Honey is a sweet yellow to rich amber colored viscous fluid produced by bees. Other insects can also produce honey, but bee honey is the product which most people are familiar with, since it has been consumed for centuries as a sweetener. As an alternative to sugar, honey is a sweet, dense flavorful food which can vary widely in taste and color, depending on what the bees are eating. Most grocers sell honey, since it is a very popular food around the world.

To harvest honey, humans set up apiaries, facilities specifically designed for housing bees. The beekeeper provides a solid structure for the bees to use as a hive, and an assortment of flowers may be planted in the region to flavor the honey and encourage the bees to stay. A colony of bees includes a single queen, an assortment of drones, and a large number of worker bees. The social structure of a hive of bees is actually quite complex, and naturalists have devoted extensive study to the lives of bees and the ways in which they communicate.

Worker bees travel outside the hive to collect nectar from flowers. When they return to the hive, the bees convert the nectar into honey, and store it in waxy combs which are designed to keep it stable until it is needed. Bees use the honey they produce as a food source when they have difficulty finding other foods. Humans have also been taking advantage of honey as a food for thousands of years.

The bee product is naturally sweet, and was the only major sweetener in use among humans for quite some time. Honey can be used in baking, utilized as a spread on breads, or added to drinks for additional sweetness. It is also used in the manufacture of savory foods, like honey glazed hams. Beekeepers can control the flavor to some extent with plantings of different flowers; as a general rule, the darker the honey, the more intense the flavor.

Honey is not considered a vegan food, since it is an animal product. Many vegans believe that bees are exploited to make commercial honey, since their environment is heavily manipulated. In addition, bees lose their lives in the commercial honey industry, due to the way in which they are handled. Most humans overlook these ethical issues, however, including some vegans and vegetarians who are fond of the sweet, flavorful food.