A Recipe For a Family Fight

What is more important, a traditional food or the concerns of your loved ones?

It's the ideal opportunity to let others know why you are vegan/vegetarian and the cruelty involved in turkey production. See, for example: http://tinyurl.com/56c659

Thanksgiving and many other Holidays hold some of my best memories, Although I cannot remember after all these years who ate what! How shallow is a person if they feel the need to comment on the lifestyle of others ( family or otherwise ). I season my food on my plate to the way I like it, why would I care how you or others eat. Vegitarian, Meatatarian, or otherwise. When we sit at the table we talk about whats going on in our lives and other family members. I think that it is great that people can be themselves and not be who others want you to be. Shows me that you are true to youself, please don't let other people dictate how you live and play. And to those who must interfear, A lack of self esteem or personal problems in your own life may need to be taken care of instead of bashing the lifestyles of another. LIVE YOUR OWN LIFE PLEASE..

Beggers cant be choosers, a little turkey wont kill you. Would you rather see the excess turkey wasted in the trash?

My son-in-law and grandchildren are vegetarians, so what? They don't eat turkey, some people don't like turkey and som don't eat pumpkin pie. We have turkey & we have stuff for them. It takes little effort to accommodate others just as if there was a medical reason for the restriction.

I really don't care if you eat nothing but vegetables or eat meat. Just keep your beliefs to your self and let me enjoy my life without some self-righteous snob trying to foist their values on me.

My daughter and I are vegetarians. I just ask whoever is cooking to provide me with the menu. If we need to - I bring another dish that will complete the meal for us (I make it something everyone will enjoy). Most times there is enough food that I do not even need to supplement. By asking in advance it has not been a problem anytime or anywhere i go.

I've lived a vegan lifestyle for several years and the simple fact is that I cannot expect any of my family to accomodate my dietary needs. I would never skip a chance to be with my relatives though. The best solution for me is to prepare my own vegan Thanksgiving dinner and tote my dinner bag around to wherever I will be expected to eat with family. I never feel chastized or made fun of. The general populous just doesn't understand the vegan life and I will glady tell anyone about my reasons for leading a cruelty free lifestyle, if anyone asks. Happy Remeberance of Abusing the Native American's Day!!!

I've been a vegetarian for 20 years. I make all the traditional dishes for Thanksgiving (because no one else chose my lifestyle, I did) and I make dishes for myself. Honestly, the vegetarian dishes go the fastest and a few years ago, I was left without a main course because the meat eaters snapped it up.

For those looking for an easy substitute for turkey, try the tofu meatloaf with mushroom gravy at Whole Foods -- it's very yummy. No one says you have to eat turkey (which when I did eat meat I found gross and dry). Then add all the sides and you have your own Thanksgiving meal!

I have been a vegetarian for 2 1/2 years now and almost vegan ( my bread has honey in it and my protien drink has whey in it) I feel so much better and healthier. I had no problem making the switch, its funny though when people poke fun of me, there usally over weight and not in the best of health. I on the other hand work out at the gym 7 days a week ( which I really need to take a day off I know) I go in at 1:30 am till 6:00 am roughly, I have been doing that for awhile now, then go to work by 7am. I do need more sleep but my body seems to do fine on what I get. i LOVE animals too much and could not eat them as part of my diet. I say to people.... " I don't believe in killing an animal to saticfiy my own taste pallet " thats just me, we all have a choice not to eat meat, same with dairy. My two cents..... Thanks

I`m glad I`m a meatatarian. If the veg heads don`t like go outside and eat the grass.

I also have no problems with vegetarians, per se, but I fail to see why the rest of us have to change our menue to accomodate their preferences. That said, I have no problems with serving additional items to meet the vegetariean needs, I do however, think it is unreasonable for someone to expect family recipies to be altered to suit their individual needs at the exspense of tothers sitting at the table.

Wow....and I thought Thanksgiving was supposed to be a time to be grateful for family and friends and for whatever you have in life. My brother became a vegetarian about 5 years ago when he started dating a vegetarian. And while we have fun picking on him, I have no problem making something a little extra for them in place of turkey.

There are plenty of families that will not even have a Thanksgiving this year for the first time due to homelessness, joblessness or loss of someone close like a spouse or child. It is about being grateful for those around you and for what you have, It's not about the Turkey or who will carve it or who will sit at the kiddy table.

The holiday season is upon us, but for turkeys on factory farms, there is nothing to be thankful for. PETA just released footage from an undercover investigation that reveals a rarely seen side of the turkey industry. The cruelty to turkeys is horrifying and heart-wrenching.

Men shoved feces and feed in turkeys' mouths and held turkeys' heads under water. One worker bragged about jamming a broom stick 2 feet down a turkey's throat because the turkey had pecked at the worker's back. The same man mimicked raping a turkey hen whom he had pinned against a shed floor.

Others told PETA's investigator that they had killed turkeys, including by hitting them with pieces of lumber and pipes. Workers broke turkeys' necks, sometimes leaving them to suffer for several minutes before trying again or stomping on their heads. A supervisor said that he saw workers kill 450 turkeys with 2-by-4s. Many of the workers kicked and violently threw turkeys, and hens' beaks were cut with dull pliers. You can watch video footage from the investigation here:
http://getactive.peta.org/campaign/turkey_investigation/xi3dbee407kmw6d5?