Vegans don't use honey

[Kevster]

Had a co-op party after a work day, people brought some food and we cooked some, i contributed a fruit cake :) . I sampled ALL four desserts/cakes on offer, and afterward a chap comes up to me and says, there's honey in the cake i made, do you think any full on vegans are about?

To which i could say nothing. I don't eat honey and for someone to bring non vegan food onto the dining table without properly labelling it, (heck, it shouldn't have been non vegan anyway) was incredible to me.

[abrennan]

Had a co-op party after a work day, people brought some food and we cooked some, i contributed a fruit cake :) . I sampled ALL four desserts/cakes on offer, and afterward a chap comes up to me and says, there's honey in the cake i made, do you think any full on vegans are about?

To which i could say nothing. I don't eat honey and for someone to bring non vegan food onto the dining table without properly labelling it, (heck, it shouldn't have been non vegan anyway) was incredible to me.

That bad. Where I work we have morning tea once in a while but I never eat the cake. Many people have taken to incuding fruit, like cut melons and strawberries or pineapple which means I can eat them. I just assume that the cake will have something in it that I wouldn't be interested in eating.

Antony

[Kevster]

It would have been nice to correct the chap, but quite frankly i was in no particular mood to address him on the matter. And that in itself is a sorry state of affairs, i'm pretty irritated by the lack of respect given to vegans, and he might have got a disproportionate reaction to what he probably deserved.

Nevertheless, once the other full on vegans have left after the week-end, i'll be letting people know that it is unacceptable to me, while i live in this house.

[Troutina]

Part of the reason why I'm vegan is because I don't agree people should make money out of things they don't own. This is why I wont eat honey.

[eclectic_one]

I think that sometimes we choose the vegan option only for our own benefit, so that we feel better (like in throwing out leather products, etc), even though it won't make a difference to anybody (animal or otherwise) but ourselves.
I just had a very brief "conflict" with my nephew about this. I still wear my leather shoes (most of which I've had for at least a decade) and he asked why I was wearing leather if I've gone vegan. I assured him that I would no longer buy any leather shoes, but I am not going to discard those that I already have as I'd see that as more of a waste. I will NOT buy any more leather shoes now though:eek:

[moochbabe]

i have the same thing... i am not going to waste the leather, because then it's even worse imo, the animal died and then was wasted even further... however, there r certain animal product things i will no longer wear of mine (those that i can give away)

[Seaside]

I *do* understand how the bees help make the wine...(just like worms help make our soil richer). However, I don't understand how taking or eating the honey the bees make (commercial or otherwise) has an impact on this. Perhaps I am not understanding you (but I want to :) ).
I'm not sure I understand a few posts here, too, CC. I don't think like the sound of "contracts" between animals and people. Animals can't consent to their sides of the "bargain". After all, neither honey nor wine are essential for human survival, so the bees should be left alone to pollinate the flowers of their choice. :)

[pat sommer]

Well, eventually its a crusade we can make after all the newly available arable land from no-longer-animal-based agriculture: beekeeping.

Alot of crops require introduced hives (moved thru the season) to be commercially viable. The hobby apiarist is not a focus of concern to me. Rather, the major honey producers are a source of many problems. It just shows all the connections we make to our lifestyle. Right now I am greatly worried about the palm-oil plantations killing Orangutans on Borneo. How bitterly ironic that my vegan marg may be contributing. I take my decisions based on the facts as I see them. We all do.

[lauren rae]

As far as using something that tastes and works like honey, there is always agave nectar. There are lots of things there is no real workable vegan "substitute" for, but honey isn't one of them.\

I've had that before...never thought it could be used like honey. Could I find that in a grocery store?

[eclectic_one]

that's funny you mentioned that- when i first went vegan in july i still bought that wonderful frozen meal. only twice! i think i will e-mail them.

on my last road trip i found a vegan restaurant on-line and really wanted to go. it was quite good, called the yabba pot, in baltimore. what was disturbing was that they included honey in their smoothies for an extra fee, and they sold honey there.:eek: it really pissed me off.
Did you ever write Amy's? I did and they said they "haven't found a suitable substitute for honey." I find that a bit disheartening, as there are many substitutes.

Some of you seemed surprised, but I too have seen some products claim to be vegan, but they contained honey (Amy's doesn't do that).

[herbwormwood]

Lauren, only you can decide for yourself if you feel it would be "okay" to use the bees' honey; However, know this...it wouldn't be "vegan" in practice, as the honey isn't yours to take, it is the bees and is an animal product and therefore NOT vegan.

As far as using something that tastes and works like honey, there is always agave nectar. There are lots of things there is no real workable vegan "substitute" for, but honey isn't one of them.

Yea. Honey is an animal product. Therefore it is not part of the vegan diet.
I use pure organic maple syrup or fruit concentrate to sweeten stuff.
I have also come across "vegans" who eat honey. It is up to people what they eat but no way is honey vegan. Even before I went vegan I used to buy honey from small local producers but I don't buy it now and if something has bee products (honey, propolis, beeswax) in the ingredient list I don't buy, because bee products are not vegan.

[akaredarcher]

I was browsing on veganessentials.com this afternoon & came across a product called "Just Like Honey Gluten-Free Rice Nectar" - it's made up of brown rice syrup, chicory syrup, maple syrup & natural vegan flavours & claims to be honey-flavoured. If anyone is really hankering for the honey flavouring perhaps this could be a good option for you?

Diana
akaredarcher

[Baba Dethkat]

Honey = animal product
sounds simple to me.
whether your the size of a blue whale or a small ant your still an animal.
In my opinion of course hehehe

[FR]

Brown rice syrup is great.

[Jane M]

Has anyone ever tried this?

http://www.veganessentials.com/catalog/just-like-honey-gluten-free-rice-nectar.htm

[Pilaf]

Just use agave nectar and be done with it.

Honey is as dead as fur.

[insubordination]

My brother is a beekeeper/researcher. Hanging around his 'hives' for a while was enough to convince me how unnatural and cruel honey is. Let's control these amazingly communicative wee little animals (sorry - insects) who are working for their queen and steal their regurgitated hard work. They won't know any differently. Smoke 'em, squash 'em, pin 'em, trick and manipulate 'em.

[FR]

So I'm browsing through the latest issue of VegNews and I see that a fellow board member had their views with reagrds to honey published on page 18. Congrats. I was glad to read over what other vegans think about the consumption of honey outside from this forum. Basically, they all felt the same way, that honey is NOT vegan, and they're right!

[Mystic]

I just found date molasses at my local middle eastern grocer. It is so delicious! Who needs honey? :)

[Seaside]

That sounds really good, stickydate. I think I will Google to see if I can find out how to make that.

[Mystic]

It's delicious, especially on vanilla soy ice cream

[Tigerlily]

I just found date molasses at my local middle eastern grocer. It is so delicious! Who needs honey? :)

:) I will have to look for it! I may live in a small island but thank goodness, we have a Middle Eastern store. :D

[Tigerlily]

What if I eat no dairy, no eggs, no honey, but instead, I use these products as cosmetics... am I a vegan or simply a vegetarian?

Depends what you're intentions were. If you had no interest in eventually replacing your non-vegan cosmetics to vegan stuff, then I'd call you a strict vegetarian. If you DID have intentions of using vegan cosmetics but are trying to use up your non-vegan stuff, then I'd consider you to be vegan.

I still use some non-vegan cosmetics from my non-vegan days that are still good to use and I will replace them with vegan alternatives when I need to. And I still consider myself vegan.

[herbwormwood]

I just found date molasses at my local middle eastern grocer. It is so delicious! Who needs honey? :)

I think this may be what is known in the UK as date syrup, its the pure sugar from the date.

[herbwormwood]

see here
http://www.veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11647&highlight=plant+fields
for a discussion on that very topic