How To Have A Vegan Thanksgiving

This year will be my third Thanksgiving without any animal products. No longer do I think of the holiday as "Turkey Day". As you will read, there are so many delicious foods out there, turkey is not needed. You too can have a "No Turkey Day"!

First of all, let me tell you why I don't like calling Thanksgiving "Turkey Day". Aside from being vegan, turkey day doesn't really convey the true meaning of Thanksgiving. I mean, isn't Thanksgiving about family and friends and being thankful for the food... not just turkey? But as a vegan, I really dislike calling it "Turkey Day". When the president pardons a turkey in a silly tradition, I think of the other 50,000,000 birds that weren't so lucky. It's really sick if you think about it. Millions of enslaved birds and the president only spares two of tem. And then they will no doubt eat a turkey for Thanksgiving, so what's the point?

But onto my thoughts on having a vegan Thanksgiving...

My favorite thing to eat at Thanksgiving time has always been pumpkin pie. To me, the pie means a lot more than the turkey ever did, back when I ate it. I could always bake a pie without eggs but my time is so limited, I usually get a vegan pumpkin pie from a local bakery, and this year was no exception. I'm always careful about ingredients and the pie I bought has very few ingredients in it.

Along the same theme as pumpkin pie, another favorite Thanksgiving food is sweet potatoes. I intend to bring some sweet potatoes to dinner as I would not to miss out! By the way, as long as your family or friends know ahead of time, there shouldn't be any issue with eating a plant based diet where ever you choose to celebrate the holiday. Everyone in my family and all of my friends know of my healthy eating. They may say they could never eat this way, but they don't try to push turkey on me either.

As long as there's salad, broccoli, potatoes, cranberries, carrots, etc., there's no problem. Someone at work asked me what I eat for Thanksgiving as she was taught turkey was the center piece of a Thanksgiving dinner... I was taught the same thing. But we need to relearn this kind of thinking... turkeys do not need to be slaughtered to enjoy the holiday. Not only will you be healthier but you will save some animals along the way.

One more thought... as a whole food plant based eater, I don't bother with fake meats like Tofurkey either. But if you are new to this way of eating and still feel you need some kind of "turkey" on your plate, please go for some of the fake turkeys... just look at the ingredents and find the ones with the fewest ingredients.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!