When we moved into our renovated house in late October 2005 I said to my husband, "We should host Thanksgiving this year." We finally had a real dining room after living in our shoebox on the Upper West Side.
"No one will come," he said.
I knew he was right. No one wants a turkey-less Thanksgiving. I resigned myself to a meal at someone else's house, cringing at the sight of a gravy-dripping bird proudly displayed in the center of a dining room table.
It was either that or dinner for three, which my husband, daughter and I did one year.
This year there's a twist in the family drama. Various dysfunctions among siblings, parents and even a friend prevent others from hosting. My dining room will be christened for Thanksgiving. What I'm most grateful for is the chance to gather nearly a dozen people for a meat-less harvest meal.
I stopped eating meat 30 years ago, the day I arrived at college. The decision was not borne of some great moral struggle, though I've always had a deep, abiding love for animals. I eat cheese and eggs. I never saw vegetarianism as a movement or something to broadcast, much less proselytize about.
Now I do.
Now I know far too much to hope only my husband (a vegetarian since we got together a decade ago) and my seven-year-old daughter will follow my lead. Now I hope to convince as many humans as I can to think about the connection between what they eat and how it was raised. I want to do whatever I'm able to connect the dots between E-coli and factory farming. I'm urging everyone I come in contact with to watch the documentary "Food Inc," even though I spent a good portion of it crouching behind the seat, cupping my ears.
Food Inc. showed me I had work to do. I hadn't made the connection that cheese I'd been buying at stores like Whole Foods might be made with milk from factory-farm cows. That next Thursday, I found a local cheese artisan, Shepherd Valley of New Jersey, at my town's farm market. During the weekend, my family visited this amazing sheep farm that is responsible for the most delicious, grass-fed cheese. The butter I bought at their farm store showed me I had no idea what real butter tastes like.
I read egg cartons as carefully as I read bank statements. I know free-range and cage-free and all that marketing hullabaloo does not insure laying hens are living a humane existence. I try my best. Sometimes the twee farmy name on the cartoon makes me reach for a particular brand. Until I stop procrastinating and raise chickens (which I've been swearing to do since I moved to a big piece of land in suburbia) I will not be satisfied that I'm eating ethically-grown eggs.
We live with so many disconnects. So much about how we live and what we're exposed to makes us feel powerless. Eating is an exception. Eating is the great equalizer. I can be conscious about every food I choose or reject. With every trip to the health food store or farm market or the farm out yonder I can teach my daughter she never ever has to set foot in an A&P. Or more importantly, what she eats has a story. And every story has something to do with dirt or a tree or an animal. And she has a place in this cycle of life.
I'm already anticipating a few wise cracks over the dinner table on Thanksgiving. Just for sport, you know. I could launch into a lecture on how turkeys have been so genetically modified that they are incapable of natural reproduction. Or I can cook up a harvest feast of my husband's home-made breads, creamy potato leek soup, sweet potato fries, fresh salads and other vegetables dishes that will leave everyone just as stuffed and overfed as they would otherwise be.
If I'm really lucky, right before we gather around the table before dusk, someone will notice the sound of crunching leaves outside the window. The kids will run over first and squeal with delight at the brood of wild turkeys pecking at the lawn. The rest of us will not be able to resist watching these iridescent feathery creatures pursuing subsistence.
I love these birds. They are always a great source of pleasure and humor. But on Thanksgiving, I will raise my glass to them and whisper "lucky you."
Cheryl Carlesimo: Why Is Thanksgiving the King of Food Holidays?
Maria Rodale: The Great Thanksgiving Countdown
Thanksgiving - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thanksgiving (United States) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The History of Thanksgiving - History.com - History, Facts ...
Thanksgiving food costs down 4%
Sarah Palin to Levi: Stop by for Thanksgiving!
Beyonce, Paul mccartney in Thanksgiving specials
O'Hare Expected To Be Nation's Busiest Airport For Thanksgiving
Acme supermarket workers at southern N.J. stores threaten strike before Thanksgiving
My cartoon for Slate on a Tofu Thanksgiving (also in SF Chronicle): http://opedcartoons.com/2009/11/24/tofu-for-thanksgiving-cartoon-not-necessarily-vegan/
Although my recent blog post addressing this issue comes from a spiritual stand-point and a focus from non-violence, I believe we all need to raise awareness about animal cruelty and awareness for all living beings. For those of who you may want to read my recent post which contains a http://PETA.org video, please click here: http://siddhalishree.com/Spiritual-Section/Spiritual-Venting/vegetarian-thanksgiving-day-save-a-turkey-soul.html
http://www.newsweek.com/id/169906
One vegetarian decided to blow off Thanksgiving to go to Australia with friends instead; it was too stressful to deal with incredulous family carnivores:
"I think we might have spent less time talking about what we were thankful for, than 'What is Lorraine going to eat?'" says 25-year-old Lorraine Woodcheke from San Francisco. She's skipping out on Thanksgiving altogether this year, leaving this weekend for Australia. On Thanksgiving Day, she'll be climbing the Sydney Harbor Bridge. "I never considered skipping any holiday with my family before," she says. "In a way, I'm sad to miss it, but at the same time, its just nice that I'm going to do my own thing and nobody has to change what they're doing."
Tina Traster
Tuerky is pretty much healthy meat and if you don't over eat you are just fine. Also sweet potatoes or yams, especially the home cooked type not out of the can, are very healthy food. Green beens made with tiny pieces of bacon instead of starchy soup are also healthy and tasty. So quit spoiling a happy family gathering for the rest of us, it won't work. To fill your family's tommy , and have a great time, is more healthy then a plate of rabbit food. (salad)
Last year, I decided Thanksgiving was going to be different. We arrived, not long into the day, the jibing started ... I asked quite playfully, "so you think it's OK, killing animals like that? that doesn't bother you at all" They were all, "No! of course not.' laughing.
I said, "OK. What about this" I went directly to the TV and put the Meet Your Meat DVD on. Aside from the screams of the animals, you could have heard a pin drop. It only played for a few moments before his wife removed it. Awkward, yes. Triumphant, double yes.
The rest of the day was fine, a little tense, but no bullsh*t about how big the turkey was and how much it must have struggled, etc. (a usual joke for them).
We've been invited back this year. I don't know if I'll go or not.
Thank the turkey for its forced sacrifice.
May it be in the Heaven with the Lord,
as it had done nothing wrong,
but provided for us.
We made them dumb by our greed so what else is dumb that deserved to be eaten? Some humans are born mentally handicaped and are dumb?
I became a vegetarian about 20 years ago. I did that out of self-interest. Not for the animals and not for the earth. Now I believe those are just as important. I shudder to think how brainwashed I was about eating meat.
JulianMarin--although I know that your stance on the matter is a popular one, I hope that one day, something will make you realize that violence and murder is nothing to celebrate, no matter what the holiday. Gathering around a dead, mutilated, rotting corpse is no way to spend time with the family--sounds more like Halloween than Thanksgiving! Especially when there are so many other fresh, seasonal, gorgeous fall foods to eat that are delicious, decadent, and will nourish the bodies of the people you love. As for Turkeys being dumb? A common mis-conception given how they are often portrayed...however, Turkeys are social, aware, playful, and have tremendous learning potential--unfortunately we breed them dumb, cut off there life span, and make them so fat they cannot fly and barely walk. Not to mention the bare facts that turkeys are mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, bleeding, fearful, sentient beings who want to live--just like us.