To bring the tofu, or not bring the tofu? (Thanksgiving Edition)?!
Has this ever happened to you at Thanskgiving!?
Comments!? Opinions!?
Just courious
To bring the tofu, or not bring the tofu!?
It's a question that Genevieve Hartman has been rolling over in her mind for some time now!. The 28-year-old vegetarian will be spending Thanksgiving at her boyfriend's professor's house in New York City!. Thanksgiving used to be one of Hartman's favorite holidays, when she celebrated it with her vegetarian family in San Francisco!. But ever since she moved to New York five years ago and began spending the holiday with relatives or friends, it's been a source of anxiety!. Take the tofu dilemma: on the one hand, she doesn't want to get stranded at a turkey-heavy table without anything to eat, which might make her hosts feel bad!. But she also doesn't want to bring attention to herself as needing "special foods," increasing the likelihood that she'll have to field questions about why she's skipping the turkey!. "It's going to be awkward no matter whether I bring it or I don't," says Hartman!. "Thanksgiving has a really set menu, and people are very sensitive to any changes!."
The number of vegetarians in the United States has doubled over the past 10 years, according to polls by the Vegetarian Resource Group, and now stands somewhere around 4!.7 million!. Freezer aisles at grocery stores stock a growing selection of faux meat products, from tofu buffalo wings to soy-based kielbasa!. Veggie burgers have become a common fixture at barbecues!. But many vegetarians, particularly those who are the only one in a large family, say Thanksgiving has become that one day of the year where they're reminded that they are indeed in the minority, a mere 2 percent of a meat-eating society!. It's the one holiday, Turkey Day, that's so strongly associated with meat that not participating seems almost unpatriotic!.
The problem isn't necessarily a lack of food!. Between the mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, candied yams and bounty of desserts, you can usually find a way to stuff yourself silly!. Instead, the vegetarian frustration is with the flurry of questions that follow saying "no thank you" to the turkey!. "There was definitely some heckling," says Carly McLean, 24, of her first vegetarian Thanksgiving at her parents' house in central Illinois!. She remembers her family looking at her as if she had grown a horn or a third eye during that meal!. "There was a lot of, 'you're still in college, you're going through a phase, you're just rebellious!.' My aunt asked, 'how can you be a vegetarian from the Midwest, isn't that an oxymoron!?'" The assumption clearly was, this is Thanksgiving, therefore you eat turkey!. "I think we might have spent less time talking about what we were thankful for, than 'What is Lorraine going to eat!?'" says 25-year-old Lorraine Woodcheke from San Francisco!. She's skipping out on Thanksgiving altogether this year, leaving this weekend for Australia!. On Thanksgiving Day, she'll be climbing the Sydney Harbor Bridge!. "I never considered skipping any holiday with my family before," she says!. "In a way, I'm sad to miss it, but at the same time, its just nice that I'm going to do my own thing and nobody has to change what they're doing!."
Vegetarians aren't the only ones anxious over next Thursday's festivities!. Many of their hosts find accommodating vegetarian stressful because they're used to working with such a set Thanksgiving menu!. "My step-mother didn't know a vegetarian and definitely didn't like it," says Mollie Marti, 42, who married into an Iowa farm family!. "It was more of the unknown that was uncomfortable for her than it was her judging!. There was a nervousness on both sides!." The key to a successful Thanksgiving, Marti says, has been communication about what she eats and what she doesn't!. McLean has had a similar experience!. While that first Thanksgiving was "pretty rough," her dad has been incredibly accommodating!. Last year, the two went grocery shopping for the dinner together and he pointed out all the vegetarian products he was buying!. He made the stuffing without giblets and left the bacon off of their seven-layer salad!. "The thing that was really cool was some of those recipes are family tradition, going back three or four generations," says McLean!. "So for him to switch that up, and make changes, was really big!."
Longstanding dining traditions like the Thanksgiving turkey may be particularly difficult to depart from because their associated with such distinct smells!. "Memories based on sight and sound are relatively absent of strong emotional evocation," says Thomas F!. Shipley, a psychology professor at Temple University!. "But because of the way the brain is wired, smells directly evoke emotions!. So the thought is that with something like Thanksgiving, where you may have been eating the same foods and smelling the same smells since you were a child, it will evoke very strong emotional memories from earlier in life!." That strong association between ThanksgivingWww@FoodAQ@Com
Comments!? Opinions!?
Just courious
To bring the tofu, or not bring the tofu!?
It's a question that Genevieve Hartman has been rolling over in her mind for some time now!. The 28-year-old vegetarian will be spending Thanksgiving at her boyfriend's professor's house in New York City!. Thanksgiving used to be one of Hartman's favorite holidays, when she celebrated it with her vegetarian family in San Francisco!. But ever since she moved to New York five years ago and began spending the holiday with relatives or friends, it's been a source of anxiety!. Take the tofu dilemma: on the one hand, she doesn't want to get stranded at a turkey-heavy table without anything to eat, which might make her hosts feel bad!. But she also doesn't want to bring attention to herself as needing "special foods," increasing the likelihood that she'll have to field questions about why she's skipping the turkey!. "It's going to be awkward no matter whether I bring it or I don't," says Hartman!. "Thanksgiving has a really set menu, and people are very sensitive to any changes!."
The number of vegetarians in the United States has doubled over the past 10 years, according to polls by the Vegetarian Resource Group, and now stands somewhere around 4!.7 million!. Freezer aisles at grocery stores stock a growing selection of faux meat products, from tofu buffalo wings to soy-based kielbasa!. Veggie burgers have become a common fixture at barbecues!. But many vegetarians, particularly those who are the only one in a large family, say Thanksgiving has become that one day of the year where they're reminded that they are indeed in the minority, a mere 2 percent of a meat-eating society!. It's the one holiday, Turkey Day, that's so strongly associated with meat that not participating seems almost unpatriotic!.
The problem isn't necessarily a lack of food!. Between the mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, candied yams and bounty of desserts, you can usually find a way to stuff yourself silly!. Instead, the vegetarian frustration is with the flurry of questions that follow saying "no thank you" to the turkey!. "There was definitely some heckling," says Carly McLean, 24, of her first vegetarian Thanksgiving at her parents' house in central Illinois!. She remembers her family looking at her as if she had grown a horn or a third eye during that meal!. "There was a lot of, 'you're still in college, you're going through a phase, you're just rebellious!.' My aunt asked, 'how can you be a vegetarian from the Midwest, isn't that an oxymoron!?'" The assumption clearly was, this is Thanksgiving, therefore you eat turkey!. "I think we might have spent less time talking about what we were thankful for, than 'What is Lorraine going to eat!?'" says 25-year-old Lorraine Woodcheke from San Francisco!. She's skipping out on Thanksgiving altogether this year, leaving this weekend for Australia!. On Thanksgiving Day, she'll be climbing the Sydney Harbor Bridge!. "I never considered skipping any holiday with my family before," she says!. "In a way, I'm sad to miss it, but at the same time, its just nice that I'm going to do my own thing and nobody has to change what they're doing!."
Vegetarians aren't the only ones anxious over next Thursday's festivities!. Many of their hosts find accommodating vegetarian stressful because they're used to working with such a set Thanksgiving menu!. "My step-mother didn't know a vegetarian and definitely didn't like it," says Mollie Marti, 42, who married into an Iowa farm family!. "It was more of the unknown that was uncomfortable for her than it was her judging!. There was a nervousness on both sides!." The key to a successful Thanksgiving, Marti says, has been communication about what she eats and what she doesn't!. McLean has had a similar experience!. While that first Thanksgiving was "pretty rough," her dad has been incredibly accommodating!. Last year, the two went grocery shopping for the dinner together and he pointed out all the vegetarian products he was buying!. He made the stuffing without giblets and left the bacon off of their seven-layer salad!. "The thing that was really cool was some of those recipes are family tradition, going back three or four generations," says McLean!. "So for him to switch that up, and make changes, was really big!."
Longstanding dining traditions like the Thanksgiving turkey may be particularly difficult to depart from because their associated with such distinct smells!. "Memories based on sight and sound are relatively absent of strong emotional evocation," says Thomas F!. Shipley, a psychology professor at Temple University!. "But because of the way the brain is wired, smells directly evoke emotions!. So the thought is that with something like Thanksgiving, where you may have been eating the same foods and smelling the same smells since you were a child, it will evoke very strong emotional memories from earlier in life!." That strong association between ThanksgivingWww@FoodAQ@Com
Answers:
Luckily this hasn't happened to me!. I have a very veg-friendly family; they are very accommodating!. If I were in that situation, I would bring something I could eat along with a desert that I and everyone could eat and a bottle of wine!. That way if you bring several things it won't seem so odd!. Plus, you should always bring a gift to the host (the bottle of wine)!.Www@FoodAQ@Com
bring the tofu if you like, but i can't recommend the tofurkey enough!.!.
you could have some drinks before dinner so getting heckled for refusing the turkey won't seem so bad!.Www@FoodAQ@Com
you could have some drinks before dinner so getting heckled for refusing the turkey won't seem so bad!.Www@FoodAQ@Com
No one asked for your life story! Just ask the d@mn question!Www@FoodAQ@Com
I am a vegetarian and I have been rolling this dilemma around for the last few years!. I have decided this year to bring a Tofurky with me and if my family/friends decide to eat it, they can! And hopefully they'll enjoy it as much as I do!. Good luck!Www@FoodAQ@Com
Don't bring the tofu!. Why should you!. You either accept the invitations of meat eaters or you don't, esp on a traditional "meat" occasion!.Just eat everything else at the table and decline the turkey as being something you don't like !. FULL stop
Its one evening!. You wont die for the lack of protein!.
Everything else is drawing the attention on vegetarianism!. Which is fine!. As long as you don't accept at the same time a meat eating event!.
Or you are free to host that event on your terms and give people the choice to decide!.!.Www@FoodAQ@Com
Its one evening!. You wont die for the lack of protein!.
Everything else is drawing the attention on vegetarianism!. Which is fine!. As long as you don't accept at the same time a meat eating event!.
Or you are free to host that event on your terms and give people the choice to decide!.!.Www@FoodAQ@Com