[johnthedebs]

When I see figs come up in popular media lately, it's always in regards to the unlikely way in which they're pollinated in the wild. While it is very interesting, and may possibly be important to people eating vegan diets, it feels to me like it's missing a big part of the story of figs.

Figs have an incredibly rich history and present - they were apparently one of the first plants cultivated by humans and they have followed peoples' migration across the planet (largely through the magic that is vegetative propagation). I've found the communities that exist to collect, share, and preserve different varieties (there are hundreds, at least) and their stories quite friendly and welcoming. [0][1]

They are also a surprisingly delicious fruit when fresh and ripe but, unlike many other fruits or vegetables, fresh ripe figs are almost always acquired somewhere locally - a tree in a backyard, a local farmer's market, a friend who grew more than they know what to do with. They are very soft when ripe and mostly spoil too quickly to survive modern shipping.

This past summer, a number of fig-related threads in my life came together and I became very interested in figs. I found a number of trees in my neighborhood in Brooklyn which I'm documenting. I've been collecting[2] and propagating cuttings to grow and give to friends, and I'm learning how to grow and care for them in colder climates.

If you haven't tried fresh figs from someplace other than a grocery store or restaurant, I highly suggest looking for them at your local farmer's market some time between late July and early October (in the Northern hemisphere), or get your hands on a tree and try growing some yourself :).

[0] https://www.ourfigs.com/

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/Figs/

[2] https://www.figbid.com/

[grardb]

> and may possibly be important to people eating vegan diets

I just wanted to chime in and say that it's not important, at least not for the vast majority of vegans or others following vegan diets.

Most of us are aware that plant foods are not without consequence to animals (e.g. there are likely some ground-up insects in flours). Veganism is more about not willingly/knowingly exploiting or violating the consent of animals, rather than achieving a perfect diet free of even the smallest animal inputs. Even if the latter was the driving force behind a vegan diet, I don't really see the difference between how a fig is pollinated and a tree absorbing nutrients from the decomposing corpses of dead animals buried nearby.

I suppose fig farming may include the farming of wasps to ensure pollination or something, which is perhaps the actual reason behind your comment. Stuff like that is a topic that most vegans don't seem to dive into, just as most don't research to see if their produce was grown with manure instead of synthetic fertilizers. I suppose that if that's the method used for growing figs, then it may get on people's radars one of these days (along with other plants which I know are farmed in a similar fashion), but at least for the moment, we have bigger tofu to fry.

[UncleOxidant]

I consider myself a vegan, but I guess I'd be rejected by the orthodox vegans because I really don't care if I consume honey and wonder why there's any fuss about it. I also consume oysters and sardines occasionally just to ensure I'm not running short on some nutrient that I'm not aware of - yes, I know I transgress especially in regards to the sardines (some vegans make exceptions for lifeforms that don't have a face like oysters) but it's only every couple of weeks or so. So the potential for wasps in my figs is just something that seems silly to worry about.

[johnthedebs]

The only reason I mention it is that - maybe in an effort to make these articles more enticing - they seem to all bring up the fact that you may be eating some amount of wasp when eating figs. I agree with you in that I don't think anyone I know who is vegan would care at all about this; not to mention the fact that many figs we eat don't need to be/aren't pollinated by wasps at all.

[throwawaylinux]

Sadly, "plant food" has huge consequence to animals, and the mechanical destruction of insects is the least of it. Fields and plantations and orchards are chemical holocausts, pesticides and herbicides and fungicides wipe out most living things, some of them bioaccumulate and start attacking other parts of the food chain, others leech into ground water or rivers or oceans and quite often have horrible effects on aquatic life from amphibians to coral reefs. In some places and for some crops, larger pests might be culled (mice, rabbits, wild pigs, birds, fruit bats, deer, kangaroo, you name it). In food storage and processing is the same pest and fungacides with generally more emphasis on rodenticide chemicals which can also bioaccumulate and poison birds of prey, owls, snakes, etc. Then habitat destruction.

A person basically can't live in the modern world without destroying animals.

Although I do admire vegans who do it to try to make a difference there.

[eloisius]

I spent most of my life having now idea how delicious fresh figs are. To me they were a fried fruit like raisins, dates or prunes, that aren’t bad but aren’t amazing either. On a road trip through NorCal I picked some up at a fruit stand and they were amazing. I wish I had access to fresh figs all the time now.