't plan to reduce animal products at all. I'd like if there was, to encourage people to have more varied diets without seeing it as 'all or nothing'. Significantly reducing animal intake is still an environmental win even if they can't eliminate it.
First of, vegetarianism means not eating meat while veganism means not using animal products including eggs, honey, milk, leather, wool, etc. As someone else noted, apparently Wikipedia and other sources state there's a difference between vegan diet and vegan philosophy. Although imo if you just do not eat animal products but still use leather you're just following a plant based diet while not being vegan. Like some pro athletes, they have a plant based diet just because of sports and health, not because they care so much about animals and/or the environment.
But in the end it's just a matter of labeling. I don't really care about that, or whether people become full vegan. A sling as people become more aware of what they consume and reduce it a bit, that's already a win imo. People should find the way which works the best for them.
I'm would be a full vegan if not for one thing: cheese. I have barely no non-sugar alternatives to put daily on my bread so I still consume some cheese (which technically isn't even vegetarian). This works for me. Anyone who doesn't like it can suck it, I do so much but I need this thing in my life.
Some vegans might eat lab grown meat because it would fit in their life philosophy, some wouldn't. It all depends on why people chose to be vegan and what they are comfortable with.
I have no interest, as since I became vegan my meals have become so much more flavor rich as I'm using more herbs and spices and create my meals with more care. I'm fine with what I eat. But I think it's a nice development as meat eaters can continue what they do but more responsible and ethical.
Much agreed. Humans are the only species were aware of that can make ethical considerations in their diet, and there are so many ways to do that.
My preference is towards sustainably and environmentalism, as limited by my income bracket. So I love mushrooms, love vegetarian dishes, eat in season; but still eat eggs, dairy, and cheap meat for affordable protein. But I prefer sustainable farming practices, and using low-cost cuts like sausagemeat that might otherwise be wasted. I can't afford most plant-based alternatives because they're considered 'lifestyle' luxuries, so I have to have whey protein instead of pea, etc. But eggs are cheap enough I can splurge on free range with SPCA cert, and I love me a sweet-potato-mushroom burger patty if I can afford one. Nut mince is also great for nachos.
This means I support insect farms for future protein sources, since they use far less resources than even plant-based alternatives and are much cheaper and more land efficient. That makes me different from most vegetarians and vegans it seems, but I don't consider our philosophies to be in conflict. Ultimately we share a common goal in maintaining more ethical diets that limit the harm we cause, and there are several approaches to do that. Every step we can affordable maintain is progress to a kinder and more sustainable world.
I don't eat expensive heavily processed meat alternatives. I use beans and cheap tofu to replace proteins. Canned beans are cheap AF. Chickpeas are super rich in protein and super healthy. Thankfully there's a wide variety of beans and tofu is rather tasteless, so just like chicken can be marinated and spiced any way you like. It's cheaper than adding meat to your dish.
And if you can't eat that every day, you maybe could some days, meaning a few days less of meat consumption. Cheaper and better for the environment. Win win :)
But do what works best for you.
Absolutely, am a pan of tofu in pan fries. I also use less meat and then bulk put with red lentils, chickpeas, or mixed beans. But the only pure-lentil protein meal I've managed to keep on is the Butternut squash curry, because the squash masks the chickpeas. The mealy texture of lentils makes them hard for me to appreciate solo, especially chickpeas (I can't eat peas for similar reasons) so I tend to half-and-half. A single chicken breast still feeds four people if bulked right. Hummus is fine since the chickpeas texture isn't as much an issue, and makes for good vegetarian soul bowls.
Unfortunately tofu is not cheap here, it costs about as much/slightly more than chicken. :( Regional pricing I suppose, I'm from an isolated farming nation so luxury goods have to be imported at large mark-up. Anything we don't grow here gets priced to match :/ Lentils are cheap though, and you can also do a lot with a baked potato!
It depends if you consider veganism as a philosophy or a diet. I consider it a philosophy because I do not eat leather yet veganism prohibit its use.
Being vegan means not using animal products. That's different to a plant based diet. In sports a plant based diet became popular since a documentery on Netflix, but these people aren't vegan as they do use leather, wool and bees wax for example.
This made me think whether in order to produce lab grown meat, wouldn't they have to use real meat as a reference point? And if yes, is it truly vegan, then? If they're just printing meat used from one real meat source?
I know nothing about lab grown meat, but I just wondered where they get the source material to grow it.
Ofc, as almost everything in life, it comes with a "it depends".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultured_meat
There are a lot of interesting ethical questions and how strict one should be about their veganism etc. I'm not judging, because it's up to the individual to decide where the line is drawn. Personally I think labgrown meat is interesting and if it could become a way to have meat in the future and avoid most of the problems we see today, then I'm all for it.
I'm also not a vegan myself, but have cut pork out of my life and rarely eat beef. Mostly stick to chicken and veggie alternatives so I know the endless consideration of where the limit goes. We can only do our best at the end of the day.
But yeah, I just find the subject of lab grown meat interesting in how a vegan would handle that concept - which is different from person to person, I'm sure.
scavenging is considered yucky but I don't see any reason to consider it unethical per se unless it disrupts other animals mourning rituals
I agree with you, but this fruit has a literal animal inside of it
See my comment here https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/comment/19570004
Wait until you find out what fossil fuels are made of
Mostly plant plancton.
Mostly plants and plankton?
Are zooplankton vegan?