Is a vegetarian diet that hard a concept to understand?

grannyticktock - there are videos of industrial honey harvesting around and it is not a gentle process.

We are lucky locally we have 3 or 4 independent beekeepers and I always have a jar of local honey in the cupboard!

Oodles: yes, my late husband was a beekeeper. He did give the bees sugar syrup to replace the honey he took, to make sure. they had plenty to get through the winter, but as you say, sometimes the sugar syrup acted as a topup if the supply in a hive was low, while other hives had a surplus. It all depended on the strength of the colony but also on the weather and the forage available at key times. There certainly wasn't an issue with transport costs and air miles, as the honey was eagerly gobbled up by family and friends and also by local people who were keen to buy local honey (and it did taste superb!).

I would recommend anyone to try a jar of honey from a local beekeeper. The flavour will depend on the blossoms available in the area, but a good honey will make the blended supermarket varieties taste like golden syrup.

Whoops, that should have been gluten free.

We have vegetarian friends, one eats fish and all cheeses, the other doesn't eats fish and only certain cheeses.

It can be a bit confusing for us meat eaters so I checked with them, the first time they came for a meal.

One year, for our sons partners, I cooked a vegetarian gluton free dinner for Christmas . The rest of us tucked into the turkey.

grannyticktock, if you get honey from a local beekeeper she will know where the hives were situated and what flowers were out at that time, if the hives were near fields of rape, for instance, that is a very distinctive honey, it varies a lot,in colour, smell, taste, how long it takes for it to go hard and viscosity , heather, clover too, borage or lime are all very distinctive honeys. You can watch the bees going in and out and see where they are going, and what colour pollen they bring back. Mostly unless it is from hives near fields of flowers, most honey is a mix. If anyone really wanted to know you can check under a microscope as pollen grains are different shapes. Honey bees can't gather nectar from all flowers, some flowers need bumble bees with their longer tongues. I don't think hives of bees disadvantage bumbles , it is the flora round the nest that does and you are less likely to have insecticide sprayed if there are honey bees around, as the farmer needs them for pollination
Many years a bee colony will produce more honey than it needs for winter, so harvesting that surplus is not harmful. Sometimes a hive produces no surplus so sugar syrup is a lifesaver there. What is wrong is removing what the bees need for the winter and replacing it with syrup, but a good beekeeper won't do that

Foutainpen, I understand the misgivings that some vegans have about honey, but well managed honey bee colonies will not suffer from normal beekeeping practices, in fact they will thrive. They will be monitored for health and protected from the worst frosts of the winter. I know there are far more species of bumble bees etc than honey bees, but honey bees live in much larger colonies and are therefore very significant pollinators in our ecosystem.
Eating any crop at all will entail endorsement of farming practices that may not seem entirely "natural", including protection from pests (which may therefore starve and die). Unless someone is prepared to exist on only wild, foraged plants, they're buying into organised agricultural practices that have sustained humanity for millenia. Bee keeping fits into this system without causing any cruelty to the bees.

Titian, I don't think there's any harm in bringing your own food, as long as you let the hosts know first (so they aren't shocked and can plan accordingly). Your op did sound very harsh, though. Ouch!

As with the sheep mulesing issue, there are unethical practices and environmental concerns when honey is produced on the scale needed to meet human demand.

www.vegansociety.com/go-vegan/honey-industry

* grannyticktock* that sounds like " veganism gorn mad" ???

The bees/honey thing bewilders me. Honey is not part of an animal, and no animal is harmed during its processing; on the contrary, without the efforts of a huge army of beekeepers, honey bees would all but die out and many crops would fail. And if the purists don't eat crops pollinated by honey bees (hang on, how do they know where bees have been?) Bees can and do pollinate all soft fruit, all orchard fruits, tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, some peas and beans, etc. In other countries, bees pollinate citrus fruit, almonds, cashews.... Our local cider orchard is pollinated by bees, so cider is out too. You'd get very hungry if you avoided all those.

And why, why? Bees take the pollen and nectar as their food, what's wrong with that?

I have one stalk left & 2 cabbages! Need to start off stuff in the greenhouse!

We've just picked the rest of ours today, they are the size of marbles, but may pack a punch

Oh... well maybe like my back garden sprouts!

of not jof

Much, much better than just any old sprout!

It is a Brussels Sprout but grown in Scotland and has had a bit jof frost on it.
Guaranteed to produce methane.

What is a Scottish Sprout.. is it different from a Brussel Sprout or are they to be called that after 29March.. not sure Scotland will be pleased though

Garlic mushrooms
Boeuf Bourguignon (lots of garlic)
Dauphinoise potatoes (with cream and garlic)
Scottish Sprouts
Bread and butter pudding (I would have to get Prince Charles to make that)

That should send the guests home early.

Her majesty the Queen has a list of things that she doesn't eat, I think this includes shellfish which can give one food poisoning, and she can't risk that, and onions and garlic so that she doesn't breathe dunes over the people she meets. I hope that no one who'd invited the queen for a meal would be so illmannered as to disregard her dietary choices. If so why would you disregard the dietary choices of one of her subjects

We're not her subjects - I keep saying that but no-one takes any notice

I don't think she likes soup either - perhaps she thinks she may drip it down one of her posh frocks when entertaining Heads of State.
Do you remember when the Queen Mother got a fish bone stuck in her throat?

If she was meeting President Macron he might be offended if she didn't smell of garlic.

Or just carry a discreet tin of mints.. she must have something in those ugly handbags she always has to carry!

She might be better to pile up the garlic in self-defence. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

I am now thinking of other heads of state who might baulk at HM having onion/garlic breath! Most probably eat those foods as a matter of course...

Somehow I don't think that is likely to be a problem for her!

The garlic and onions are a reasonable thing to avoid if she is going to be talking to a lot of people - imagine the headlines - " six presidents and four heads of state pass out, overcome by royal breath" and she is an old lady, so if she got food poisoning it could finish her off. There's an idea for rabid republicans - spike her starter with manky prawns!

The list would make interesting reading.

Well, the queen needn't expect an invite to mine for dinner anytime soon then.
Fussy woman!

Gosh what a lot of different thoughts about other people's diets
I'm not a vegetarian, but I fully respect the dietary needs or choices of others and can well understand what it is like for those whose diet is not understood or respected by others. There are people who have allergies to some foodstuffs or their children have, if they eat things that they are not able to eat they reactions can range from feeling unwell, to damaging the gut and storing up worse problems for the future to death, this can include dairy. There are people who have religious dietary needs, some are vegetarian for religious reasons, others require halal or kosher and I feel it would be ill-mannered and disrespectful to try and sneak in things that would upset the person if they knew. Would you bit respect the diet that a diabetic friend needed? I would be deeply upset if I discovered for example someone tried to feed me dog meat, and I'm sure many of us would feel revulsion at the very thought of eating our pooch's cousin. I was horrified as I'm sure many of you were when it turned out that some of us has unknowingly been eating horse meat. So if someone does not eat something for whatever reason it is hugely bad manners to knowingly try and get them to eat it. I'm lucky in that I don't have anything I need to avoid for religious or health reasons, well I need to watch dairy and chocolate because if migraines, but there are things that I do not like because if the taste or the texture and I'm always glad that no one who asks if there are things I can't eat has ever tried to get me to eat them.
As long as taste and health or religious reasons are taken into account, there is no reason why an omnivore should expect someone who was veggie or vegan (or eass kosher or halàl) to cook meat for them, you will not suffer from nit having meat at one meal, you can always have a bacon sandwich for brekkie and shepherd's pie at lunchtime so you don't miss out on your meat fix.
When I go and stay with people for a weekend I always have the option if I feel there is something missing from my diet of bring something or popping into a shop when I go for a little walk.
Her majesty the Queen has a list of things that she doesn't eat, I think this includes shellfish which can give one food poisoning, and she can't risk that, and onions and garlic so that she doesn't breathe dunes over the people she meets. I hope that no one who'd invited the queen for a meal would be so illmannered as to disregard her dietary choices. If so why would you disregard the dietary choices of one of her subjects
I see it as good old fashioned good manners to make your guests feel as comfortable and at home as possible. You might skip up and not realise something is unsuitable and the gracious thing to do is to not insist on them eating whatever and be glad that you've learnt something so you know differently for the future. How happier everyone would be if we respected each others choices.