The morality of each individual is a personal choice. Just how vegan you are is entirely up to you. For me, veganism is a spectrum not an absolute. Having said that, I completely respect everyone’s choices so there is no judgement here, just my perspective on one of what I have found to be the most contentious issues amongst some vegans.
Is it ok to eat honey on a vegan diet?
First of all, let’s look at whether honey is actually a vegan product. So,what is the dictionary definition of ‘vegan’?
Vegan- noun meaning; a person who does not eat or use animal products. Also an adjective meaning; using or containing no animal products.
Ok, so nothing surprising there but what actually is an animal product? Another definition needed…. Wikipedia says that animal products are derived from the animal itself including flesh, blood, eggs, milk and also isinglass and rennet. Therefore, to me honey does not fall in to that category since honey is made by the bee but is not a by-product of it’s body. BUT the story doesn’t end there……..
The Vegan Society classes honey as an animal product and advises that vegans should avoid eating it and suggests replacing it with golden syrup or maple syrup. They also state that the production of honey can be cruel to bees.
The issue of ethics rears it’s ugly head once more! Does being a vegan mean just not eating products derived from animals or does it mean not eating anything associated with animal cruelty? In which case, it raises issues around products such as palm oil which is technically a vegan friendly product but is associated with animal cruelty and the loss of millions of hectares of life giving rainforest……. it all starts to get very complicated!
Back to honey……… so is the production cruel??
It really depends on your source of information. In principle honey production is not cruel as bees would produce honey anyway, they are not forced to make honey in the same way that cows are forced to produce milk.
However, some sources state some pretty horrific conditions for mass produced honey. It is documented that in some areas queen bees have their wings removed to prevent them leaving the hive, that queen bees are artificially inseminated and that once all their honey is removed it is replaced with a cheap, artificial alternative that doesn’t provide enough nutrition for bees. And after honey production some hives are burnt, killing all the bees inside to reduce costs.
This paints a grim picture! So what is a vegan to do? Well, the choice is yours. Personally, I still eat honey. We don’t eat a lot of it as a family so our consumption is low and I buy my honey from a local beekeeper partly because it is ethical but also because I like to support small, local businesses but mostly because local honey can help with hay fever which myself and my son suffer from in the summer months.
Really it all comes down to your morality and ethics. As with many other products, so called ‘fast fashion’ relies on unethical labour, we’ve already talked about palm oil and the by- products of highly processed food including some meat alternatives which are advocated by many vegans, can be damaging to the environment too. In the 21st century it is so difficult to be 100% ethical so set your own parameters and define your own vegan limits…….. be vegan(ish)!!! 😉
Thanks for reading!!!
Vegan(ish) 