Figs are not vegan? Read on and discover the truth!

Figs, in theory, are vegan, since it is a fruit and not something produced from an animal. But the relationship that this fruit has with wasps, which pollinate it, could end up being seen by the vegan community as a certain exploitation of animal labor. Know now why figs are not vegan!

Read more: Animal-free: these vegan foods have a LOT of protein

The fig and the wasps

Some types of figs are born as syconia, hollow fruits, which contain flowers only in the inner part, these types of figs need the pollination of wasps to ripen.

Wasps enter this fruit through a small hole in the top of the fruit, the ostiole. And then they lay their eggs in there and come out with the pollen from the fruit on their backs.

When the larvae hatch from their eggs they begin to reproduce. Since male wasps don't have wings, they spend their entire lives digging holes to help the females get out and end up dying inside the fig.

Figs, as previously mentioned, depend on the pollination of wasps, but the entry of wasps into the fig is very small, so they also end up dying inside the fig, but the pollen that stays on their back helps in the ripening of the fig. fruit.

Why fig might not be vegan?

Some supporters of the vegan way of life believe that this relationship, even if it is something mutual, ends up resulting in the death of animals. There is also the possibility that wasps enter fruits that do not need pollination for their development, these are called parthenocarpic, and may end up dying inside the fruit, thus having no benefit apparent.

Thus, figs have dead wasps inside them and there is an enzyme in the fruit that dissolves its exoskeleton and its nutrients.

There are two sides to this fight of whether the fig is vegan or not, but in the end the fig can indeed be considered vegan, since the relationship between the fruit and the animal is a mandatory naturalism. That is, it is a natural symbiotic relationship in which both depend on each other to survive. So there are people who will avoid eating the fig because they believe that it is not a vegan fruit, since others will consume the fruit without the slightest problem, fully believing it to be something far from origins. animals.