While watching the Food Network show "Chopped" recently and they had on a vegan contestant chef. Now I do know some healthy vegans but it is it tricky task - not eating any animal products and staying healthy. It can be done but you should do your research first.
This guy was apparently vegan due to animal rights issues. I don't like cruelty to animals, either, so I'm very careful about where I buy my animal products. This guy went to the extreme. He was upset to find a jar of honey in his basket (and you MUST use all of the ingredients in your basket).
Why did honey bother him? Well, "bees are kept in crowded conditions and lots of them die." [paraphrased]
Snort. I think my drink came out my nose.
[Honeybee (Apis mellifera) landing on a milk thistle flower (Silybum marianum) by Fir0002 via Wikimedia Commons]
Bees are some of my favorite insects so I actually know a fair bit about them. And one of the things I know is that in the wild social bee species live in very crowded conditions. If they don't have a dense enough concentration the hive can't survive winters - they need to be crowded to keep warm!
And high rate of death? That's pretty normal for bees, too. Individuals (except the queen) don't live long - weeks to months depending on conditions. Yes, there are some problems with colonies collapsing but that is not because humans are farming them for their honey (more likely it has something to do with exposure to pesticides, although the final word is not in on the cause of colony collapse disorder).
I guess it's a good thing this vegan chef didn't make his comment in front of me. I would have sat him down and given him a good long lecture on bee biology. That might have stung his ego.
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