A Recipe For a Family Fight

I'm turning 34 on Thanksgiving Day and I have been a vegetarian for 17 years. Nothing like a HUGE turkey being devoured on your Birthday! Thankfully my birthday only lands on Thanksgiving ever 4 years!!! So if you feel bad at Thanksgiving think of all us vegetarian who have birthdays on Thanksgiving!!

Hey, I agree with the comment about hormone-free turkey. I highly encourage everyone to get out there for turkey season and bag/tag your own. The ultimate in "free range."

Ms. Kliff- please don't sensationalize your story just to add drama and get noticed. Can you not write the truth of the situation with an honest viewpoint. There is no tension or bad mood between vegetarians and their family members. I'm not sure why you lie about veggie eaters being militant and scornful to fellow relatives on a joyful holiday. Whatever reason you do it for, its very repugnant. Veggie eaters get along great with non-vegetarians in their family- try researching those facts before you write sillyness.

Some like carpet others like sausage! Eat away as long as you don't eat on my bed!

Cakes and pies, cakes and pies!

Why do people get so polarized about this? Surely there is room in the middle for people who just think that gluttony is not good, but eating is. I guess eating meat is a moral issue now... but that controversy is pretty new in human history. The whole battle need not be fought now.
For myself, I think that people just eat too much meat. Cutting down would be a good thing. It still tastes good and it could be good for you if people would just moderate themselves a little. Sugar and salt did not become bad things until people started eating them by the cupful daily. Moderation. and variety make life a lot better.

I am kind of a CONDIMENTARIAN. I use meat as a condiment to make a lot of more nutritious things more palatable. There is no compelling need to have a lot more in the diet than that.

I'm a 25 year old woman who has been a vegetarian for 6 years. The first Thanksgiving can be really awkward, but I love when people try to make jokes about me not eating the turkey. I have a whole arsenal of stories about slaughterhouses that I can easily ruin their dinner with if they want to try me.

Can't go wrong with Tamales and Posole! The Turkey is for the gringo's! If you do do turkey it has to be deep fried!

Everyone has their likes and dislikes and their opinions in every family. I agree with the other comments if you don???t want to eat the turkey don???t if you do then do. Too many people in our society are too wrapped up in what other people are doing to look at themselves. And kudos to the vegatariens it???s hard to give up meat. I may not be a vegetarian but if some of my family members were, I wouldn???t say anything I would be THANKFUL that they are spending Thanksgiving with me, Thanksgiving isn???t about turkey it???s about being with the ones you love and giving thanks.

I am a vegetarian and as whole I think we need to get over our selves if people want to eat meat let them it is their choice it is un-american to force our values on other people and tell them they are wrong instead of complaing about people eating meat how about complaing about the 2 billion who go hungry every year.

My mother has been a vegetarian since she was 21 yrs old. She is now a full fledge Vegan. I am 50 yrs old and I grew up as a Vegetarian. So as you can see she was a vegetarian before it was even popular. I on the other hand started eating meat when I moved out on my own. So at Thanksgiving time we have a wide variety of food. I actually love the taste of mashed potatoes without dairy products in it. It tastes more natural. And yes, I even cook a turkey. There is so much there that no one leaves hungry or unhappy. As my mother said it is not a matter what we really are eating but to be thankful that we are able to sit down together and actually have food in front of us and loved ones beside us.

my two nieces are vegetarians so i always make extra vegie casseroles along with the traditional thanksgiving dinner. there is always plenty for everyone to eat and enough for the girls to take home doggie bags for later. i don't see what the big deal is. it's a day to be thankful for your blessings ( which include your family ) so i don't find it a problem to do a little extra cooking so everyone can enjoy the day.

I think my comment got lost -- we take our Tofurkey to my sister's house. They eat turkey -- we don't. I never can understand why people fight about this, get insulted or nasty. Some people eat meat, some don't. Some smoke, or drink or dye their hair, some don't. what's the big deal??

Talk about having it the Hard way, I have been there. I am veg since 1990. My father who was deceased by then, was a retail butcher for a midwest packing company. I really remember when I was 17 and asked Mom if I could become vegetarian. Her comment made me put off converting until she no longer had a say, "What are you trying to do, put your dad out of business?"
I still don't have it easy marrying into a Nebraska farm family. I do try to be inconspicuous, unnoticed. Of course it doesn't always work. I do bring my veg casseroles and share!