Why most vegans don’t eat honey

Honey is a somewhat controversial food among vegans.

Unlike overt animal foods like meat, eggs, and dairy, foods from insects aren’t always grouped into the vegan category.

In fact, some vegans who eat an otherwise entirely plant-based diet may opt to include honey in their diet.

That said, most vegans view honey as non-vegan and avoid eating it for several reasons, explained below.

How do bees make honey?

According to METRO Bees extract nectar – a sugary liquid from flowers – using their tube-shaved tongue and store it in their extra stomach, or ‘crop’.

While the nectar sloshes around in there, it mixes with enzymes that transform its chemical composition.

When a honeybee returns to the hive, it passes the nectar to another bee by regurgitating the liquid into the other bee’s mouth. This regurgitation process is repeated until the partially digested nectar is finally deposited into a honeycomb.

Of course, that’s not the same consistency as the stuff you put on your pancakes and the like.

Vegan alternatives 

Unlike bees, humans can thrive without honey in their diets. Luckily, there are a whole host of readily-available vegan alternatives for those with a sweet tooth. Date syrup, maple syrup, molasses, butterscotch syrup, golden syrup and agave nectar are all viable options, whether you need a product for baking, cooking, as a sweetener for drinks, or to eat a spoon of out of the jar at the end of a long day.