10 foods that vegans can't eat

[McJag]

Or eggs? I mean, the hens are going to lay them anyway.

[HelpMeRhonda]

Ya I can't understand the honey thing at all. They like to makes us honey, don't they. Those busy little bees.

There will come a day we'll be over-run by eggs and honey EVERYWHERE!!

[witchcurlgirl]

They kill the silkworms when they make silk (usually by boiling them), so I'm sure that's off limits. There is wild silk, but it can only be used in yarn, not threads to be woven. It's also not as fine.

[twitchy2.0]

Ya I can't understand the honey thing at all. They like to makes us honey, don't they. Those busy little bees.

There will come a day we'll be over-run by eggs and honey EVERYWHERE!!

Commercial honey production can be pretty ugly just like any factory food. Producers also periodically kill off the queens.

We wouldn't be overrun with honey. Bees are actually in decline.

Vegan diet is not a religion with strict rules. People make personal decisions about what they want to eat and try to live by them the best they can. Some eat honey, some don't. Some are stricter about what they'll eat than others. Some don't have a problem with cochineal colourings etc some do.

[Mel1973]

Or eggs? I mean, the hens are going to lay them anyway.

we'll finally get to the point where nobody really gives a shit which came first because nobody can't eat eggs, or chicken or use the damn feathers. Fuck the chicken, let 'em all cross the road!

[Mel1973]

Commercial honey production can be pretty ugly just like any factory food. Producers also periodically kill off the queens.

We wouldn't be overrun with honey. Bees are actually in decline.

Vegan diet is not a religion with strict rules. People make personal decisions about what they want to eat and try to live by them the best they can. Some eat honey, some don't. Some are stricter about what they'll eat than others. Some don't have a problem with cochineal colourings etc some do.

I'm not gonna lie, I do find the ethics and rigid will of vegans amazing. I make jokes because I'm weak and high on a cafe white mocha with whipped cream!

[twitchy2.0]

Sometimes it's ethics, sometimes it's health concerns. There's so much crap in the stuff we call food.

[fgg]

that list is only the tip of the iceberg. vegans don't consume any animal derivatives either. that means scanning all labels for things like casein, whey, etc. once you find stuff, you stick to it, at least in my experience. i happen to eat cheese by the pound so no can do as a lifestyle for me.

eta: just saw mohandasandy's post - NO WAY i could give up wine. fuck that shit.

[VeraGemini]

But vegans are stricter, shunning not only meat, but fish and shellfish (which some vegetarians will eat), eggs, milk and other dairy products

This is a major peeve of mine. Fish are not plants. If you eat fish, you're not a vegetarian. It's a problem when someone says "I'm vegetarian" and then happily tucks into a tuna fish sandwich, because the non-vegetarians present may assume it's ok to serve fish as the main course when a vegetarian is coming to dinner. (I've been vegetarian for 32 years now, so I've been there, dealt with the ensuing awkwardness and hurt feelings that ensued many times.)

The labels thing is not a big deal. You get used to reading them, and get where you can spot problem ingredients pretty quickly. It's no different than someone with food allergies, or someone trying to avoid excess sodium, etc.

[ManxMouse]

Ok, now I'm educated about honey and silk, that is good to know. And there is pretty much always cruelty in egg-laying operations, at the very least, they kill all the male chicks and usually by grinding them up. I guess you can't trust anything you don't raise and/or slaughter yourself. BUT, my very consciencious stepmom (in-law) has just now procured bee hives for her property and I've promised to knit all the bees sweaters, so I'm looking forward to some cruelty-free honey!

[Tati]

Okay, I'm going to ask. How does eating meat affect the water and food supply? And if people stopped eating meat for 2 or 3 days a week, we would see changes in world hunger, HOW? Shit, I figure the more meat I eat, the less hungry animals are out in the wild starving. I mean, if we all go vegan, what's the point of cows? Its bad to use leather, milk and meat???

I'm no vegan, or even vegetarian, but it is true. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but off the top of my head, to produce a kilo or so of meat, it takes about 6 kilos of grain (if we're talking industrially-farmed animals, not purely grass-fed) and about one hundred times the amount of water to produce a calorie of meat than it does to produce a calorie of grain. The waste produced by factory farms also directly polllutes the nearby water supply.

Feed animals take in something like forty times the amount of calories that humans actually get out of them when we eat their flesh, and about 40% of the world's grain yield is fed to feed animals (and then converted by them into meat at the above highly inefficient rate), where we could just be feeding it to humans directly. We could definitely feed the world's population if we simply fed the grain we produce directly to humans, rather than making animals the "middle man" so to speak. Milk production is also inefficient, but not to the same extent.

Basically, we pump many, many times more calories (grain) and water into animals so we can enjoy their meat than we actually get out of them. But don't get me wrong, I do it too...

[Grimmlok]

I'm no vegan, or even vegetarian, but it is true. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but off the top of my head, to produce a kilo or so of meat, it takes about 6 kilos of grain (if we're talking industrially-farmed animals, not purely grass-fed) and about one hundred times the amount of water to produce a calorie of meat than it does to produce a calorie of grain. The waste produced by factory farms also directly polllutes the nearby water supply.

Feed animals take in something like forty times the amount of calories that humans actually get out of them when we eat their flesh, and about 40% of the world's grain yield is fed to feed animals (and then converted by them into meat at the above highly inefficient rate), where we could just be feeding it to humans directly. We could definitely feed the world's population if we simply fed the grain we produce directly to humans, rather than making animals the "middle man" so to speak. Milk production is also inefficient, but not to the same extent.

Basically, we pump many, many times more calories (grain) and water into animals so we can enjoy their meat than we actually get out of them. But don't get me wrong, I do it too...

That whole water thing was proven false, btw. 2 weeks ago or so.

[fgg]

This is a major peeve of mine. Fish are not plants. If you eat fish, you're not a vegetarian. It's a problem when someone says "I'm vegetarian" and then happily tucks into a tuna fish sandwich, because the non-vegetarians present may assume it's ok to serve fish as the main course when a vegetarian is coming to dinner. (I've been vegetarian for 32 years now, so I've been there, dealt with the ensuing awkwardness and hurt feelings that ensued many times.)

i don't know anyone who thinks a vegetarian eats fish. i haven't eaten meat in 12 years but i do eat fish. it is easier to explain to someone that you are a vegetarian who eats fish than to respond to the inevitable "what about pork? chicken? etc." if you just say you don't eat meat. i use "meat" to encompass all of that stuff.

[ConstanceSpry]

People who eat fish, but no meat, are called pescetarians. I know this cause I had a pescetarian co-worker.

[Beeyotch]

Now I could deal with being a pescatarian, totally. Big seafood fan.