For more tips, email vegsoc@uchicago.edu or check out our blog, vegansociety.blogspot.com for recipes, links to our favorites blogs, and more tips.
Bring a veg dish that even your meat-eating family will enjoy. Nobody wants to be seated at the table with nothing but roasted squash and cranberry sauce. So, bring a dish that you can eat, and share it with everyone! For some, this may mean ditching the Tofurkey and making a delicious stuffed squash, soup, green bean casserole, etc. For others, you can show them how good some faux meat actually tastes by cooking up one of the turkey alternatives below!
“Adopt” a meat-eater and bring them to your Thanksgiving dinner. Show them how delicious a vegan Thanksgiving can be and give one more turkey something to be thankful for.
Need a way to respond when your relatives make snarky comments about your veg lifestyle? Here are some ideas:
• Eating veg*n is the daily way that I show I am thankful for my body, for the environment, and for animals.
• “Why just say grace when you can show it?
• “I don’t have to take life to sustain life. I value all living things too highly for that”
Turkey Alternatives
• Celebration Roast—Made by FieldRoast brand and available at Whole Foods, Celebration Roast can fool even the most skeptical relatives. It is also readily prepared and pre-stuffed.
• Tofurkey—Available at Open Produce, Tofurkey is the classic un-turkey for Thanksgiving. Prepare it in the oven with veggies and glaze (just as you would a real turkey) and pick up some Tofurkey gravy and stuffing while you are at it. You can also go online and get a Tofurkey disguise kit, which helps “fool” your relatives into thinking it’s the real thing.
• Quorn and Whole Foods also make popular turkey alternatives. Additionally you can make your own (search online) or substitute it with a tasty vegetable-based main course like stuffed squash or an autumn casserole.
Places to Find Good Thanksgiving Recipes
- VegetarianTimes.com
- http://www.vegan.com/recipes/vegan-thanksgiving-recipes-robin-robertson/
- Our "From Other Bloggers" section (where you can view recommended recipes and interesting articles)
- Pumpkin Pie Brownies
- www.fatfreevegan.com--particularly good for healthy vegan desserts
- Vegan Green Bean Casserole
- Veganomicon, the cookbook, for amazing mashed potatoes, cornbread, and mushroom gravy
