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I'd been feeling pretty stressed last week. I felt disgusted by how many people were going to unthinkingly, heartlessly eat the bodies of turkeys yesterday.While part of me wished I could attend a vegan Thanksgiving dinner -- two of my friends were each hosting one -- I also felt that I should celebrate with family.
So Keith and I brought are own vegan food -- mashed potatoes and Gardein Tuscan "Chicken Breasts," with carrots and hummus for an appetizer.
I didn't watch as my uncle carved the turkey and I didn't see the platter of flesh being carried into the dining room. By the time Keith and I warmed up our plates, the flesh had already been passed around the table. Although it was in the center of the table in front of me, I was ok with it.
That is, until the guessing game started: What kind of meat were they eating? I didn't care what it was until I heard them say it was turducken, a combination of turkey, duck and chicken. Were they serious?! Unfortunately, yes. I was sickened.
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One murdered turkey wasn't enough? My aunt had to purchase a murdered turkey, a murdered duck and a murdered chicken?
As she so graphically -- yet casually -- explained, a "turducken" is a chicken stuffed inside a duck stuffed inside a turkey. Could that possibly be more disgusting?
Yes. Also discussed was whether my aunt should have ordered the frankenmeat with wings and legs. They decided next time she would.
Keith thought they were joking about the "turducken." He'd heard of it but didn't think anyone actually ate it.
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Although I love all animals and don't believe any should be killed for their flesh, I do have an affinity for ducks. Even before I became vegetarian and discovered animal rights, I loved ducks.
I'd go to a nearby town's riverwalk and watch the ducks paddle along the water's current. Each female duck was accompanied by a male. Such a sweet site!
So even if I weren't vegan, the notion of eating a duck would have appalled me and I would have eaten vegetarian at that Thanksgiving.
Although almost everyone agreed the mutant concoction tasted like turkey, they each liked it. My uncle couldn't wait till Monday to tell his office that he had "turducken" for Thanksgiving. Great. Spread the word, so three times as many animals can be killed for people's curious, savage taste buds.
I cringed even more when my other aunt fed her daughter that nastiness. Ironically her daughter had brought with her a quacking duck toy. So while she loves one duck, she's given another to eat, unaware of whom she is consuming.
Keith and I agreed that next Thanksgiving will be a completely vegan one for us.
(Photo of turkeys eating at Farm Sanctuary's 2005 "Celebration for the Turkeys" courtesy of Derek Goodwin.)
(Consuela, a chicken, was dumped -- alive -- into a landfill and then rescued. Photographer: Robert Lughai. Watch a short video about her story.)
(Photo of a duck and her ducklings courtesy of Mountain View College.)
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19 comments:
I’d go with the vegan feast with friends next round. We had friends invite us and although they weren’t doing a turkey, they were making meat lasagna, and I just preferred to spend the day with my boys: Sebastien and Cosmo, making a fabulous meal from Tal Ronnen’s “The Conscious Cook.”
A friend from France actually sent an email out a couple weeks ago about the “turducken.” He thought it sounded disgusting and even the omnivores responding to the email said they’d never eat something with the world “turd” in it.
Nikki, yeah, I'm thinking either a Soul Veg Thanksgiving (if they're open) next year or a potluck with friends.
That's funny about "turd." :)
P.S. My mom was “on her own” with the extended family this holiday. My sister has now, also, left Alaska, and my mom’s boyfriend was out-of-town. Last year the three of them put together a vegan table. This year my mom had to bring her own food and dessert. She really didn’t want to go, but felt obligated since her mother would be there. She said once grandma is gone she’s done with the family Thanksgiving.
Oh I am so sorry to hear this. How disgusting. And thoughtless of your family. At least my step sister made a vegan entree dish for us. And didn't serve anything with the word "turd" in it (how funny (in a way) and so, sooooo appropriate).
I understand about the stress and dread. I felt it too and couldn't find it in me to make an excuse to get out of it. Next year if we don't go out of town to my in-laws then we plan to host a casual open house all with cruelty free foods, and that means none allowed in the house as well.
Let's all grab a bottle of organic wine and make several toasts that thanksgiving 2009 is OVER. Whew!
My husband and I go out for Thanksgiving every year. Our families live in another state and seldom visit us. With six house rabbits, it is hard for us to travel home. So for the most part, I have not had to experience Thanksgiving with the Carnivores (Sounds like a sick Pixar cartoon film, doesn't it?) I dread it though because most in my family are "cold day in hell before we eat tofu or give up meat" people. I have long since given up trying to convince them to eat a kinder menu.
Turducken is appalling. Sad to say, I have heard of it, and I think that says it all about our gluttonous society.
Well paint my wagon pink I think I'll have me another servin' of Terduckin!
I'm with you Tracy, it's not bad enough they'd kill 1 animal but 3 and stuff them into each other. I wonder how omni "animal lovers" would think it sounds to eat a dog with a cat stuffed up it's ass, wrapped in bunny meat. Sounds a bit extreme but if we love our pets so much should we love all animal equally.
Our Thanksgiving was very similar to yours. BYOF to the family. I desperately tried to stay at home w/ my vegan sweetie but alas, I lost that debate. Xmas is MINE though mark my words! All in all both families and all our friends have been very supportive of our dietary choices so I can't complain I just wish we could make more people see what it's really all about.
I'm going to email you a recipe for Mozzarella "cheese" I made over the weekend. Pizza's back!
Meghan, thanks for the Mozzarella recipe. Keith's been wanting pizza, and I haven't bought the Daiya "cheese" yet, so we'll have to try yours.
He-he -- "BYOF." :) It's so sad that we have to do that. And, as you said, it's more sad that our family members can't see whom they're eating.
i would suggest trying a vegan potluck on thanksgiving. several years ago we decided that a holiday based around the corpse of a bird was not for us and our second annual save a turkey day resulted in 41 guests.
btw Tracy, whole foods has a great vegan pizza with soy cheese from soy dairy & vegan italian sausage. on wends it's only $8.99 for a whole pizza.
Gee - It seemed like yet another "fad' - Like deep frying was a few years ago. I think they have to keep inventing some "new' way to kill/eat turkeys - so they can forget how horrible the whole "sacrifice" really is.
I think ancient Rome used to have these kinds of "mixed animal dishes". The fish in the chicken, inside the lamb, inside the pig, inside the cow... Very disgusting.
Tracy - I don't know how you endured what you did... For sure - give yourself a break next year and celebrate ThanksLiving Day in a more thoughtful environment...
This Thanksgiving I had dinner with my new boyfriend & his 2 teenage sons (my own son was with my ex-husband). I haven't had any difficulty in this new relationship with my veganism - in fact, he has embraced vegan cooking saying "I'll eat anything that tastes good!" And he's proven that he will.
Being the only woman in this situation, I decided I would do the cooking (may sound sexist, but I just didn't trust bachelor-dad & 2 kids to cook!) and... everything would be vegan. He told me if he wanted turkey, he'd buy something already prepared (which he did, he bought a single drumstick from the deli), but that he was curious to see how I would make a vegan thanksgiving feast!
Everything was 100% vegan:
mashed potatoes, green beans, squash, apple pie, and I made myself some tofu which one of his sons also tried & liked!! In the end, even my boyfriend pushed aside the turkey in favor of some of my tofu! (must be love!!)
Success! The thing is... there's no reason why a vegan dinner can't be tasty & satisfying! The only thing missing was the dead animal in the center of the table and not only did no one miss the carcass, they also passed up the one body part that was offered. Wow.
(guess I should've blogged this myself! LOL!!)
Wow, Lisa, you were busy!
I'm glad your new relationship is going well, and it's great that your boyfriend (and his kids) are open to trying vegan food. That makes a big difference.
I should preference this by stating that I am both a non-vegan and have made two Turduckens in the past three years. But this is ANYTHING but an anti-vegan post. I wanted to say that I was actually very impressed with your post, because even though you had problems with the food, you story suggests that you were very polite about it. You were clearly appalled by the food, but didn't get into a argument with anyone at the table challenge peopel with what they were eating. To me, that shows an incredible amount of tolarence and respect for your family, the spirit of the holiday and for other people's eating habits.
I think that if more vegans were as polite and respective at such events, they wouldn't get such a bad rep.
I think that if more vegans were as polite and respective at such events, they wouldn't get such a bad rep.
I think the better thing to say here would be "I think that if more PEOPLE were as polite and respective at such events..." etc. etc..
Most vegans I know quietly "tolerate" what is going on at the table around them when it comes to the food. Most times, I refrain from making any comments about the animal products on the table because I am respectful of my family/friends choices and that it is not in my nature to seek out conflict. But I always find myself in the position of having to answer the age old question: "why aren't you eating the ________ ?"
Only when asked a direct question will I even mention veganism at a dinner table. I'm happy to discuss it at any other time, but not while we're eating. My limited experience with table discussions has only proven that anything I say is taken as an "attack" or "criticism" of the other people there. And it is a rare occurrence for me to ever tell someone directly why I think what they are doing is wrong.
My point is, I don't ask someone why they ARE eating something, and likewise I don't like being asked why I am NOT eating something.
You make a very good point. We should all generally be more polite and tolerant of each other, especially around the table. Though I have to say that there isn't necessarily anything wrong with asking someone at a meal why they are NOT eating something. Given that people are usually at these types of events for the purpose of eating and having fun, I think it's perfectly normal/expected to ask someone why they aren't eating. If you were at a vegan dinner and the person next to you wasn't eating, you'd probably ask them why, out of concern or just nonjudgmental curiosity.
That minor point aside, you are absolutely right that people should not jump all over you after you tell them you're a vegan anymroe than vegans should jump all over others for not being vegan.
The reason I responded to this post was because I am making a big dinner party for my birthday with a turducken (my friends love it) and am inviting my sister-in-law who is both a vegan and very vocal about it. Before I invited her, I called her and told her that I would be making a turducken (and a vegan alternative for her) and wanted to make sure that she wouldn't take offense or be overly disgusted.
Her response was less than encouraging as she went into great detail as to how what disgusting it was that I was making a turducken. I only hope that she will be as polite as you are about these things and respects my home and friends as much as I respect her beliefs.
Yeah, it is a little disheartening to hear that she was instantly so vocal about your dinner menu. Well, everyone is different. I just choose not to cause conflict.
I actually don't ask people "why" they aren't eating something (vegan or non-vegan) usually I take the "can I offer you something else?" approach. It's more considerate & compassionate. If I call myself a vegan, a title that implies "compassion" toward living things, then I need to behave that way in all aspects of my life -- INCLUDING being compassionate toward other people.
The only funny thing about it is, people don't get too upset if someone passes up a vegetable (how many people eat brussels sprouts or rutabaga?) but somehow the meat falls into a different, touchy, category. It's too bad. I don't like oranges or orange juice, but no one ever gets on my case about it!!
As for your sister... I can only speak from my own experience which is that if someone invites me for dinner where something I won't eat is being served I either 1) offer a gentle suggestion for something they can make (which you have already said you'll make her something vegan) or I will 2) bring over my own vegan "main course".
You're siblings, there has to be a way to maintain the relationship with out the stress of the veganism vs. turducken. Of course, the whole crux of my blog is how to be a vegan in mainstream restaurants. Because of this, I have sat by while my partner has eaten all sorts of weird animal foods, but I love him, and it's important that I accept his food choices just as unconditionally as he has accepted mine.
Do I get flak from other vegans about this point of view. Of course!! But it doesn't stop me from doing what I feel is right in my own life.
I hope this works out with you & your sister. I really truly do.
Anonymous, thank you for your comments. It was very nice of you to plan something vegan for your sister-in-law and to call her to tell her about it.
I obviously know nothing about your sister-in-law, but perhaps this analogy will help understand why she's so vocal about veganism.
Imagine a woman works for an organization that fights domestic abuse. She sees it day in and day out. And if she witnesses it at a family event, she feels compelled to say something. Maybe she's a bit overzealous because she's frustrated.
It's difficult and frustrating to see animals being eaten every day (on commercials, at restaurants, etc.).
If you're interested in seeing why your sister-in-law feels so strongly about veganism, watch this short video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIjanhKqVC4
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