Figs are one of those surprisingly non-vegan foods according to some people considering that they grow naturally. A fig actually contains insects, which vegans consider a no-no in their diets. However, the main question is whether eating wasps converted to protein is vegan or whether the process of how the female wasps get trapped and die inside of the fig is what makes figs non-vegan.

To put this into perspective, each edible fig contains at least one dead female wasp which gets stuck and is absorbed by the fruit in a process that scientists have termed symbiotic and obviously natural. The female wasp pollinates the flower as well as the entire fig while the fig provides a place for the female wasp to lay its eggs after which it dies.
 

Watch this video and you will have all your questions answered:

 
However, if you check inside any fig before eating it, you will not see any whole wasp. This is because the female wasp that dies in the fig is broken down into protein by the enzyme known as ficin. The carcass of the insect is broken down and digested before the fig fruit gets to your plate. This process can be compared to the process of pollination which plays crucial roles in fruits like apples but you will not always eat bees in the fruits itself.
 
Vegans and perhaps many other people would be disgusted to find out that a natural fruit like a fig actually ‘eats up’ wasps and digest it making it a part of its sweetness and nutrition fruits.
 
On the other hand, it can be argued figs are vegan since the process is a purely natural phenomenon that has no any form of cruelty and nothing at all to do with human in addition to the earlier mentioned symbiotic relationship. Consequently, the figs cannot thrive and produce its fruits naturally without the wasps. The natural process is the reason some vegan eat figs and figs products.
 
Do you consider figs vegan? Why?