• ViatorOmnium@piefed.social
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    4 months ago

    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.

      • Jimmycrackcrack@lemmy.ml
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        4 months ago

        It was a hell of a surprise when I cut open a peach and the pit was smaller and softer than usual and it split in two in my hands and a little slightly drowsy looking winged ant crawled out of one of the halves and started walking around on the counter. Little guy must have had such a long journey. I don’t know how the hell they got INSIDE the pit.

    • flora_explora@beehaw.org
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      4 months ago

      Apart from the cultivar part, I don’t think that’s true. Apparently even Aristotle has spoken about fig wasps (without really understanding what they are or do of course). So maybe there are some cultivars that are self a pollinating now, but it seems like all non-cultivated fig trees are dependent on this kind of pollination. And btw, there aren’t a “few” wild species, there are over 850 of them!!

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reproductive_coevolution_in_Ficus?wprov=sfla1

      • ranzispa@mander.xyz
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        4 months ago

        I used to have some fig trees, I’d always have to be careful around them as they’d be full of wasps.

      • polydactyl@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Mostly it’s commercial animal farming that is heinously immoral. The big problems with commercial crop farming is the change to landscape (and therefore ecosystem) and reduction of native species and diversity due to farming of one specific species. These can be mitigated (if humans cared), obviously the animal farming problems too, but the animal cruelty is way more evil, and harder to fix institutionally.

        I’m pretty sure about these things, but I am not an expert on these specific matters. Never trust some rando as a source. Always do your own research. And even then be careful…… we live in some weird ass times

  • TrackinDaKraken@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    The only way to get food that doesn’t contain bugs and rat shit is to grow it indoors, in virtually hermetically sealed rooms.

    Also, the more processed your food, the more material you don’t want it contains. Which is why I’m surprised that so many vegans are on the fake meat bandwagon. The fact that they eat so much processed food clearly shows the claim that they’re doing it for health is poorly thought out.

    • TheTechnician27@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Which is why I’m surprised that so many vegans are on the fake meat bandwagon. The fact that they eat so much processed food clearly shows the claim that they’re doing it for health is poorly thought out.

      This a fundamental misunderstanding of what veganism is, namely:

      a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals.

      A plant-based diet for health is normally a “whole foods plant-based diet”, for which a mountain of well-studied health benefits exist. But vegans who eat plant-based for the animals can have any level of care about their own health that they want just like any omnivore can; that part is a spectrum.

  • laranis@lemmy.zip
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    4 months ago

    False. Wasps don’t have souls.

    Hornets on the other hand… I’ll see you in hell.

    • BCsven@lemmy.ca
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      4 months ago

      Its not 100% accurate. Some wasps get trapped, not all. And there exists a fig species that doesn’t need wasps

      • zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        4 months ago

        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.

        • BCsven@lemmy.ca
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          4 months ago

          Yeah it changed my love of figs a bit. Fig Newtons…now with 25% less wasps.

          • zod000@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            4 months ago

            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

  • MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip
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    4 months ago

    Ah btw, ground coffe literally has ground bugs in it. To the point, that some people get allergic to it.

      • MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip
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        4 months ago

        I forgot some details, but there were articles about it years ago, can just google it. And as far as i remember, bean coffee (self-ground or automat) has way less bugs.

      • Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works
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        4 months ago

        Its specifically cockroaches they are talking about and ground coffee. If you grind your own beans and don’t see any cockroaches or bugs, then your coffee is roach free.

        Humans get allergies to cockroaches really easy. Living in cockroach infested areas will eventually create allergies, people who handle cocraches get allergies, it’s not a question of if it’s a question of when.

        So if you have developed cockroach allergies you risk going into anaphylactic shock if you go anywhere where ground coffee is in the air like a gas station or coffee shop. If you aren’t griding your own beans, there is some roach in your bean soup.

    • rumba@lemmy.zip
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      4 months ago

      Everything we eat has allowable amounts of bugs, it’s everwhere.

  • Deacon@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

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

    • Manticore@lemmy.nz
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      4 months ago

      Vegetarian is fine, there is no flesh. Vegetarianism is typically a dietary restriction, rather than a philosophical one.

      Vegan: it depends. Cultivating figs may be seen as expotation, like bee’s honey is; regardless of the insect’s actual life or wellbeing. Each individual person decides what counts as vegan.

      I don’t see the point in this level of specificity, because by eating anything at all you consume fungal spores, tiny mites, microbes etc. Plants are also alive. So there is clearly a line where life is permittably consumed.

      If ‘experiencing suffering’ is that line, insects do not seem capable of it, only responding to basic stimuli. I once watched a one trying to eat its own partially severed head, turning it in its front legs while its mouth parts rapidly twitched. It evidently had no comprehension.

    • definitely_AI@feddit.online
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      4 months 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.

  • Nangijala@feddit.dk
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    4 months 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 chock horror expression when they realize what the bitter pistachios really are.

      • Nangijala@feddit.dk
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        4 months 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.

        • IntrovertTurtle@lemmy.zip
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          4 months ago

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

          Well I for one, am not.

          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.

          You really didn’t have to share this and I would have gone on to continue enjoying them. Why? 😭

          Gonna go stand in traffic now and hope the concussion deletes this fact.

      • Nangijala@feddit.dk
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        4 months 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
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          4 months 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
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            4 months 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.