I read an article today on Slate about whether vegans consider honey vegan. I never knew a vegan who didn’t or knew of any information contradicting its non-vegan status. With honey being produced by the bees as their food that should earn the tag of not-vegan pretty easily. Add to that the fact that some beekeepers kill off their bees at the end of the season and now beekeepers are spraying their hives with cow urine to promote the health of the colony. Cow urine….mmm tasty!
Haven’t read the article yet, but I will after posting this comment. I’ve always been weird about the honey thing. I don’t buy honey or products containing honey, but if I’m stuck bum-fuck nowhere and the only dressing available for a salad in a fast food joint is honey mustard, I’ll do it. But I feel guilty about it. I know a lot of African American vegans in Memphis that do consider honey okay and most all of the older vegans at The Farm in Summertown, TN eat honey. It used to be considered still vegan back in the day, I guess.
I’m also conflicted over local honey versus factory farmed honey….I don’t know. I prefer the taste of agave anyway.
OK, so I just read the article and I’m definitely not gonna be so “flexi” (to quote the article) about honey now. I didn’t know some of the horrible stuff that bee farming involves…
Since becoming vegan I have not eaten honey. I don’t think there is anything vegan about it. If you find honey to be vegan then why not eat carmine, drink milk or any of the milk derivatives. I believe if you eat honey there’s no calling yourself vegan. With that said, anyone is free to eat what they choose, how they choose. Free will kicked in a few years ago at some point if I recall.
This wasn’t directed at anyone specifically.
I never knew there was any debate about honey. The vegans I have known have always held to a mantra that any product that exploited or used a (non-human) animal was off limits. Honey, wool, silk, pearls, certain make-up, etc.
I don’t consume a lot of honey and the honey I do consume is local and not large-scale. Though I’m not a vegan, I still try to make some conscious choices in my diet.