Do vegans eat honey

[Blah Blah]

I am a vegetarian but won't eat animal products that aren't ethically produced. So that counts out most eggs that supermarkets sell (including free range), most milk produced by industrial means, and so on. Most vegans become so because it's the only way to ensure they don't eat anything produced through mistreatment. So I would buy honey from a small organic producer for example, and eggs from a small free range farm, where I can see the hens running about. Farmers markets are great for me.

[El Pibe]

try as i might i can't find any examples of bees kept in little cages with flowers forced in through little hatches.

[Blah Blah]

Why do you have to take the p? It has been explained why vegans don't eat honey. I have been polite with an insight to the choices I make and why. No-one is forcing you to be a vegan.

[El Pibe]

i just dont see the logic. i get the milk, i get the eggs, can't work out the honey.

[Otta]

I guess on big honey farms they're knocking all the bees out whilst they harvest the honey. A small organic provider probably wouldn't do that.

Seriously people, watch Bee Movie, it's great!

[uncleglen]

I only ever knew one vegan- a work colleague- and that person was seriously overweight and always ill! Enough to put me off for life

[aquarius moon]

El Pibe Wrote:

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> i just dont see the logic. i get the milk, i get

> the eggs, can't work out the honey.

If you type 'is honey cruel?' into Google, your'll find loads of reasons why vegans won't eat it.

[Blah Blah]

For me, it's the lack of knowledge of and deception used by food producers that irks. Because it stops people making an informed choice.

Did you know for example, that free range hen producers for big companies get around the free renge thing by training their chicks to not want to go outside? So they are kept in closed barns until they are of egg laying age, at which point the barns doors are opened, so that they can say the Hens have the freedom to roam, but by then the hens choose not to.

And free range is perhaps the one change more than anything that has been brought about by consumer choice. But big multinational food producers don't care about any of that. So they find ways to cheat.

Just like cows that are grass fed don't get ecoli in their guts and don't then need antibiotics. In fact they don't need antibiotics at all. A corn fed cow needs only to be grass fed for a week or so to get rid of the ecoli.

I really don't mind if people eat meat, animal products, or not. I do mind though how that food is produced, and I would hope that meat eaters too would care about the quality of the meat they eat. Price is an issue of course though.

[El Pibe]

aquarius moon Wrote:

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> El Pibe Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> If you type 'is honey cruel?' into Google, your'll

> find loads of reasons why vegans won't eat it.

in temperate zones bees sometimes die in the winter!?!

I'll be striking the UK off a list of countires I'd ever visit, I can tell you!!

[edcam]

It's not our fault that chickens are daft (not as daft as vegans though.)

[Blah Blah]

lol edcam :)

[Jeremy]

I do have respect for vegetarians and vegans. Especially the ones I know who love their food and have made sacrifices to do what they feel is the right thing.

But when I read stuff like "keeping bees for commercial or hobby purposes violates the bees' rights to be free of human exploitation" I just think they're totally off their rocker.

[Loz]

bermygirl31 Wrote:

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> No - strict vegans do not eat honey. It's for the

> same reason they don't drink milk.

Veganism - it's just not the land of milk and honey you'd hope for.

[numbers]

I thought the only reason vegans won't eat honey is because it's produced by an animal, same as cheese, milk etc (even though none died to make it).

After reading this thread, I really want to see Bee movie now!

[Chick]

Bees aren?t animals. The don?t have saliva, just some chemical that converts nectar to honey.

bermygirl31 Wrote:

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> No - strict vegans do not eat honey. It's for the

> same reason they don't drink milk. A strict vegan

> doesn't eat anything at all that is derived from

> an animal....and that means anything. My cousin is

> vegan and they are very strict about that.

[LadyDeliah]

My dad and step-mum are vegans and they don't eat honey.

[El Pibe]

"Bees aren?t animals"?

[Salsaboy]

Why not? Don't like it or veganistic morals?

LadyDeliah Wrote:

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> My dad and step-mum are vegans and they don't eat

> honey.

[DulwichFox]

How do bees make honey? Well, it Isn?t Really All THAT Bad...

But for some, it may be best to enjoy honey without knowing the details of how it?s made.

For those who are still with me, honey is the regurgitated nectar of flowers, carried from the flower to the hive in the bee?s honey stomach, where it is mixed with some enzymes from the bee?s saliva.

When the foraging bee returns to the hive with her load of nectar, she transfers it to a young worker bee (called a house bee) that begins the process of ?ripening? the nectar.

The nectar is ripened by reducing the moisture content of the watery nectar, transforming it into the thick, syrupy consistency of honey.

The ripening process is begun when the house bee repeatedly ingests and regurgitates the nectar, exposing it to the drying air, and then finally depositing it in a honeycomb cell where it will continue to ripen until the cell is sealed with a wax capping.

So that?s it.

The bees eat the nectar, mix it with their spit, throw it up, and then do it over again and again to produce a drop of honey.

That's how bees make honey.

Not really all that bad, is it?

http://www.bees-and-beekeeping.com/how-do-bees-make-honey.html

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So Honey is made from Bee Vomit. That's why it tastes so nice.

Foxy

[LadyDeliah]

They don't eat anything made from or by animals. I personally believe a vegan diet is unhealthy and think my dad could do with a good steak.

[maxxi]

They way I understand it vegans refuse to benefit in any way from what they see as the exploitation of any animal.

Being a blind vegan must really suck. Ironic given that a B12 deficiency can damage eyesight.

[Blah Blah]

But every nutrient needed can be found in edible plants and vegetables. It's just not true to claim a vegan diet is unhealthy. In fact it is far more healthy than most other diets, just on fat/ fibre content alone. But it's not for everyone. And like every diet, you still have to work at the right balance of food stuffs to be truly healthy. Vegans though do tend to know far more about what they are eating than most people.

[KidKruger]

What's the point of being a vegan if you can't eat honey ?

[Salsaboy]

Or bacon.

[Robert Poste's Child]

I could be a vegetarian if it wasn't for sausages.