
What a fig is. - kfarzaneh
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/09/edible-symbiosis.html
======
bd
If you are squeamish and like figs, this may comfort you.

According to a comment in the original post, majority of commercial ones do
not contain insects:

 _"Only some kinds of figs (so called 'Smyrna' types) are pollenated by wasps.
The vast majority of figs eaten come from varieties that produce fruit
parthenocarpically. It is highly unlikely that the fig you ate at the
supermarket was of a variety pollenated by wasps: most north american
commercial figs are not."_

[http://scienceblogs.com/oscillator/2010/09/edible_symbiosis....](http://scienceblogs.com/oscillator/2010/09/edible_symbiosis.php#comment-2792506)

I chose to believe this explanation :)

~~~
_delirium
More on parthenocarpy, a word I did not know existed:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenocarpy>

Essentially a mutation that gets trees to produce useless fruits that don't
have actually developed seeds and don't need pollination. While that sort of
mutation would normally be selected against, since the trees can't reproduce
via seeds and are expending energy on producing fruit for no reason, it's
deliberately selected for by farmers who artificially reproduce the trees via
planting cuttings, or grafting them onto rootstock.

(Though I guess really the "naturally" versus "artificially" distinction is a
bit, erm, artificial, if you just think of humans as another species, since
_lots_ of natural selection is influenced by relationships between species,
like the wasp-fig relationship in this article. So trees evolving to please
humans isn't really different in kind from trees evolving to work well with
wasps.)

~~~
maggit
> (...) the "naturally" versus "artificially" distinction is a bit, erm,
> artificial, if you just think of humans as another species (...)

"Aritificial" means "man-made", and is a (man-made/artificial) word invented
to describe things that are done by humans, not other animals. By definition,
_everything_ a farmer makes is artificial.

~~~
_delirium
Well, yes, I meant more the philosophical assumption that there's a difference
between "natural" and shall we say "unnatural" things, rather than viewing
humans as just another part of nature. If "artificial" is just a shorthand for
"the part of nature strongly influenced by _Homo sapiens_ ", then that's fine
with me.

~~~
swombat
One of the more interesting consequences of this line of thought (of course
depending on definitions of the words at hand) is that you can make a
reasonable statement that man is utterly incapable of doing anything unnatural
- since by definition, since man is a part of nature, everything man does is
also what nature does.

Personally, I find this set of words (artificial, unnatural, etc) to have way,
way too much baggage, so I prefer to just define them as nonsensical (i.e.
it's impossible to do anything unnatural) rather than assume that they are
useful tools for communication like other words (since most people will have
varying definitions of what is unnatural, which aren't rationally guessable).

Holding this line of thought also allows to instantly come across as an
annoying smart-arse in parties (and online too, I suppose).

------
latch
Ripe figs are delicious, and knowing that they've also, potentially killed a
wasp - man's greatest enemy - only makes their nectar sweeter to my tongue.

~~~
pigbucket
The knowledge of enclosed vespine corpses just adds one more item to my
growing list of things I hate about fig trees, of which I have two. Two fig
trees are at least one and probably two fig trees too many. Too much pruning
is required because spring growth is extensive. Too much fall raking is
required because there's a ton of foliage too. But the real pain in the ass is
harvesting. Figs really have to ripen on the tree, but as soon as they're ripe
they're liable to fall. Without daily vigilance, a big crop will result in
lots of smashed, rotting fruit on the ground, which sticks with insane
determination to the soles of unwary shoes. Naturally in the season of
maturation the fig tree is also the haunt of 17.6 billion insects of every
variety, so while it provides ample shade from the sun, it's better to just
suck it up and burn. Also less than the most satisfying experience of one's
life is picking figs from the tree with a view to either engaging in the messy
and overrated process of eating them, the laborious and not especially
rewarding process of drying them, or merely in the pathetically futile effort
to protect the ground beneath. Mucking about in the middle of that foliage is
massively irritating to any exposed skin because of the sticky residue that
seems to find its disgusting way onto every leaf and branch. The severity of
this irritation is such that extraordinary caution is recommended before
following the presumably divinely-inspired path towards modesty followed by
Adam and Eve.

~~~
gacba
You my friend, have some serious fig issues and have created the most
compelling case I have ever heard for NOT planting a fig tree, ever.

------
gus_massa
This is only a copy of
[http://scienceblogs.com/oscillator/2010/09/edible_symbiosis....](http://scienceblogs.com/oscillator/2010/09/edible_symbiosis.php)

It is better to link to the original article. It has some photos and videos of
the figs.

~~~
jacobolus
Both the Wikipedia article [1] and the other scienceblogs post [2] linked from
that post are pretty interesting, too.

[1]:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Fig#Pollination.2C_fruit...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Fig#Pollination.2C_fruit.2C_and_propagation)

[2]: [http://scienceblogs.com/observations/2010/01/even-
mutualists...](http://scienceblogs.com/observations/2010/01/even-mutualists-
have-to-constantly-fight-to-stay-friends.php)

------
kujawa
Take a fig.

Okay, take about 8 of them.

And take 8 strips of thick-cut, maple-smoked, peppered organic bacon, the best
you can find.

Wrap the fig in the bacon, secure with a toothpick, and place on a pan.

Roast at 425F for about 25 minutes, checking after about 15 minutes.

I assure you, you will not be disappointed.

~~~
dboyd
You forgot to first make a small lengthwise cut in the fig, and fill it with
blue cheese. Then wrap it with bacon, secure with a toothpick, and put it on
the bbq.

~~~
jbeda
Don't forget to also drizzle with honey and cracked black pepper.

------
abecedarius
The concluding chapter of Dawkins's _Climbing Mount Improbable_ is all about
this, and it needed a whole chapter because it's mind-blowingly intricate.

[http://books.google.com/books?id=erRC0ELnZdsC&pg=PA300&#...</a>

------
jmspring
I have to say from experience...

If you move into a house (purchase/rent/otherwise) with a fig tree and plan to
relandscape. Be very careful. Fig tree roots run very shallow, and even older
trees are susceptible to damage to the roots.

I found out the hard way - rototilling an overgrown back yard due to too much
grass, weeds, bulbs, etc. The 'till chomped through two or three large surface
roots (< 8" deep which were more than 4 feet from the tree). The result - one
dead 20+ y/o fig tree.

Be careful when gardening/redoing a yard.

~~~
TrevorBramble
Sounds like you and pigbucket up there should have a chat.

(Re: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1685161> if you hadn't seen.)

~~~
jmspring
I missed that, that is pretty awesome. I'm not a fan of figs, but the
significant other and friends are. For me, losing an old tree due to not
knowing it's proper care was the bit of a downer.

I don't quite feel pigbucket's hate. :)

------
superkarn
At first glace it seemed like this species of wasp was inbreeding. But after
reading a Wiki article [1], it seems like different female wasps can lay eggs
in a single fig.

[1] <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fig_wasp#Life_cycle>

~~~
Pinckney
They do inbreed very heavily--not exclusively, but more than any other animal
of which I'm aware. The larva will mate with siblings, if that's who they
happen to find.

------
jcromartie
Just a note: there is usually only one wasp in the edible fig, and it has been
broken down by the plant.

------
maxwell
We got figs in at a restaurant I cook at this past week. We have fig ravioli
on our seared scallop app (with frisse, radiccio, butternut puree, and reduced
port), a fresh fig salad with fig vin (and mesclun, candied pinenuts, fried
onions, and goat cheese mousse), and bruleed figs on our whipped chocolate
dessert (with mint sorbet). Fun product, and, for us anyway, insect free.

------
dunhamda
Fascinating. Here is a video showing the wasps collecting the pollen inside a
male fig flower (as described in the first paragraph):
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZCYoEdavDk>

------
Figs
Why this sudden interest in me? :)

------
hernan7
Nature at the macroscopic scale may be red in tooth and claw, but at smaller
scales it gets positively Lovecraftian. (See also: the cockroach brain
parasite
[http://scienceblogs.com/loom/2006/02/02/the_wisdom_of_parasi...](http://scienceblogs.com/loom/2006/02/02/the_wisdom_of_parasites.php)
)

------
lostbit
The man came in the restaurant, pointed to a meal looking like meat and asked:
"What it that?" The attentand replied: "that's our special: cow tongue!" And
the man said: "Argh, I won't eat something that comes from the mouth of that
animal... Just give me an egg, please."

------
PedroCandeias
So, in other words, a fig is a righteous bastard. And, in its choice of
symbiont (a wasp, of all things), reveals a sense of irony that's as delicious
as the fruit itself. It's the WINfruit!

------
hdeshev
What? Figs are not vegan? How about kosher?

~~~
duairc
Haha, yeah, as a vegan, this is interesting!

I don't think this makes figs unvegan though. At least, eating figs is just as
vegan as building a house out of limestone.

------
arohner
Biology is strange. If I had read this in a sci-fi book, I would think the
author went overboard.

~~~
nollidge
Reality is Unrealistic:
[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RealityIsUnrealis...](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RealityIsUnrealistic)

------
grantjgordon
What little love I had for figs has now been squelched. Thank you.

------
ssamuli
I knew there had to be an explanation why I never liked figs.

------
bugsy
I'll just be putting these figs back on the shelf now.

------
sliverstorm
Hence why I stopped eating figs.

~~~
geuis
Do you eat hot dogs? I don't. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhwXPsTaRgc>

~~~
nwatson
skip the video and forget ramen profitability. the real standard is the Costco
hot dog. $1.50 for an excellent treat with unlimited soda refills.

------
jaekwon
thank you, didn't want to know that.

~~~
jherdman
Why not? Did that not just humble you a bit with the sheer grace and awe
yielded by hundreds of years of evolution? I don't know about you, but my
world just got slightly more awesome knowing about this.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
>Did that not just humble you a bit with the sheer grace and awe yielded by
hundreds of years of evolution?

It is awe inspiring design isn't it.

~~~
ugh
It’s awfully convoluted design. Like a Rube Goldberg machine.

------
code_duck
So, is Monsanto plotting to kill off the fig wasps and replace them with
something they can profit from yet?

------
specialist
Sorry, I don't read Andrew Sullivan. Supported invasion of Iraq, no mea culpa,
wrong about pretty much everything else too.

~~~
specialist
Nice. Support for unrepentant warmongers remains strong in geekdom.

Losers.

