It’s here! Can you believe it’s already Thanksgiving week!? I love what Thanksgiving represents… counting your blessings. spending time with family and friends, enjoying nature’s bounty.
There’s only one problem..
The traditional Thanksgiving feast–especially a traditional Southern Thanksgiving feast–doesn’t leave many options for vegetarians. It’s not as simple as just passing on the turkey, gravy, and stuffing (which, by the way is delicious with vegetable stock instead of turkey). Southerners have a knack for adding meat in the most creative ways! Mashed potatoes are flavored with chicken stock. Green beans have bits of pork floating in them. Cranberries are mixed with Jell-O. The sweet potato casserole has those tiny marshmallows on top.
If you’re someone’s guest, and you know they’ve slaved for hours over a hot stove for YOU, it feels horrible to just keep passing the serving dishes on by because you can’t eat what’s on them.
As a yoga student, I chose a mostly vegetarian diet in the name of ahimsa, or non-harming. It just feels wrong to me to eat animals … but at times like Thanksgiving dinner when you know you might be hurting someone’s feelings (and seem like a high-maintenance, ungrateful snot in the process) … well, that just doesn’t seem right either. Have you ever tried explaining vegetarianism to a 90-year-old grandma who lived through the Great Depression? She thinks you should be grateful to have a plate full of food–not worrying over whether it has chicken stock in it. It’s Thanksgiving, for crying out loud! There are no winners in this situation.
I’m hosting Thanksgiving dinner for the first time this year, which means I can make sure I’m not eating meat products for the first time ever! Hooray! (Public Service Announcement: If something has “just a little bit” of bacon in it, your vegetarian guests still don’t want to eat it.) But I’m struggling with having a turkey and other traditional foods that I know my guests will want. I don’t want to be the reason that others don’t enjoy their holiday in the way they choose to celebrate it, but I also know there are lots of other fantastic options.
So, I’m asking for advice from other vegetarians out there. How do you handle this delicate situation either as a guest or a host during the holidays?
I'd just ask someone else to bring the turkey. Truth be told, I don't know how to cook one anyway.
I agree with Leah, if you think you need the turkey, ask someone else to bring it. I assume everyone coming knows you and knows you are a vegetarian so should not be surprised if there is no meat. Almost all the dishes typically associated with Thanksgiving can be made without meat. I have two vegetarians in the family and I make the two dressings, one in the turkey and one outside the turkey. We have sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and lots of vegi dishes so no one has ever gone hungry. Good luck and have fun!
Buy a Field Roast! It is fancy and 100% vegan. If they do not like it or the idea they can go elsewhere!
Part of being a good host is thinking about your guests' comfort. How would you like it if your host *knew* you were a veg and served only meat products: "if they don't like it they can go elsewhere?" 🙁
I was veg for 15+ years and never had a problem hosting TGing at my house. I had someone else bring the turkey, and kindly let people know if they wanted a specific meat-centric dish (turkey gravy, for instance), they should bring it themselves. Otherwise I made mostly veg dishes…as Ronnie above you can make 99% of the TGing stuff without meat, and there are some amazing yummy side dishes that will please both meat eaters and veggies alike.