Just to present the other side of hoeny veganism, I don’t consume any out of ethical consistency. Without question beekeepers do far less damage to their animals than cows, pig or chicken ranchers since those end in slaughter. But it’s still a product produced by an animal for a specific purpose in its life cycle. While slaughtering a pig for pork is murder, taking a hives honey is theft. Beekeepers replace it with a sugar water mix instead but as I understand the research that slurry misses many of the core nutrients bees put in to their honey.

If someone took food off my plate to replace with a less nutritional and tasty substitute I’d be pissed, so I see no reason to do it to bees. Besides, agavae is cheap, healthier and tastes near identical. Since a readily available susbistute exists, I don’t even miss or care about honey.

I would never say someone who eats honey isn’t vegan, but it is a matter of polite disagreement among the community.