Settle a debate: would eating a Venus fly trap be considered vegan?

Yes.

I'll answer your question with another question: is it Vegan to eat bacon made from a pig you personally raised up from birth after it dies naturally having lived a full life?

If you define Veganism as a diet, then bacon's bacon. If you define Veganism as a personal reaction to the cruelty of industrial farms, then perhaps this is how you get Vegan bacon. If you define Veganism as something more spiritual, then perhaps desecrating your dear friend's corpse by eating it is even worse.

I would say yes. Plants feed off of the bodies of dead lions according to this animated documentary I saw, and that doesn't make them any less vegan. Then again, I'm not a vegan, so I might be entirely wrong.

Vegan here. Interesting question! I think you're going to get a different answer depending on the vegan you talk to. Personally, this is the definition of veganism I subscribe to:

"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; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals."

By that definition, for me, it is not vegan. If the VFT has been grown by humans, and fed insects, then that is non-vegan, because there was a lot of animal suffering that went into growing that VFT. Furthermore, VFTs are not required for sustaining the human body, so the only reason to do this is for human pleasure or something.

Edit to add: if the VFT was found in nature, I probably still wouldn't consume it, because 1) I don't even know if VFTs are edible 2) if they are, I've got better food with me that probably caused less animal suffering, and are less morally ambiguous.

I believe there are some vegans who won't eat figs because they absorb the body of a certain type of wasp. I forget the details, but the point is - it probably depends on the vegan

Yes. They aren’t digesting meat, they are absorbing potassium and fixed nitrogen. The plant cells are, well, plant cells.

I can't breathe from laughing at this.

Maybe a better case study would be figs since people actually eat those. From what I'm seeing in search results there is some difference of opinion, but maybe the prevailing opinion is that figs are fine for vegans because they are not intentionally exploitative or cruel to animals.

Yes. It's a plant. Made of plant things. In the same way that plants that are fertilized by dead bodies would also be vegan. You aren't eating meat. The plant is receiving sustenance from breaking down that organic material but you aren't.

If the VFT was grown for human purposes such as eating then no it would not be vegan, as they require a small but steady stream of bugs to grow. Though if you found a feed alternative like a nutrient pill then I guess it could be vegan. As for a VFT found in the wild then yes it would be vegan, anything it has consumed in the past wasn't done so for your sake.

Is murdering a murderer who plans to murder again murder?

I imagine there is gray in veganism, as with all philosophical life choices.

In the same way as eating a cow is not considered vegan even though the cow only eats grass, yes eating a plant that eats flies would still be vegan.

I feel like whatever the answer is, it has to be the same as "is eating mushrooms vegan?"

ITT: people misunderstanding the difference between vegetarianism and veganism

Here's the quick version: Vegetarians don't eat animals. Vegans don't eat stuff made of animal suffering.

Fly traps are made of animal suffering.

Which side of the debate were you on, OP?

Edit: thank you for all the thoughtful replies from the people who downvoted but left an explanation!

The more I think about this question, the more complexities it creates. I am not a vegan, so I can only guess what the average vegan would think...

• If you eat a plant that causes harm to a living being like an insect, are you doing a moral good from a vegan perspective because you are reducing harm?
• Would it be morally good for a vegan to use vegan means to prevent more harm to animals?
• Would it be the ultimate moral good for vegans to hunt down every wild Venus flytrap and consume them?
• What if the Venus flytrap only ate insects that significantly harmed animal or human populations by spreading diseases?
• If vegans could alter the environment using non-vegan means, in such a way that bats stopped eating mosquitoes without upsetting the overall ecosystem, but these mosquitoes started spreading a terrible but non-deadly disease in humans, would it be moral for them to do so, or would it be immoral for them to avoid it?

Unfortunately, I don't know the calculus a vegan uses when placing value on the life of a human versus an animal, so the bat mosquito thing is entirely up in the air for me up in the air for me

I guess it's a similar case to the intense debate between vegans about figs.

In both cases, the lifecycle of the plant depends on a bug dying inside it and maybe getting eaten by whoever eats the plant. I know plenty of vegans on either side of the fig argument, so maybe it's equally up to debate with the flytraps.

Well, the definition of being vegan is eating plants only. The part about animal sufffering is a justification of being vegan.

A Venus flytrap cannot consent to being eaten, so no.