Weird article about vegetarian Thanksgiving
Is it just me, or does this article seem pretty condescending towards vegetarians?
Suggesting that you could "respect your non-vegetarian guests and cook turkey.." Um, sorry, if I'm making dinner for everyone, I'm not going to be handling dead turkey carcass!
Also this comment: "You may not want to have little paper turkeys all over your house because you can’t bear the idea of helping to propagate cruelty to animals, paper, or otherwise." Those silly vegetarians and their protesting about cruelty to paper!!
If it seems early for a Thanksgiving article, it's because I'm Canadian and Thanksgiving is this weekend. Maybe I'm overreacting to this article, but I just think it could have done a much better job of giving ideas for a veg thanksgiving. Instead it just makes vegetarians come off as silly and woefully unprepared for such an event.
Well, I had mixed feelings about the article. I don't think it's disrespecting meat-eating guests if you don't serve turkey. They probably wouldn't respect you by not serving turkey if it were their turn to host Thanksgiving. I think the author could have just said, you could cook turkey for your friends or you could make yummy vegetarian dishes. It was an unfortunate choice of words.
As to the "cruelty to...paper...," thing, I think that was just a sad attempt at humor. ::) :P
Personally, the writer answers the whole "provide a turkey to the omnis" idea with this statement.
Really, the holiday is about friends, family and giving thanks for the things you have, not about the turkey.
If it's not about the turkey why should I feel obligated to provide one? ::)
Very good point!
In my house, they eat what I serve. Now if the person has a food allergy or a religious consideration, of course I respect that. I don't serve wine to friends who are recovering alcoholics, or Rechabite Presbyterians for that matter, and I wouldn't "hide" eggs or milk in a dish for a vegan or a person with an allergy.
But if your guests know you are veg*n, they know what to expect. And that's what all those yummy VegWeb recipes are about!! (The nut roast recipe in the Holiday section is to die for!)
I dunno, just from the first paragraph, it sounds more like she's saying, you can either do a turkey, or you can do an entirely veg thanksgiving. It sounds more like she's reassuring veg*ns that it's OK not to do a traditional thanksgiving, but if you feel an obligation to cook a turkey for friends and family you can; there are other options, though. To avoid unnecessary strife, let everyone know what you're planning on doing.
Ugh! I was thinking about having Thanksgiving at my house this year, since about 70% of my family has converted to veg*ism over the past few years. My grandmother informed me that she and my grandfather still 'needed' turkey, so I should probably just go to her house. :P
I don't want to start a family riot and have two Thanksgivings, but should the rest of us (my parents, sister, DH and I, aunt, uncle, and cousin) suffer for two people?
Perhaps I should just go to the grandparents house as I do every year and try not to get nauseated by the smell of burning flesh. It IS only one day a year. ::)
Well, many vegans on this board seem to take their own food to omni gatherings...while this would NOT work here (major social insult), maybe you could ask your grands to bring their own turkey servings, and you offer to provide all the fixings such as a (veg*n) stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry and all the rest that you can easily do.
I often cook for Thanksgiving for my family (my mom hates cooking!). And, everyone knows I won't have a dead turkey. I'll have plenty of other things for sure, even a fake turkey (UnTurkey was very popular last year... but the most popular replacement was fried "chicken"! People who come who want turkey (my brother, my dad, or my sister's boyfriend... wait, why all men??) will most definitely wind up getting leftover turkey later on from friends (there's always too much turkey, especially with today's overgrown birds :-\ ). Fortunately, I'm a good cook, so everyone puts up with the horrible lack-of-turkey that spells my un-American, commie-loving hippie-ness ::)
I hosted Thanksgiving for my family last year. It was the first time I have ever hosted a major family gathering (and I'm pretty old!). When I decided to host it, I knew that I would have to somehow provide a turkey. Just given my family, I knew they wouldn't be happy unless there was a stupid turkey, and I did not want that to be the focus of the day. So I ordered a turkey from the restaurant down the block and it was delivered to my door shortly before dinner time.
I made everything else for that day, including a delicious squash soup and a gazillion other dishes. It was also a major undertaking to make my home look nice--flowers, candles, etc. I wanted it to be a really pleasant and relaxing evening.
The only thing anyone complimented was the turkey. My family is so dysfunctional!
I cooked a vegan thanksgiving for my friends (and my little sister) and everyone raved about almost every dish. Unless there is only one dish they can eat, THAT would be disrespectful. It's not like they can't eat the rest of the meal.
To me it's promoting vegetarianism.
Where it talks about cooking a turkey, or you could show even a vegetarian can give thanks too the meaning of the whole article is in that last part about giving thanks in my opinion.
I don't know any turkey eaters who have never rolled their eyes because of having to accomodate for a vegetarian guest.
I love the stuffed pumpkin for a veg*n Thanksgiving:
http://www.vrg.org/recipes/vjpumpkin.htm
not only is it yummy, but it is also a pretty centerpiece that looks a lot prettier than a big-ole carcass on the table!
It's great served with cranberry sauce or with peanut sauce for the pumpkin flesh.
(i initially read this as "we should make them some turkey or whatever they want" but i'm starting to reconsider what you mean... anyways, what i typed out)
but there is a difference. Omnis can eat vegan food whereas vegan's won't eat nonvegan omni food. Considerations should be at the level of making foods that they will be comfortable with (i.e. don't make tofu if they are tofuphobic). i consider myself very considerate of those i cook for but i wouldn't cook nonvegan. i don't see myself being inconsiderate as long as the foods i cook are foods that they will enjoy.
This was exactly what I was going to say! My meat eating family and friends love to come to my house for dinner, because they get amazing food. They don't care that there is no meat! The consideration I make for them is that I don't cook up a zucchini and nutritional yeast wrap like I might if it was just for me! I cook them a dinner that THEY would like, that just happens to be vegan.
I do Thanksgiving at my house every year, and nobody cares about the Turkeylessness of it. It is just damn good food!!
And, yes, I did think this article was a bit condescending! ;)
It sounds to me like most of us were not the target audience for this article. For the most part, we are confident in our abilities to cook, and provide a tasty meal for our friends and family. It seemed to me like the article was geared more toward the "its my first vegetarian thanksgiving, and I am freaking out" crowd. It may have been a bit condescending to the skilled cook (both in a culinary and social sense), but to the uninitiated, it proably would be comforting to know that they have options.
And yeah, the paper turkey comment was pretty pointless and weird.
I think the paper turkey comment is being taken in another way than the author intended...I think
like not meaning "you should not", but meaning "you personally may not choose to"
And they're kind of right, I won't put up turkey decorations. I won't be eating them, so I'd rather put up something else
I think the paper turkey comment is being taken in another way than the author intended...I think
like not meaning "you should not", but meaning "you personally may not choose to"
And they're kind of right, I won't put up turkey decorations. I won't be eating them, so I'd rather put up something else
Put up cornucopias, aka "horns of plenty"...spilling vegetable and fruit goodness in endless bounty! No THAT's something to be thankful for! :)