Aug 15 2008
The buzz: is honey vegan?
When I first decided to eliminate animal products from my diet I thought that honey would definitely have to be crossed off from the menu. Honey is produced by bees who don’t actually give it to us - we take it from them.
However, I soon found out that the honey issue is not so black and white as some people argue that it’s impossible to produce vegetables without bees because of the pollination process on which agriculture depends. The discussion is so big that even Slate magazine has tackled it.
So, what should a vegan do? I can only speak for myself but I think that veganism is about mitigating the impact that my diet has on animal life and the environment. While I know that when I walk down the street I may step on an ant or some other form of micro life, I think it’s ethically different to go into a shop and buy a product that is not necessary to human health and which is based on the exploitation of an animal. Insects don’t attract as much sympathy from humans as mammals do, but animals they are and they can be quite amazing, as Isabella Rossellini (pictured left) shows in her new film about the sex life of insects, Green Porno.
