Do you find it ridiculous that some vegans refuse to eat honey?!
Am I wrong here? Is there a reason why I shouldn't be eating it?
Answers:
Go ahead and hate me for this, but here's my take:
I do not eat any eggs or dairy because the egg and dairy industries are disgusting and filled with cruelty and environmental harm. The animals are tampered with to make them produce unnaturally high amounts of milk and eggs, their babies are taken away, they are slaughtered young, etc. It's horrible. Eggs and milk are also hard to digest. Factory farms cause appalling amounts of pollution and resource consumption.
However, bees are going to make honey no matter what. I realize that keeping bees in captivity may be cruel, or moving the hives and collecting the honey disturbs the bees, but also consider this: bee populations are dwindling and if no one raised bees for honey, they may almost disappear. While high populations of cows, chickens, and other livestock hurts the environment and creates massive amounts of pollution and waste, bees help the environment and their waste is... well... honey. I guess I'm not a "real" vegan according to most of the veg section police on here, but I know that I am helping create a positive impact on the environment. That and honey is way better than refined sugar.
Vegan (Beegan?)
No I find it ridiculous that some people consider themselves vegan and actively eat honey. Bee's do make honey, yes. However if you'll note honey was made by the bees so one can safely assume that they made it for themselves. By your logic I can come into your house and take something you made for yourself and that would be just as wrong as taking honey. Plus with the abundance of other sweeteners that were not stolen or gotten through animal slavery or anything like that I don't really see the need for honey.
This is a brilliant article/explanation into why honey is not vegan that goes into just about everything:
http://www.vegetus.org/honey/honey.htm
vegan because animals are not property
Vegans do not eat any products that comes from animals. I'll equate it to this: vegans do not drink milk because it comes from a cow. It doesn't hurt or kill the cow to milk it, but it's milk feeds it's babies, and still comes from the cow. Harvesting honey doesn't hurt or kill the bees, but again, honey feeds the bee babies, and is made by the bees. Vegans do not eat it.
Your not really a vegan, and that's fine. I personally find it to be a unattainable lifestyle for the long term anyways. I consume dairy and eggs (and honey, never really thought about it before though), because they cause no harm to the animal, and help me maintain my health which ultimately leads me to not have to consume meat (which does kill animals). Humans are meant to ingest some animal products, we are technically opportunistic omnivores. My conscious tells me it's wrong to take another beings life for personal satisfaction (meat), but my body says it's unhealthy to eat nothing but plants, so I found a fair compromise. Good luck, and remember, every year you go meat free, you save the lives of many animals, whether or not you consume other animal products.
Vegetarian for 12 years
Simple answers... making honey may be what bees do, but they make it for their own use. Also, many bees are killed in a process of humans obtaining the honey, therefore another reason not vegan friendly.
No one can tell you what to do, but eating honey is not vegan, the same as eating one type of meat is not vegetarian, or drinking sips of beer only on special occasions is not teetotalism, or having sex only on every 3rd Friday of the month is not abstinence, etc.
I agree with you, but honey is not considered vegan because it is an animal byproduct.
However, I don't get why someone who doesn't eat or use animal flesh and does not consume eggs/dairy can't call themselves a vegan just because they eat honey.
I eventually plan on cutting out dairy/eggs, but I don't have anything against eating honey.
Vegetarian
"Do you find it ridiculous that some vegans refuse to eat honey?"
No, I don't.
I do, however, find it ridiculous that vegans think everybody else should refuse to eat honey.
I also think it's ridiculous that vegans oppose beekeeping (slavery), even though the majority of the vegetation they consume is pollinated by "slave" bees.
Even though I'm not a vegan (yet), I don't believe that we have the right to take these things that don't belong to us, and that's what I thought being a vegan was all about. That honey belongs to the bees, and not you. Anyways, I was watching a show about this and when they take the honey, the bees either get disoriented or killed in the process, so either way you're bothering the bees. You're not a real vegan if you eat animal products. It's not that difficult to take honey out of your diet. :)
Well, vegans won't eat or use anything that is made or comes from anything with a face. It's there choice and I don't really think about it much. I knew a vegan who was OVER THE TOP on everything. Then I knew a vegetarian who sometimes ate seafood and meat. However. he was an animal rights activist and the still (sometimes) ate meat and seafood. But then he got mad at his parents for eating seafood. So, that was a little weird.
So, I say you like honey. Go ahead and enjoy it. :)
That's like saying milk is vegan because making milk is what cows do, and they probably enjoy it.
Umm, I'm not saying milk is cruelty free. I'm saying honey isn't. You're taking a product animals made for themselves and their young, and they are often injured or killed in the process. Just because bees are bugs doesn't mean they don't count. If you want to eat honey, go ahead, but it is not a vegan-friendly food.
I think a lot of vegans just don't want to eat animal products at all, like with eggs. If they had their own chickens, and they naturally laid eggs in a non-abusive way, a lot still wouldn't eat them.
You're not a vegan.
Vegans are against animal exploitation, bees are exploited for their honey, so vegans wont consume it.
Its really your choice but they probably feel that the bees work hard for it so its theirs
But do what you want its your life :)
i find it amusing how all your "evidence" is made up and doesn't even scratch the surface of the truth that's been hidden from you
Mmmmm, honey!
Yummy yummy for my tummy =D
A vegan friend got crazy because I was wearing a leather belt. The honey thing does not surprise me.
Vegans don't use animal products.
Bees are animals.
You're not a vegan.
The "logic" is that animals being sentient creatures,
are not to be treated as THINGS by humans,
as a means to their own ends.
If you don't think honey is wrong, then by all means eat it.
But please stop calling yourself vegan.
It leads to confusion about what words mean with omnivores,
who already have many misconceptions about plant-based diets.
Thanks
~real vegan, 4 years~
OMG YOURE STEALING THEIR HONEY THEY NEED THAT HONEY.
seriously, I don't get it either.
honey is not like meat. so i guess it is OK?