Ok but,

Cows don't require bees. The food that cows eat (wheat, grass, soy) either pollinates by wind or spreads by root. Soybean benefits, but doesn't rely on, insect pollination. Alfalfa is pollinated by bees, as are most forms of clover.

Cocoa trees are pollinated by midges, not bees. And the rest of the shake comes from the above mentioned cows.

Lettuce also self-pollinates, though again insects help. Commercially, they're not really used.

Tomatoes are commercially pollinated by shaking them, because commercial tomatoes are optimized for making food and are pretty shit at being plants.

Potatoes are basically the only major ingredient that is pollinated by bees. But that's basically never used by anyone growing potatoes, since potatoes also spread asexually by tubers.

Stuff in this pic that IS pollinated by bees: the sugar beets that are potentially in everything (edit: nope, that's wrong) but not the corn you can also use for sugar. Cucumber for the pickles. Some oil plants to fry in. Coconut or almond if you don't want cow milk. Sesame seeds on the bun.

The kinds of bees in the US are not native to the US. Plants were pollinated in the US long before Africanized or European honey bees were brought over.

Bigger problem is that we're killing generalized insect populations, so the quantity of insects is on a decline.

Actually, it's not unlikely that everything would be gone, as the human species would be gone, or in extreme trouble.

I'm so glad that we have bees to pollinate the straw fields.

Also, if wheat can grow without pollination, we would still be able to feed cows.

So, I'm not saying this is absolutely incorrect, the point is that our food production is heavily reliant on bees which I'm fully in agreement with, but I'm a bit at a loss at how inaccurate this photo is.

The good news is, I was expecting a thread full of comments falling for this misinformation hook line and sinker, but I'm seeing some push back on the specifics, which gives me hope.

No, I don't hate bees or hope they go extinct, but I grew up in a rural farming area of the USA and currently live in a rural farming area of the USA, so I'm aware that not everything that's missing on the left is entirely dependent on bees.

I actually heard today on a Climate Town video that clover helps grass to grow and it's the absence of it from lawns because of weed killers designed to kill it, that we need fertilizers designed to do the same nitrogen fixing that the clover would have done to keep the grass alive. I wonder if it could be argued that the clover needs the bees and the grass needs the clover and the cows need the grass.

What happened to the plastic straw?

Neither meal looks particularly appealing. Those have to be the most anaemic fries I've ever seen, even by the standards of American fast food.

https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/are-honey-bees-native-north-america