Most commercially and home grown produced figs are self-pollinating, only a few wild fig species require wasps to pollinate them. So most people will only ever see wasp-free figs.
this post was submitted on 10 Mar 2026
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Oh thank god.
I know commercial farming is usually terrible, but this bit just seems like a win
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Ah btw, ground coffee literally has ground bugs in it. To the point, that some people get allergic to it.
Everything we eat has allowable amounts of bugs, it's everwhere.
High Protein Coffee
at some point, we'll probably be eating bug flour on purpose for sustainability reasons
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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.
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
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I went and looked that up on my own and I could've just clicked into the comments?!
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nowhere as big as in this image
Yeah when they're alive, but everyone knows you grow larger when you become a ghost
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This post is informative, horrifying, and indeed very, very spoopy.
Its not 100% accurate. Some wasps get trapped, not all. And there exists a fig species that doesn't need wasps
Damn, I hadn't understood it as all figs needing wasps, but figured it was more the reverse of what you're now saying where maybe some specific varieties had adapted to need them. I already was not a fan of figs, but this is definitely too spoopy for my tastes.
Yeah it changed my love of figs a bit. Fig Newtons...now with 25% less wasps.
They should have worked the wasp angle into their old "A cookie is just a cookie..." commercials. Kids already hated those things, this would have really made the brand stick heh
TIL figs aren’t vegan
I'm a vegan, although not super strict. But I knew some terror vegans who do not consider vigs vegan.
The definition of "vegan" differs. Like, I don't like products that had a nervous system. So technically I could eat oysters. But some vegans consider oranges not to be vegan because there might be an animal product in the pesticides used on oranges. Some claim they only use plant based products, but they get mad when I ask them about fungi, as their cell structure looks more like an animal cell than a plant cell (I love to make terror vegans mad).
Being vegan means you buy products which fit your idea of being vegan.
And sadly for some it means you need to be a fucking asshole to anyone you meet.
Regarding your last paragraph: that's unrelated. There are also lots of insufferably vocal meat eaters who feel personally attacked when someone else doesn't religiously stuff themselves with meat every meal.
I know zero (0) vocal vegans but 3 meat eaters who make a point on hating vegans and sometimes make it sound like they eat extra meat to spite vegans.
One of them once said to me a restaurant can only be good if it has no vegetarian options.
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Idk isn't that like saying all animal pollinated plants are not vegan?
Well, this one’s got a literal animal inside of it… Is all I’m saying
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False. Wasps don't have souls.
Hornets on the other hand... I'll see you in hell.
No wonder God hates figs
Can vegans eat figs?
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.
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