Thanksgiving Is Actually the Perfect Opportunity for a Vegetarian Meal

There were several years of my life, mostly in college, in which I refused to eat any animal products. Meat was certainly off limits, but so was dairy, eggs, even honey. I went fully vegan, luckily falling short of the weird raw food diet craze that had teenagers surviving almost entirely off of bunches of bananas.

Even my more mainstream veganism, though, caused some in my circle concern about how I was possibly eating enough protein, how I could find acceptable food to eat while I was traveling, how I could even go to dinner at a friend’s house if they didn’t follow my same strict food rules. Admittedly, these were valid concerns: It sometimes was difficult to find food while I was away from home, and it certainly did kill the mood when I revealed my dietary preferences at a summertime BBQ.

But I soon noticed that there was one event that spurred more indignance at my diet choices than any other: Thanksgiving. How could I possibly give up animal products on Thanksgiving? I guess it’s one thing to refuse a hamburger in February or forgo shrimp cocktail in June, but the idea of me turning down turkey on Thanksgiving was, to many people around me, utterly incomprehensible.

This is a sentiment I’ve never truly understood. If there’s one holiday that’s famous for its subpar meat, it has to be Thanksgiving. Turkey is almost universally understood as bland, dry and ultimately, boring. It’s chicken’s more unfortunate-tasting cousin. According to FinanceBuzz, a full 50% of the whole bird turkeys we eat in the U.S. are consumed on Thanksgiving Day alone; that means that for the rest of the year, we’re not eating much of the alternative poultry option, probably because it’s just not that good.

To me (and to many others out there), the best part of Thanksgiving isn’t about the turkey at all—it’s about the sides, most if not all of which are conspicuously meat-free. In fact, most of them can easily be made vegan. Stuffing, cranberry sauce, mac and cheese, roasted vegetables: these are the foods that have most of us excited to spend time with our families and friends over the dinner table.

Turkey itself seems to be more about tradition than anything else. But in an age when we’re questioning what it is that we’re celebrating on Thanksgiving—many view the holiday as a wholly inappropriate celebration of the genocide of the indigenous people who lived on this land before it was colonized by Columbus—now seems like the perfect time to buck the traditions that no longer serve us. It’s long past time that we pretend that Thanksgiving doesn’t mark a period of extremely dark history on this land. Unless we white European-descended people in the States are eating dry turkey to punish ourselves for the sins of our ancestors, it’s probably time to stop pretending that turkey is actually flavorful, too. 

The sad, bland flavor profile of turkey juxtaposed with the exciting collection of side dishes that line our dining room tables on the holiday should be an indication that we might be happier with more of a plant-based holiday, where we can celebrate the joy of a well-made stuffing without feeling obligated to eat another piece of barely salted turkey breast. Of course, you don’t have to be vegan or vegetarian to indulge in a side-centric holiday; you just have to have some sense of independence, of creativity, of strength to stand up to your meat-crazed family members.

Will the lack of a big bird centerpiece be jarring to some seated around the table? Almost certainly. But I believe that when faced with an assortment of particularly well-curated sides, even the most insistent meat eaters can be convinced to change their ways. That is, of course, as long as you still make gravy (which can be vegetarian or not), as it may be the most essential element bringing everything at the table together.

If you do decide to opt for a meat-free Thanksgiving, you may be wondering whether you should invest in some sort of processed meat alternative. Tofurkey is the classic example, of course, but these days, you can find a slew of fake turkey products in grocery stores across the country. Go for it if you want, but these processed monstrosities are unappealing for all the same reasons turkey is: They tend to be flavorless, dry and sometimes even rubbery. Why even bother when you can spend more time working on making the sides as delicious as they can be?

Veganism and vegetarianism may not be for everyone, but we can all benefit by reducing our meat and animal product intake from time to time. I just happen to think that Thanksgiving is the best time to do it. If you, like me, reject the gospel of the turkey, if you believe, as I do, that the best of Thanksgiving dinner happens on the table’s periphery, then join me in taking this brave stance against a meat-focused Thanksgiving meal. The turkeys will thank you.

Samantha Maxwell is a food writer and editor based in Boston. Follow her on Twitter at @samseating.