The argument that foods like avocados, almonds, melons, kiwis, and butternut squash aren’t vegan crops up time and time again - but how true is it, why does it exist, and can you eat them on a vegan diet? 

The idea that avocados aren’t vegan first exploded into public debate towards the end of 2018. 

In an episode of QI, host Sandi Toksvig asked what could be eaten by “strict vegans” out of a list of avocados, almonds, melons, kiwis, and butternut squash. When a contestant replied: “any of them”, Toksvig informed him he was wrong, explaining that this was due to the “same reason as honey”. 

• Why isn’t honey vegan?

She added: “Because they’re so difficult to cultivate naturally, all of these crops rely on bees, which are placed on the back of trucks and taken long distances across the country. It’s migratory beekeeping and an unnatural use of animals and there are lots of foods that fall foul of this.”

Predictably, this claim was very quickly latched onto by non-vegans, many of whom still delight in having a new method by which to, as they see it, ‘catch out’ their vegan peers. This, along with other notions like ‘vegans kill more animals than most due to crop deaths’ is often used in misguided attempts to discredit the movement. 

It can be incredibly frustrating when arguments like these are (often very smugly) put to vegans, and some people may be unsure how to respond. If you are concerned about the claims, here’s your need-to-know on the truth behind them. 

Are avocados really not vegan?

In short, no. Avocados, almonds, and all the other foods listed above are perfectly fine to eat on a vegan diet. 

While Toksvig is right, and these foods are often made as a result of migratory beekeeping, that doesn’t mean that they must necessarily be avoided. 

The claim that they aren’t vegan can be immediately debunked by looking at the definition of veganism.

The Vegan Society, who created the words ‘vegan’ and ‘veganism’ define it as “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.”

To discredit any argument that avocados et al aren’t vegan, you just need to look at the operative words here: “as far as is possible and practical”. 

Sadly, we do live in a non-vegan world, and it would be both impossible and impractical to avoid all indirect harm to animals with our diet. In the society we live in, you can probably find indirect issues with most food items available in shops. Apples, beans, tomatoes, broccoli, and grains, are among the hundreds of other foods that are often produced as a result of commercial beekeeping, but we wouldn’t have much left if we cut all these out entirely. 

While there are some farms that don’t rely on migratory beekeeping, and we should of course choose produce from these where we can, it is certainly not feasible for all vegan shoppers to make this choice at all times, and only a select few will have the capacity and ability to do so. 

As PETA previously stated: “Average shoppers can’t avoid produce that involved migratory beekeeping any more than they can avoid driving on asphalt, which has animal ingredients — but they can save nearly 200 animals’ lives every year by choosing plant-based foods.” (source here)

Of course, the argument that it is acceptable to eat foods like avocados is subjective. There is no doubt that migratory beekeeping is exploitative, and it is heartbreaking that it is so widespread in farming. There will always be more ethical choices we can make with our foods, and there likely will be many vegans who will - admirably, of course - refuse to eat these and many other foods on similar grounds laid out by Toksvig.

But to argue that people who do eat these foods are automatically non-vegan is wrong, unhelpful, and a slippery slope. 

Being vegan in this world can be confusing and frustrating while we’re surrounded by constant attempts to discredit and pick out issues with the movement. 

We cannot all make infallible food choices, and to keep obsessing over every imperfection is counterproductive and only serves to put others off from making the move to veganism. 

While some non-vegans delight in repeatedly trying to undermine us by pointing to examples of animal exploitation that we cannot possibly avoid being part of, they are making choices that directly lead to billions of animals a year being killed for food after a life of misery. Just because we can’t avoid 100 per cent of harm, doesn’t mean that we should just give up avoiding harm at all. 

And it couldn’t be easier to avoid causing as much harm as possible to animals - the only way to do this is to make the move to veganism and advocate for the end of all animal exploitation. 

Read more: What percentage of soy is fed to ‘livestock’ in the UK?

Polly Foreman is a writer and digital journalist based in London. Since going vegan in 2014, Polly has stood firmly against all forms of animal oppression and exploitation. She is passionate about tackling misconceptions of veganism and challenging accepted norms about the way we use animals in this country.

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