Vegan MoFo, Day 5
A Vegan Thanksgiving
I’m coming up on a year of being vegan. I actually went veg after Thanksgiving last year. Not because I wanted to gorge myself one last time on some poor dead bird, but because I didn’t discover Alicia Silverstone’s book, The Kind Diet, until after T-Day. I felt her book did a fantastic job of explaining the concepts of veganism in all aspects: health of your body, the health of the environment, and the health of animals. I read the book in a day and as they say, the rest is history.
I’ve learned over the course of a year, that converting recipes to a healthier, yummier (vegan) version has been quite easy, so I have no fear when it comes to making a vegan Thanksgiving. In fact, besides the dead bird, most of the traditional dinner is comprised mostly of veggies. Yams, mashed potatoes, stuffing, that green bean casserole, cranberries . . . c’mon, all that can easily be made vegan.
Cloe Coscarelli has a few ideas on how to have a thankful holiday vegan-style with Harvest-Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms, Maple-Roasted Brussels Sprouts With Toasted Hazelnuts, and Chocolate-Pumpkin Bread Pudding.
I’m not sure what I’ll be bringing to the table yet, but those recipes look outstanding.
What’s your vegan Thanksgiving look like?
The UNhappy Meal
For many, many reasons, please, please do not feed your kids McDonald’s (or any fast food for that matter). San Francisco (who leads the nation with the Meat Free Mondays campaign) agrees with me and has banned the fat farm fast food joint from putting toys into their Happy Meals. In an effort to combat childhood diabetes and obesity, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors made the bold move on Tuesday and “i’m lovin’ it.”
“This is a challenge to the restaurant industry to think about children’s health first and join the wide range of local restaurants that have already made this commitment.”
Eric Mar, SF Supervisor
By December 1st, Micky D’s has to either make their Happy Meals contain 600 calories or less, include fruits and vegetables, and the beverage without excess fat and sugar, or the toys are history. McDonald’s was pissed.
“We are extremely disappointed with today’s decision. It’s not what our customers want, nor is it something they asked for,” McDonald’s spokeswoman Danya Proud said in a statement. “Getting a toy with a kid’s meal is just one part of a fun, family experience at McDonald’s.”
Oh, boo-hoo. Get over it and start thinking about the kids that eat this crap. They need to take this as an opportunity to help feed kids a healthier meal. This reminds me of the segment in Food, Inc., where a family of 4 could only afford to eat off the McDonald’s Value Menu and were slowly becoming diabetic, obese and just plain unhealthy.
I’m anxious to see how this plays out if other cities will follow suit.
“Dear Lord, I’ve been asked, nay commanded, to thank Thee for the Christmas turkey before us… a turkey which was no doubt a lively, intelligent bird… a social being… capable of actual affection… nuzzling its young with almost human-like compassion. Anyway, it’s dead and we’re gonna eat it. Please give our respects to its family.”
-Berke Breathed, Bloom County Babylon
I had a bad experience with Tofurky years ago. I brought a Tofurky roast to my mother’s house. I was vegetarian back then, not yet vegan. So, my mother had very kindly prepared a lasagna to accompany the other vegetarian fixings. She was not amused when I showed up with my own entree. (As I recall, she asked why I felt the need to bring my own food when she always made sure that I had plenty to eat…)
The worst part of it was that my Tofurky tasted terrible. I didn’t like it at all. Of course, back then I didn’t like many of the meat replacements. Aside form Boca Burgers and a few other Boca and Morningstar products, I pretty much stuck to eggs, beans and cheese for my protein. Many years later and now that I’ve been vegan for nine months, I love meat replacers like Gardein. So, maybe my palate has changed — or the options are better — or both.
I may give Tofurky another try. I’m not sure. I’d be interested to know if anyone has had it lately and like it…
Thanksgiving + vegan + family (can) = an uncomfortable experience. I have never tried the Tofurky roast before, so I was going to experiment first, but $12 for it, makes me wonder if I should stick with something I know. And I think meat replacers are getting better all the time. I love Gardein, too. Field Roast makes some amazing products as well and I believe they have a cranberry stuffed roast for the holidays…decisions, decisions . . . 🙂 Thanks for visiting!
I just tried gardein’s turkey with stuffing and gravy. It is amazing! I highly recommend it and intend to eat it on Thanksgiving. (It’s available at Whole Foods, I believe.) Thanks for the tip on Field Roast. I love their products and will look for their cranberry stuffed roast. I haven’t seen it yet. Will definitely give it a try if I find it. Thanks!
Oh yeah, Gardein is awesome, too! Good to know about their “turkey”, stuffing and gravy. 🙂
What a great prayer! Love it.
And I have a blog award for you over at my place. Please stop by when you have a minute.
Thanks, Pat! 🙂
I’m not [yet] vegan nor do i even declare myself vegetarian – but i don’t eat meat, ad very few animal products…and i have no idea what i’ll do for t-givs this year! i know i won’t eat the bird, and love cooking food…but haven’t decided how to go about being the only veg at the table : maybe i’ll just be in charge of side-dishes and veganize everything so the only thing i’ll be “missing” is turkey.
i’d briefly heard of the mcd’s toy dilemma. ugh, it really is terrible how appealing they are to children 🙁
I just picked up a hazelnut and cranberry-stuffed Field Roast for T-Day–I haven’t had one before, but I love their other products and I’ve heard great things about this roast. Thanks for visiting!