Are almonds vegan?
I know that honey is a topic of contention but, from what I've read, commercial pollination is bigger business than honey and wax sales combined -worse for the bees too. Almonds, grapes, plums, cucumbers, cantaloupe, asparagus, blueberries, soy -all rely on pollination. It follows that the larger the demand (and maybe the shorter the growing season?) the more likely that commercial pollination is being used. I'm not sure what the answers are (aside from knowing your grower), but it's something I've been giving a lot of thought to since I read this article:
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/2007-08-01/news/are-bees-too-busy
also carried on :
http://www.alternet.org/environment/59426/
Personally I have no problem with responsibly harvested honey but I'm eschewing almonds and any imported fruits (most of what is available here is regional but some grapes and pears come from the US). I'm curious to hear what other veg*ns think.
Hmmm...this raises some very interesting questions! I knew that bees dying off in droves but i had not heard of the CCD explantion. This is just one more industry that is clearly behaving irresponsiblly! When will these factory farming agri-businesses learn they an not treat their "product" this way?
I clearly have no answers for the suitability of pollinated fruits and nuts in a veg*ns diet-- I think we will each have to decide that on our own. I know i will defently be more carefull about who and where i buy these types of products from--local is always better anyways!
Thanks for the great article Savvy!
Awww man, Savvy! Don't take away my almonds now! :( Good article though.
That article was fascinating. My conclusion is that large-scale commercial farming of anything isn't in the spirit of veganism and sustainability. For instance, the almonds, apples, etc. on these huge farms require too many bees at one place and time, makes the whole process unnatural to the extreme.
People feed the bees corn syrup, pack hives a feet feet apart, and then wonder why there are problems? ::)
thanks for starting this thread. i was actually planning on starting something like it when a guy i was dating was telling me about bees being used to cross pollinate avocado trees (in order to get bigger fruit)... and i thought: wait a minute?! here we are not eating honey (if you are very strict... i personally don't but don't really have a great reason not to, i just figure better safe for when i realize why honey is terrible :o) and bees are being exploited in the production of all kinds of other foods that we all eat... hmmm...
I agree with Kylissa. My conclusion is also that ANY large scale farming practices will be bad all around - our health, ecology, and humane treatment of living things.
This is why I shop as local as possible. I want to meet the farmer who gives me my food. I adore farmer's markets. I always try to stick to all organic produce. And, then, basically I make everything else from scratch. I plan my recipes and baking based on what is around and in season at those markets. I eat honey too, but local and organic. Ok, technically, for actual cooking, my SO does it. But, he's so much better than I am!
I am very anti large scale farming. I buy or grow allmost all of my food locally.
I just wanted to point out though that most small, organic farms use bees too. My family did on our organic farm when I was younger. All crops need to be pollinated and having hives makes sure there are plenty of bee to do the job.
It is more of a question of how the bee keeper treats his bees than rather or not a farm uses them. Most farms don't manage their own hives they contract with a keeper to bring in hives.
Our keeper was wonderful. He would talk to the bees and was very careful nut to hurt any of the bees in the process of checking,cleaning, maintaining the hive. He would collect a small amount of honey from every hive to sell locally. I think the bees in this situation got more out of it then he did. Our crops were kinda like an all you can eat buffet parked at their backyard. The honey was their rent.
I have no problem eating honey from a situation like this one. I would never buy honey from a mass producer and use agave now anyway because I like the flavor better.
Unless you stop eating you will be eating food pollinated by bees.
Yeah, sorry, don't shoot the messenger. :-[
I don't think anyone is contesting that.
I specifically named almonds because, as mentioned in the article:
"For a honeybee, the lucrative almond pollination season comes at the worst possible time. The natural lifecycle of a bee colony follows the seasons, with a hibernation-like rest period during the winter. Unfortunately for the bees, California almond trees bloom around February 10, a miserably rainy time of year."
Tanevab, I agree entirely with your stance on honey. I tended bees as a kid and have been considering doing it again. I just think the issues are grayer than any of us would like to believe and it's good to keep tabs on what the agrib@stards are up to.
it's good to keep tabs on what the agrib@stards are up to.
I just want to ask why. It's a good thing to keep tabs for what purpose? What would you as an individual or as part of a group be able to achieve?