(no subject)

[rattenmaus]

Just occured to me while planning our dinner, since we're expecting a vegan guest.

Are blueberries vegan?

Before anybody shouts "duh", I'm serious. As far as I know honey is not considered vegan, because bees need to be "kept" and a few of them die when you harvest honey (and also it is an animal product).

But blueberries - or better said non-wild blueberries, are being pollinated by bees. Not wild bees, but kept bees that are getting driven to the location of the blueberry fields, and taken away when they're done collecting and spreading pollen. Large scale production of blueberries without kept bees is not possible. Wild blueberries are much smaller too.

Obviously blue berries are just a stand in for any fruit or vegetable that is produced this way (my understanding is, most of them).

My best guess is that they're probably not considered non-vegan, just because of the effect this would have on a vegan's diet, but I'm curious. When I googled my question I only found a forum thread from 2007 where the people talking about it didn't seem to realize that commercially produced fruit is not pollinated "naturally".

Comments

[mercurychaos]

Your best bet is probably to ask the person what specific things they eat and don't eat, or just give you whichever list is shorter.

[rattenmaus]

Oh, I wasn't talking about my vegan friend especially. I know he eats berries, and I figure most vegans do. I was just wondering if anybody else ever though about this, and if vegans who don't eat fruit that has been produced this way even exist/if it's a point of arguing between vegans or whatever.
I didn't ask my friend about it because I don't think he likes having a fuss made over it, especially while eating.