Maybe the title should be “are eating plants that consume animals vegan”? Seems a bit pedantic, but maybe it gets views
Smyrna figs? Really? I thought the “it’s constantinople” people were weird but there are still people calling izmir smyrna?
I have a fig tree lol
My (urban) neighbors have one. It hardly survives, as it’s so far from its normal range. I highly doubt that the wasps are here… and the figs are mostly green and mildly sweet.
They’re really small and usually come with and live in the fig trees their whole lives so you would bring them with you when you planted the fig tree. This particular fig tree has been planted here a long time along with several olive and walnut trees and does fine but it is suburban
Every time this comes up I have to point out that we don’t eat the types of figs that are pollinated by fig waps. Unless you are eating some very fancy figs
But doesn’t this mean that figs are filled with dead wasps? Yes. But not in the way you think. After the wasps have perished, they are digested by the fig plant’s enzymes, which dissolve the insect’s exoskeleton.
Interesting, I never thought of the fig tree as a (partially) carnivore plant.
The wasps aren’t exploited, they’re not in a much different situation than wild pollinators that go around pollinating, drinking syrup, having sex, and dying.
If there are wasp breeders for the fig trees, then it’s a problem.
