Comment on We keep the entomologists in the basement.

• embed_me@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  I think, the tree actually absorbs the insects completely before it ripens

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  • derek@infosec.pub ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    This is true! Saying figs is wasps is silly in the same way that saying plants are dirt is silly. Like… Kind of? From a certain odd perspective, “sure” with caveats. It’s a reductive understanding that’s neither literally nor technically true but who am I a botanist? No. I’m not. I do know a lot happens between pollination and the fruit we might eat though and most fig varieties we grow for food or buy from stores aren’t the kind pollinated by wasps anyway.

    I found a decent write up with more detail here: www.treehugger.com/are-figs-vegan-5203202

    Dirt is the byproduct of life after its been on a planet for a while. Plants figured out how to recycle life and death’s leftovers. Then mushrooms came along and filled the gaps in weird ways. Animals eat the plants and fungi. Other animals eat those animals. Siiiimbaaaa, right?

    We typically don’t think we’re eating our ancestors when having a salad. We aren’t beholden to the idea that we’re eating wasps when munching figs either. Even in the odd case where we’re eating those specific kinds of figs.

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