Archive for the ‘ Holidays ’ Category

Vegan Thanksgiving – A Huge Success

Nov 28, 2008 in Holidays
Vegan Thanksgiving

Vegan Thanksgiving

We hope you all wound up having a pleasant holiday however you celebrated (if you celebrated).  Our day was very enjoyable.  I'd love to say I was a big help to Jane, however, she did most of the work.  In my defense, she had the week off, whereas I worked until late Wednesday afternoon.  Not to mention the fact that I'm usually not allowed in the kitchen (I'm too much of a slob).

Our meal was wonderful.  Our planned menu consisted of the following:

Vegan Meat

Vegan Meat

We had a few minor changes.  Jane opted not to make the gravy as the Tofurky comes with premade gravy and she was running behind.  She will be making it tomorrow when we run out of the Tofurky Gravy.  The other item that was missing from our table was the Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage.  Jane made it on Wednesday, but it was buried in the back of the fridge and she forgot to take it out and reheat it.  Oops.  Neither one of us noticed until today.  Luckily that's one of those dishes that tastes better after it marinates a bit.

Jane did cook both the Celebration Roast and the Tofurky so we could have a side-by-side taste test.  The results:  she prefered the Celebration Roast, and I prefered the Tofurky.  But the roast is growing on me with each subsequent meal.

Vegan TDay Plate

Vegan TDay Plate

As for the rest, Jane added a banana to the mashed sweet potatoes, as suggested by the Food Network.  She thought it tasted more like the sweetened, marshmallow laden version we've had in the past.  Next year we're probably going back to the plain mashed sweet potatoes, but these are good too.  Jane also surprised me with mashed cauliflower, which I love!!!  The brussels sprouts were delicious as usual.  Typically, I don't care for green beans. I eat them, but they're boring, or smothered in a sauce which renders them unidentifiable.  This recipe was really good, and it works as a cold salad as well as heated up.  The stuffing was fantastic.  It's based on a recipe we used to make in our omni days, from Gourmet magazine, and it totally works as a vegan dish.  And there was the cranberry orange dish.  There wasn't enough room on my plate to fit in all that vegan goodness!

We've had this meal four times now (lunch and dinner yesterday and today), and so far everything has been wonderful.  To those non-vegans out there who can't imagine that a vegan Thanksgiving could taste good, I say, look at this feast and tell me it doesn't look absolutely amazing!

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On The Turkey

Nov 25, 2008 in Holidays, Philosophy

Okay, I'd like a little clarification here.  First let me say that this is NOT an attack on anyone; I am looking to understand other peoples' thought processes around the issue of the turkey...

Jane and I have read a number of things recently in which people proclaim that they will not sit down at a table on which a turkey will take center stage.  As vegans, the pride of place at our table will be shared by a Tofurky and a Celebration Roast.  However, if we were heading to a non-vegan household, we wouldn't have a problem with a turkey at the table, we'd just make sure to bring something we could eat, and enough to share with anyone curious enough to try an alternative.  (If you haven't tried it already, you might be surprized at how effective this tactic can be.)

Now before you start criticizing me, let me explain my thinking...  If 5% of the U.S. population (and I'm being generous here) is vegetarian, then 95% of the population eats meat. Even if they are "wrong" in eating turkey, it is pretty much the norm.  To expect people to stop practicing "normal" behaviors because you want them to (or even because these practices are wrong) is a bit unrealistic.  I'm not saying advocacy doesn't have it's place.  I'm simply stating that people who are engaging in behavior that is deemed normal are not necessarily going to be aware that their behavior could/should be modified.

But here is where Jane and I become confused.  What's so special about the turkey?  Would you make the same distinction for a pot roast?  Or a rack of lamb?  Or a pork chop?  Or a hamburger?  Or a whole fish?  Okay, you don't "see" the dead animal in a hamburger, but you do in a rack of lamb... or a roasted chicken...or the whole fish (they often come entirely intact... face included).

Yes, 45 million turkeys are killed and sold for Thanksgiving here in the US (according to the USDA).  That accounts for 1/6 of all the turkeys sold in the US.  However, those turkeys represent multiple meals, for multiple people, so it's not as bad as it sounds.  But how many heads of cattle are slaughtered for consumption annually?  How many pigs?  How many chickens?  Is a turkey more important than any other animal?

I guess I don't understand why the Thanksgiving turkey is where the line is often drawn.  Yes, turkeys are intelligent and have personalities.  But pigs exhibit the intelligence equivalent to a 3 year old human.  (Wow!)  And pigs raised for foodstock don't live pleasant lives either; and they certainly don't have humane deaths!

So my questions are these:

  • If you can't sit at a table with a Thanksgiving turkey, can you eat at any non-vegan restaurant?  Because animal product is being prepared there, and consumed in proximity to your seat as well?
  • If you can't stand the sight of the turkey carcass at your table, what about that rack of lamb?  Or any other animal-based meal presented with pride?
  • If you can't stand the sight of the turkey carcass at your table, how do you handle the grocery store with lots of animal parts lined up, some of them readily identifiable as animals?
  • If you can't stand the sight of the turkey carcass, what do you do at the sight of a lobster tank?

(Remember, I'm not attacking anyone...  I'm pointing out what I see as inconsistencies and looking for clarification.)

So if I don't understand this reasoning, and I'm a vegan too... is it not reasonable to expect that your non-vegan loved ones will also miss the point?  And, if that's the case, perhaps a bit of tolerance will go further in helping to promote the cause than a flat out refusal to be even the slightest bit tolerant, which is my point in writing this post...  Tolerance will probably get you more opportunities for dialogue.  And with dialogue can come change.

Regardless of how you are planning on spending your day... We wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!  Or simply, a happy Thursday.  (We'll be back with a post-meal post on Friday.)

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Our Vegan Thanksgiving Menu

Nov 24, 2008 in Holidays

In search of the elusive Celebration Roast, Jane went to our third Whole Foods (two are close by, but we have a third that is not entirely out of our geographic area).  They had the one pound roast.  Woo Hoo!  And, not only was it in stock, but it was on sale...  $5.99 versus $6.99.  So, in typical Jane fashion, she bought two.  Now we have a Tofurky and two Celebration Roasts sitting in our fridge, competing for plate space on Thanksgiving.  One Roast is probably going in the freezer.  After Jane starts cooking, there won't be enough room in the fridge for any surpurflous food.

As you can see below, we've got quite enough food to tide us over for a week -- my favorite part of Thanksgiving -- leftovers until you can't stand them any longer.  Okay, maybe that's not my favorite part, but I do love having the Thanksgiving feast repeatedly.  We typically have containers full of leftovers in the fridge for days.

So here's what we're making:

For dessert, Jane will make her apple pie and a vegan chocolate cake concoction she's been working on.  Sounds like a lot of food, doesn't it?  Especially since we eat our Thanksgiving dinner at home, just us.  We do, however, spend dessert at our cousins house.  And they've always got a full house.

If you're still working on your menu, don't forget, we've got a number of Vegan Thanksgiving Recipes posted.

* Note: If you were planning on making the Vegetarian Plus Whole Turkey, make sure you got/get the package that reads Vegetarian Plus VEGAN Whole Turkey.  The photo in our post, Thanksgiving Options, is of the vegetarian, not vegan, product.  Jane noticed the vegan version in her shopping expedition today.

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What Would T-Day Be Without The Turkey?

Nov 20, 2008 in Holidays

The Wall Street Journal posits the question, "What would T-day feast be without the fowl?"  To answer this question they performed a taste test with four "faux roasts":

  1. The ubiquitous Tofurky, made by Turtle Islands Food, Inc.
  2. Vegetarian Plus Whole Turkey made by California-based VegeUSA.  (I'm not clear whether they tested the vegan or vegetarian version.)
  3. Celebration Roast, this one is made by the Field Roast Grain Meat Co.
  4. Vegetarian Ham and made by All Vegetarian Inc.

Of all the faux roasts, the Celebration Roast won hands down, it even impressed the meat eaters in the crowd.  We've never tried it.  Neither Jane nor I noticed it on our last foray over at Whole Foods (it's not our regular grocery store, so I don't expect we'll be making a trip there before Thanksgiving), but perhaps we'll find it at our Trader Joe's.  Anyway, if the Field Roast sausages are indicative, this is probably a winner.  Jane adores the Field Roast Sausages.

The Vegetarian Ham was their least favorite.  They also had problems with the Vegetarian Plus Whole Turkey, saying testers recoiled at the odor when the foil was removed after roasting.  Not the best recommendation, eh?

We've got a Tofurky sitting in our refrigerator.  Although I expect if Jane spots the Celebration Roast on our next trip to Trader Joe's this week, it'll be coming home with us.

Hat Tip to  Chow.

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