第2707期:Are there really dead wasps in figs?
In 2023, a US grocer recalled over 10,000 cases of broccoli cheddar soup over concerns they contained too much of an unintended ingredient. That ingredient? Bugs. We know insects regularly come into contact with our food— but how many are you actually eating? And is it okay? Let’s start with an extreme example: figs and their conspicuously close bond with certain bugs.2023 年，一家美国杂货店召回了 10,000 多箱西兰花切达干酪汤，原因是担心其中含有过多的非预期成分。那个成分？虫子。我们知道昆虫经常接触我们的食物，但您实际上吃了多少昆虫？可以吗？让我们从一个极端的例子开始：无花果及其与某些昆虫的密切联系。Around 80 million years ago, wasps started pollinating figs. And today, each of the approximately 750 fig tree species depends on at least one unique species of tiny wasps. Pollinator-plant relationships can get hyper-specific. And figs guard their flowers especially tight for fig wasps. Technically, a fig isn't a fruit, but a fleshy bundle derived from stem tissues that holds hundreds of internal flowers— like a hidden garden.大约八千万年前，黄蜂开始为无花果授粉。如今，大约 750 种无花果树中的每一种都依赖于至少一种独特的小黄蜂。传粉者与植物的关系可以变得高度特定。无花果对无花果黄蜂的保护特别严密。从技术上讲，无花果不是水果，而是由茎组织衍生的肉质束，内部有数百朵花，就像一个隐藏的花园。Humans typically harvest one species: the common fig. Its breeding system, called gynodioecy, is seen in less than 1% of flowering plants. It works with some common fig trees having seed-producing female parts, while others, called caprifigs, have both female seed-producing and male pollen-producing parts. Wasps get involved when a female fig wasp full of eggs follows odor cues to a common fig tree and thrusts herself into the minuscule hole at a developing fig’s base. From there, depending on whether it's a caprifig or a female fig, things go one of two ways, the outcome being either more wasps or more figs.人类通常收获一种物种：无花果。它的繁殖系统被称为雌花异株，只见于不到 1% 的开花植物。它适用于一些具有产生种子的雌性部分的常见无花果树，而其他称为无花果的无花果树，既有雌性产生种子的部分，也有雄性产生花粉的部分。当一只充满卵的雌性无花果黄蜂跟随气味线索来到一棵普通无花果树并将自己插入正在发育的无花果基部的小洞时，黄蜂就会介入。从那里开始，根据它是无花果还是雌性无花果，事情会以两种方式之一进行，结果要么是更多的黄蜂，要么是更多的无花果。If it’s a caprifig, the wasp deposits her eggs into the flowers’ ovaries, then dies. Instead of developing seeds, those flower ovaries turn into galls that nurture the wasp’s developing offspring. Wingless and blind, the males hatch first, open the remaining galls, and fertilize the developing females— yes, oftentimes their sisters, unless another wasp laid eggs here. Next, the males dig exit pathways they never use themselves because they die before leaving the fig. Finally, the already-fertilized females hatch, exit through the male-made holes, getting coated with pollen on the way, and fly off to other figs.如果是无花果，黄蜂会将卵产入花朵的子房中，然后死亡。这些花的卵巢不会发育出种子，而是变成虫瘿，滋养黄蜂正在发育的后代。无翅且盲目的雄性黄蜂首先孵化，打开剩余的虫瘿，使正在发育的雌性受精——是的，通常是它们的姐妹，除非有另一只黄蜂在这里产卵。接下来，雄性挖出他们自己从未使用过的出口通道，因为它们在离开无花果之前就死了。最后，已经受精的雌性孵化，从雄性制造的孔中出来，途中沾上花粉，飞向其他无花果。If a wasp winds up in a female fig, however, she can’t lay her eggs because the flowers are structured differently. So, she dies without offspring— but she did pollinate the fig’s flowers, so the tree can reproduce. Female wasps don’t know which kind of fig they’re entering— and whether it’ll give her offspring or use her to make its own— because fig trees smell the same, regardless of sex. This ensures that a good portion of common figs can also reproduce and not just further wasp-kind.然而，如果黄蜂最终进入雌性无花果体内，她就无法产卵，因为花朵的结构不同。所以，她死后没有留下后代，但她确实为无花果的花朵授粉，因此这棵树可以繁殖。雌性黄蜂不知道它们正在进入哪种无花果，也不知道它是否会生下自己的后代，或者用她来创造自己的后代，因为无论性别如何，无花果树的气味都是一样的。这确保了大部分普通无花果也可以繁殖，而不仅仅是进一步的黄蜂种类。That was how things went— until humans intervened. Archaeological records suggest that people in the Jordan Valley grew figs some 11,400 years ago, possibly making them the first domesticated crop. When a genetic mutation emerged that allowed the tree’s fruit to ripen without being pollinated, people began propagating it with cuttings. And suddenly the common fig wasn’t beholden to wasps; it had a new partner to multiply with.事情就是这样发展的——直到人类介入。考古记录表明，约 11,400 年前，约旦河谷的人们就开始种植无花果，这可能使它们成为第一种驯化作物。当基因突变出现，使树上的果实无需授粉即可成熟时，人们开始用插条繁殖它。突然之间，普通无花果不再受到黄蜂的侵害；它有了一个可以与之繁衍的新伙伴。The crop spread far and wide, and today we harvest more than 1.3 million tons of figs annually. So how many wasps are we eating? Well, store-bought fresh figs are typically of the common fig varieties that ripen without pollinators, so they’re wasp-free. Many that are sold dried, however, still require pollination. But, of these, we usually don’t eat caprifig fruits, where the mother wasp and her male offspring die. Instead, we eat dried figs from female trees, which may contain a female wasp that attempted—and failed— to lay her eggs in it. However, it’s also possible that the moisture and enzymes figs naturally release break her body down.无花果作物分布广泛，如今我们每年收获超过 130 万吨无花果。那么我们吃了多少黄蜂呢？好吧，商店购买的新鲜无花果通常是常见的无花果品种，无需传粉媒介即可成熟，因此它们没有黄蜂。然而，许多干燥出售的植物仍然需要授粉。但是，其中，我们通常不吃黄蜂果实，黄蜂妈妈和她的雄性后代会死在黄蜂果实中。相反，我们吃的是雌性树上的无花果干，其中可能含有一只雌性黄蜂，它试图在其中产卵，但失败了。然而，无花果自然释放的水分和酶也可能会破坏她的身体。Big picture, though, bugs are often harvested with our produce or attracted to food processing facilities. Eating them is kind of inevitable. The US Food and Drug Administration actually permits certain amounts of bug bits in different food products. For example, no more than 30 insect fragments per 100 grams of peanut butter, or over 2,500 aphids in 10 grams of hops. Some estimates hold that Americans eat around a kilogram of insects annually— without incident, and maybe even a little added nutrition. After all, insects feature in over 2 billion people's traditional diets and are relatively sustainable. So, maybe chew on that.不过，从大局来看，虫子通常是随着我们的农产品收获的，或者被食品加工设施吸引的。吃掉它们是不可避免的。美国食品和药物管理局实际上允许不同食品中含有一定量的虫子。例如，每 100 克花生酱中昆虫碎片不超过 30 个，或者 10 克啤酒花中不超过 2,500 只蚜虫。一些估计认为，美国人每年吃掉大约一公斤昆虫——没有发生任何事故，甚至可能还增加了一点营养。毕竟，昆虫是超过 20 亿人的传统饮食中的重要组成部分，而且相对可持续。所以，也许要仔细考虑一下。
Ireland