People are just learning that avocados and guacamole might not actually be vegan

On this most hallowed of days, National Guacamole Day, people are just learning that avocados might not be as vegan-friendly as they once thought.

Avocados, often cited as the reason millennials can’t afford to buy their homes, have been the subject of a fierce debate over their vegan standards for years. And it all comes down to how they are farmed.

In a resurfaced clip of the BBC panel show QI, host Sandi Toksvig showed things images of avocados, almonds, kiwi, and butternut squash, and asked: “Which of these can you eat if you are a strict vegan ?”

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Most people on the panel assumed they were all able to be consumed, however, Sandi informed them they were wrong, for the “same reason as honey".

She went on: “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 bee-keeping and an unnatural use of animals and there are lots of foods that fall foul of this.”

Posted on social media, one user wrote: “You need countless bees to pollinate the trees, and the exposure and transport of those bees often result in colony collapses. Now I'm not a bee advocate, but it is funny to me that vegans will eat avocados while abstaining from honey. Which is a lot kinder to bees.”

People watching were torn with many admitting they hadn’t thought of this point. One user wrote under the clip: “I’m vegan and I don’t believe this is true. I eat these foods . I have never heard of this.”

Someone else penned: “That makes zero sense. Bees would do whatever they would do wherever they are. You can’t force a bee to work or not to work.” And a third person quipped: “Can’t wait to use this on my vegan friends - now they can’t really eat any vegetables.”

While the subject of bees makes avocados complicated for vegans, there is no doubt that avocados are fine for vegans to eat.