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[-] 58008@lemmy.world 12 points 5 hours ago

Would this render figs off limits for vegans and vegetarians? 🤔

[-] Raiderkev@lemmy.world 13 points 7 hours ago

No wonder God hates figs

[-] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 129 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

FYI they are very fucking small nowhere near as big as in this image. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fig_wasp

Forcing her way through the ostiole, the mated mature female often loses her wings and most of her antennae. To facilitate her passage through the ostiole, the underside of the female's head is covered with short spines that provide purchase on the walls of the ostiole.

In depositing her eggs, the female also deposits pollen she picked up from her original host fig. This pollinates some of the female flowers on the inside surface of the fig and allows them to mature. After the female wasp lays her eggs and follows through with pollination, she dies.[15]

After pollination, there are several species of non-pollinating wasps that deposit their eggs before the figs harden. These wasps act as parasites to either the fig or possibly the pollinating wasps.

As the fig develops, the wasp eggs hatch and develop into larvae. After going through the pupal stage, the mature male’s first act is to mate with a female - before the female hatches. Consequently, the female will emerge pregnant. The males of many species lack wings and cannot survive outside the fig for a sustained period of time. After mating, a male wasp begins to dig out of the fig, creating a tunnel through which the females escape.[16]

Once out of the fig, the male wasps quickly die. The females find their way out, picking up pollen as they do. They then fly to another tree of the same species, where they deposit their eggs and allow the cycle to begin again.

[-] Prontomomo@lemmy.world 12 points 7 hours ago

If you look at the detail in the ghosty wasp, it’s clear that it’s just an edited image of a wasp pasted onto a fig

[-] ignotum@lemmy.world 9 points 7 hours ago

nowhere as big as in this image

Yeah when they're alive, but everyone knows you grow larger when you become a ghost

[-] definitely_AI@feddit.online 62 points 11 hours ago

Nature is so fucking WEEEEIRD

[-] denaggels@feddit.org 5 points 9 hours ago

Actually it's not. This is 100% human fault. Fig trees and fig wasps from the same (natural) area do not have this problem. When (I believe California?) imported a ton of trees and wasps to cultivate giant fig farms, they just didn't care that the wasps they got would die during pollination. It was a known issue, that just got ignored. Completely preventable.

[-] protist@retrofed.com 3 points 2 hours ago

You're just plain wrong. Figs and fig wasps have been coevolving for millions of years, and this is just how these species of fig and wasp evolved. Lots of animals have evolved to die after they reproduce. This is nature and has nothing to do with commercial fig growers

[-] definitely_AI@feddit.online 11 points 7 hours ago

Nature is not weird? What that person described is not weird? It's weird. You cannot convince me nature is not weird. Because nature is so fucking WEEEEEEIRDDDD

[-] denaggels@feddit.org 3 points 6 hours ago
[-] TriplePlaid@wetshav.ing 3 points 7 hours ago

What problem do you mean?

The blastophaga psenes wasps in Turkey die during pollination just like the blastophaga psenes wasps in California do.

Here is more information about how figs (and fig wasps) came to be cultivated in the US.

[-] SendMePhotos@lemmy.world 17 points 11 hours ago

I went and looked that up on my own and I could've just clicked into the comments?!

[-] unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.de 14 points 11 hours ago

When i came to the post there were no comments to quell my worries so i had to check and share what i found :D

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[-] Ghostie@lemmy.zip 11 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

Great. My stomach is now haunted by wasp ghosts. Thanks again 2026.

[-] CIA_chatbot@lemmy.world 30 points 12 hours ago

This is why fig newtons taste like delicious hate

[-] fossilesque@mander.xyz 11 points 11 hours ago

I use them when I need to channel the ghosts of 1000 angry wasps.

[-] moody@lemmings.world 6 points 10 hours ago

No, that's just the sugar. Someone decided figs weren't sweet enough and that they should add sugar to them.

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[-] Nangijala@feddit.dk 15 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

And the bitter pistachio nuts are bitter because you're eating a dead worm that died inside the nut.

Always, always, always double check the pistachio before you eat it. Learned it the hard way and have spread the word ever since. People's reactions are always the same shock horror expression when they realize what the bitter pistachios really are.

[-] fossilesque@mander.xyz 16 points 11 hours ago
[-] Nangijala@feddit.dk 13 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

If the nut looks slightly deformed and/or is dark in the shell and the nut inside is dark, it is not because it was roasted. It's because there is a worm inside. There's often a bit of web inside as well. That is not a part of the pistachio. That is the worm's web.

I know. It is traumatic, but you know now and I'm glad that you do.

The only bad thing about realizing this about pistachios is that I have personally struggled to eat them since, and they used to be one of my favourite snacks. Hopefully, you will be more resilient than me.

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[-] fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk 7 points 11 hours ago

I read it, but I'm going to try and forget it as soon as possible.

[-] dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 6 points 9 hours ago

I mean... Is it harmful? Otherwise, protein!

[-] Nangijala@feddit.dk 3 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

That's the spirit! But honestly, they taste so awful, dude. That was why I started inspecting them in the first place.

If you have ever tasted the defensive secretions ladybugs make when they feel threatened, you know what these worms taste like.

[-] searabbit@piefed.social 3 points 7 hours ago

If you have ever tasted the defensive secretions ladybugs make when they feel threatened, you know what these worms taste like.

You say that like it's a normal thing to have tasted. Please don't tell me I've also been unknowingly eating ladybug secretions this whole time😭

[-] Nangijala@feddit.dk 2 points 7 hours ago

Nah, but I grew up in the countryside and part of that territory comes with picking up insects and studying them. And ladybugs would secrete this fluid that would smell and stick to you fingers and when you're a little kid, running around in the garden, playing with bugs one minute and picking strawberries the next, you end up putting those fingers in your mouth at some point and tasting the bitterness of ladybug "leave me alone"-juice.

[-] Lighttrails@sh.itjust.works 15 points 12 hours ago
[-] Kepion@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 6 hours ago

Did your god know, insects grow, in my pome?

[-] mosspiglet@discuss.online 1 points 2 hours ago
[-] blimthepixie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 18 points 12 hours ago
[-] ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works 26 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

Most vegans do. The general idea is to avoid exploiting animals, but the wasps are living out their natural life cycle. There are a small number of people who do worry about preventing wild insect suffering but they're not concerned particularly with figs.

[-] Grass@sh.itjust.works 2 points 6 hours ago

not if they have trypophobia

[-] tidderuuf@lemmy.world 17 points 12 hours ago

Vegans eat other foods that use fertilizer. Fertilizers could contain meat or meat byproducts... So....

[-] BillyClark@piefed.social 1 points 5 hours ago

I think I heard recently that one of the mushrooms that is popular as a vegan meat substitute lives off of some sort of living creature like insects or something.

But realistically, it's all the circle of life. Animal life is part of the circle. Probably all plants have consumed nutrients that came from an animal in some way.

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[-] affenlehrer@feddit.org 11 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Ethical vegans want to avoid suffering. If figs cause or experience suffering is a philosophical question.

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[-] ThatGuy46475@lemmy.world 11 points 12 hours ago

So that’s why god hates figs

[-] definitely_AI@feddit.online 18 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

I mean, Jesus literally said as much.

Matthew 21:18-22 - Jesus Curses a Fig Tree

18 Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered. 20 And God looketh at Jesus and saideth to himeth- this is a valid crashout-eth.

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[-] deacon@lemmy.world 8 points 11 hours ago

This actually explains the infamous Fig Newton Debacle of ‘92, which my extended family is still divided over.

[-] Kolanaki@pawb.social 9 points 11 hours ago

New! Fig Newtons: Oops! All Wasps!

[-] definitely_AI@feddit.online 9 points 11 hours ago

I thought for sure this was a joke.

It isn't.

This happens.

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this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2026
340 points (96.7% liked)

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