Get the brief

Is it vegan? · Figs

Last reviewed September 29, 2026

Are figs vegan?

Vegan. Figs are a fruit. Only Smyrna-type figs such as Calimyrna need a wasp to be pollinated. Mission, Brown Turkey, Kadota and other common types ripen without one. Some vegans avoid the wasp-pollinated kind.

Figs are a fruit, so they are vegan. The famous fig-wasp story is true biology, but it does not turn a fig into an animal product, and many common and dried figs are grown with no wasp involved.

Where it hides

  • Fresh figs on the shelf and in season
  • Dried figs, from Calimyrna or common types
  • Fig bars, jams and fig paste, where the variety is rarely named
  • Calimyrna figs, which are wasp-pollinated
  • The recurring claim that every fig is full of wasps

What a fig is

A fig is a fleshy pouch called a syconium, lined inside with tiny flowers. Wikipedia’s common fig entry says botanists call it an infructescence, a cluster of small fruits, and not a single fruit. It grows on a tree and contains no animal tissue. The only reason anyone asks is the fig wasp.

What the wasp does

Wild figs and some cultivated ones rely on a tiny wasp. A peer-reviewed study of fig and wasp evolution opens by calling the relationship an obligate mutualism.

Primary source 01 / 07

Figs (Ficus; ca 750 species) and fig wasps (Agaoninae) are obligate mutualists: all figs are pollinated by agaonines that feed exclusively on figs.

Ronsted, Weiblen, Cook, Salamin, Machado and Savolainen peer-reviewed study 60 million years of co-divergence in the fig-wasp symbiosis, Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 2005

In the pollinated fig, per Wikipedia’s fig wasp entry, the female enters through a small opening called the ostiole and often loses her wings and most of her antennae on the way in. She lays her eggs and pollinates the flowers, then dies inside.

Primary source 02 / 07

After the female wasp lays her eggs and follows through with pollination, she dies.

Wikipedia encyclopedia entry Fig wasp, 2026

What happens to her body is where sources differ in how much they claim. The Arizona State University explainer says the fig makes an enzyme called ficin that breaks the wasp bodies down. Wikipedia’s common fig entry says the resulting fruit contains the digested matter of an insect. Neither describes an intact wasp in the ripe fruit.

Primary source 03 / 07

Figs produce a chemical called “ficin” that breaks down the wasp bodies.

Dr. Biology university outreach site Figs Without Wasps?, Ask A Biologist, Arizona State University School of Life Sciences, 2024

Which figs need a wasp

Most do not, in the sense that matters for eating. Fig varieties fall into horticultural types, and only one needs pollination. The University of California extension article on California commercial figs states the split.

Primary source 04 / 07

Two horticulture types of figs are found in the California Industry. The first of these, the “Smyrna” type fig, needs to be pollinated (caprified) in order to set fruit that will persist on the tree until maturity. The Calimyrna is the only cultivar of this type grown commercially for fresh consumption in California. All of the other four fresh market figs listed above, as well as the Sequoia, are of the “common” type. These common types do not need to be pollinated in order to set and mature fruit.

University of California Cooperative Extension UC extension Comparison of the new Sequoia fig cultivar with the standard cultivars used in the California fig industry (Topics in Subtropics), n.d.

The four other fresh-market figs in that article are the California Brown Turkey, Sierra, Mission and Kadota. Wikipedia’s common fig entry lists three types in all: persistent or common figs, which do not need pollination, caducous or Smyrna figs, which do, and intermediate San Pedro figs, which set an unpollinated first crop but need pollination for the main one. Britannica’s summary says the Smyrna fig takes its name from the area near Smyrna and requires caprification, meaning wasp pollination, to set fruit.

Primary source 05 / 07

Persistent (or common) figs have all female flowers that do not need pollination for fruiting; the fruit can develop through parthenocarpy.

Wikipedia encyclopedia entry Common fig, 2026

Wasp-dependent growers manage the process by hand. In the UC article, Calimyrna needs caprifigs, the male fig type that carries pollen and the wasp, and the article lists this among the costs common-type growers avoid. It also says a good Calimyrna orchard often produces only 0.5 to 1.0 ton of dried fruit, against at least twice that for common types.

Dried figs and fig paste

The same article gives a snapshot of California in 2002, when the state grew about 16,000 acres of figs. Of the four main cultivars grown for dried whole figs and fig paste, Calimyrna, the wasp-pollinated type, covered 6,559 acres. Mission covered 3,702, the Adriatic group 3,364 and Kadota 1,105, all common types. So a dried fig or a jar of fig paste from California can come from either route, and a blend can mix both. That is a 2002 figure for one state. The UC article does not say what any brand uses, and no manufacturer we checked publishes its varieties.

How vegans treat it

The Vegan Society defines veganism as excluding exploitation of and cruelty to animals as far as is possible and practicable. We did not find a Vegan Society statement that names figs. Wikipedia reports the split among vegans directly.

Primary source 06 / 07

Veganism is 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

The Vegan Society certifier Definition of veganism, 2024

Primary source 07 / 07

While some vegans accept traditional figs on the premise that the wasp's death is a naturally occurring event, strict Jains often reject them. … To cater to these markets, fig growers sometimes use parthenocarpy.

Wikipedia encyclopedia entry Common fig, 2026

The practical line for a vegan who wants to avoid wasp-pollinated fruit is the variety. Mission, Brown Turkey, Kadota and the other common types set fruit without pollination, and Calimyrna is the type UC names as needing it. ASU adds that some figs can be ripened without wasps by spraying plant hormones. Whether to accept wasp-pollinated figs is a call for the individual, and the sources do not settle it.

  • Honey Honey is made by bees, and bees are animals, so honey is not vegan. Maple syrup, agave and date syrup are the usual swaps.
  • Carmine and cochineal (E120) That bright natural red in the yogurt or the candy is often crushed insects. Carmine, cochineal extract, Natural Red 4, E120: all the same animal dye.
  • Where vegans actually draw the line, and why the line moves Guides · The Vegan Society's own definition contains an escape hatch, and the edge cases are where you can watch different vegans use it differently.

Frequently asked

Are figs vegan?

Figs are a plant food. A wasp pollinates only some varieties, the Smyrna type such as Calimyrna, and dies inside the fig. Wikipedia reports that some vegans accept those and strict Jains often reject them. Common types like Mission and Brown Turkey ripen without a wasp.

Are figs vegetarian?

Yes in the ordinary sense, since a fig is a fruit. The wasp story concerns pollination, and common-type figs need no wasp. Strict Jains often avoid wasp-pollinated figs, per Wikipedia.

Do all figs need wasps?

No. University of California extension describes two commercial types. Smyrna figs, of which Calimyrna is the only one grown commercially for fresh eating in California, need pollination. Common types such as Brown Turkey, Mission and Kadota do not.

Is the fig wasp story a myth?

The biology is real. In wasp-pollinated figs the female enters the fig, pollinates it and dies inside. What is overstated is the idea that every fig contains a wasp. Common-type figs are pollinated by nothing at all.

Do figs have dead wasps in them?

Only wasp-pollinated varieties can. An Arizona State University explainer says the fig produces ficin, an enzyme that breaks the wasp bodies down, so you will not usually find a wasp in the fruit you eat. Wikipedia says the fruit then contains the digested matter of the insect.

Which fig varieties need wasps?

Smyrna types. Calimyrna is the one UC names for California. Wikipedia lists Marabout, Inchario and Zidi among caducous or Smyrna cultivars, and San Pedro types need pollination for the main crop.

Which figs do not use wasps?

Common or persistent types. UC extension lists California Brown Turkey, Mission, Kadota and Sierra as common types that need no pollination, and Wikipedia names Black Mission, Brown Turkey, Celeste and Dottato (Kadota) among them.

Are dried figs and fig newtons vegan?

Figs are a plant food, so yes on ingredients, though a product can contain wasp-pollinated fruit. UC data from 2002 show California dried and paste figs came from both Calimyrna, which needs a wasp, and common types. Brands rarely say which variety they use.

What is the crunchy part of a fig?

Wikipedia describes the fig as a syconium lined with tiny flowers, and the small seeds inside it are part of the fruit in every fig. They are not wasp remains.

The sources

What each verdict rests on. Read them yourself.

Read the label with us, every morning.

The same clear-eyed sourcing behind these verdicts, applied to each day’s news: what actually moved veganism forward, quoted and checked before you read it. One short brief, free.

Free, every morning. No guilt. No preaching.