Do most Vegans not eat honey?

Question

I got into a conversation with a vegan the otherday who said he refused to eat honey because it exploited the hard work of the bees. I pointed out that actually harvesting honey from bees is good for them. If their hive is too full of honey then they don't have room for the larvae and will leave the hive. Very few (if any) are harmed in the harvesting process. This meant nothing to him.

Then I asked if he liked citrus fruit. He said of course. I told him he'd better give that up too because there would be no citrus fruit without the hard work of bees transfering pollen...he didn't have a response.

Anyways - I was just wondering if that is normal, for vegans not to eat honey??

Bees don't die after making honey.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollination_management

according to the link above apple, almonds, pears, some plum and cherry varieties, blueberries, cranberries, cucumbers, cantaloupe, watermelon, alfalfa seeds, and onion seeds are all harvested with the assistance of pollinating bees.

For those saying you can't eat honey because it is made by bees are going to have to rethink their diet...

Answer 1

He left you kinda angry huh?

Answer 2

There is no such thing as a vegan who eats honey. Honey just isn't vegan. I am a vegetarian but eat no eggs, dairy, or other animal products, except honey. Honey is stolen from the bees, and just because it's natural doesn't mean it's ethical. In the same way milk is stealing from cows, honey is stolen from bees. A vegan is a lifestyle to reduce suffering and exploitation of animals. So all animal products such as leather, wool, silk, and honey are out, as well as meat, eggs, and honey. The only animal product that could ever possibly be considered vegan is roadkill. And I don't know any vegans who would eat that.

P.S. If you're wondering why I don't eat honey, I'm only 14 and my mom wouldn't let me give it up, because it's in almost all grains that aren't white (she won't buy white bread, because it's unhealthy). She could get me some whole grain, but it would be hard to find, without going to a health food store. I also don't wear animal products.

Answer 3

most vegans do not eat ANYTHING that comes from any animals in any sort of way. Vegans do not believe anymals are ours to use in any sort of way.
The situation is just the same with milk, a natural cow raised on a family farm who is free range produces enough milk naturally (without hormones) to feed 4 calves but usually only have one. Most free range/organic calfs are allowed to nurse and taking the extra milk does not hurt the calf or the mother and yet Vegans still do not believe this is ok.
In other situations, mainstream chain milk production the calfs aren't allowed to drinkt heir mothers milk and the mother cows suffer with extreme hormones and living conditions. The situation is the same for mass produced honey. In a normal situation harvesting honey from the hive is ok, in a mass produced corperation making honey many bee's are injured and sprayed with chemicals.
Most vegans will not eat any animal product no matter what the practices are, however they cannot get around animal products all together as gelatin is used in the printing of books, magazines, and making tires. Most strong industrial furniture glue has animal products in it still as well. (not household glues)

Basically there is not way to hurt NOTHING, everything will hurt something down the line, you can only try to minimize the damage and make BETTER choices.
Perhaps instead of being vegan you should just be informed and buy products in which you feel the animals were not harmed.

Answer 4

Vegans do not usually eat honey because the bees produce the honey and the Vegans usually refuse to eat anything produced or off of animals.

Answer 5

Vegans that really care about their "diet" and animals will most likely not eat honey. And as you said about bees transfering pollon for fruits and stuff well it dosent kill a bee to tranfer pollon but sometimes (very rare) that a bee will die for making honey. Also honey is a bees food so maybe he thinks its crule to make bees work to make honey and it THEIR food. Alos vegan means NO ANIMAL PRODUCTS wich includes meat, leather, wool, milk, eggs and honey and since bees do have to work to make honey it is included as an animal product.
I dont eat honey because I love animals and bugs so I became a vegan vegetarian.

Answer 6

Vegan- a person who does not consume animal products.

Honey is produced by bees, bees are animals, thus it is an animal product.

Even so, many vegans do eat honey. It's probably 40% that do and 60% that don't.

Answer 7

I too thought that bees could not possibly suffer to make honey but unfortunately they do. Check out this article to find out more about it:

http://www.vegetus.org/honey/honey.htm

The thing that sold me is the part where the bees are gassed at the end of a season so that the farmers don't have to pay the expense of keeping them alive.

Answer 8

Honey is bee vomit. Milk is cow sweat. If you're not going to eat animal products, then you can't pick and choose, saying, well, milk is wrong but honey is fine.

Yes, I realize bees pollinate many flowers. Duh. But honey is THEIR food, not ours! True, it doesn't hurt them too much if you harvest honey responsibly. But you are stealing their food.

Bees would still pollinate flowers just fine if we hadn't ruined the environment to the point that bee hives have to be brought into orchards and fields to pollinate fruit-bearing plants and trees. Most of the issue is that native bees from the Americas are being pushed out of their habitat by Africanized honeybees, and also, pesticides and unsafe bee conditions are reducing bee populations in general.

I'm not a vegan myself (I think honey's kinda icky, so I rarely eat it unless it's in, like, barbecue sauce or something.) But if you don't eat animal products, you can't eat honey.

And BTW--ever wonder why you shouldn't give honey to infants or invalids? It has BOTULISM in it! Wheeee! So there's a benefit of not eating animal products. Veganism cuts out most of the disgusting and very harmful microorganisms present in animal products.

Answer 9

By Definition
The simplest reason why honey isn't vegan is by definition. The term vegan was coined by Donald Watson in 1944 and was defined as follows:

Veganism is a way of living which excludes all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, the animal kingdom, and includes a reverence for life. It applies to the practice of living on the products of the plant kingdom to the exclusion of flesh, fish, fowl, eggs, honey, animal milk and its derivatives, and encourages the use of alternatives for all commodities derived wholly or in part from animals (Stepaniak).

But for more detailed info on the matter, go to :
http://www.vegetus.org/honey/honey.htm

Answer 10

Most "true" vegans don't eat honey (it comes from animals)

other NO NO's include
leather
milk - or any dairy product: Butter, cheese, cream
gelatin
eggs
anything tested on animals: splenda, make-ups, soaps, lotions
wool
many medicines
many make-ups: because animal testing, or animals in them
and a lot of other stuff

but there are diffrent types of vegans and not all follow the same rules!!!

Hope this helps!!!

Answer 11

I know vegans who do and vegans who don't eat honey. In the strictest sense I would say that as a vegan you probably wouldn't (animal product), but there has to be a line drawn at some point.