Thanksgiving Advice for Vegetarians
Thanksgiving may be the hardest time of year to be the family's lone vegetarian. "You don't want turkey?" family members might pry. "Just try it." Meanwhile, you're doing everything you can to explain to them that no, your vegetarianism is not just a phase, and no, you don't want a taste, because it will not change your mind. Luckily, there are usually plenty of veggie options on the table for anyone foregoing turkey day's namesake dish.
Corey Colwell-Lipson, who, along with her mother Lynn Colwell, has been my source for all things Thanksgiving for the past few days (See How to Have a Green Thanksgiving and Save Money, and my Guide to Starting Green Thanksgiving Traditions here), has been a vegetarian since she was 15 years old, and has been subjected to questioning about her diet at traditional Thanksgiving dinners. "I've been there, I've had those conversations with grandparents," said Colwell-Lipson. "I think the best way to diffuse it is with humor."
Vegetarians usually needn't fear having nothing to eat at Thanksgiving - there are an abundance of side dishes that will pass muster. At the same time, it's often polite to ask if you can bring your own vegetarian or vegan dish to make things less uncomfortable for your host.
"I was very lucky to have celebrated Thanksgiving with college friend who was vegetarian," said Colwell-Lipson. "It always struck me how abundant their table was, with beautiful foods made from seasonal squash, especially."
You could even bring the vegetarian Thanksgiving staple, a Tofurky. "Give people a taste - they're often so surprised because they've gotten better over the years," said Colwell-Lipson. Another option is Quorn, a meat substitute made of mushrooms.
As proud as you may be to have become a vegetarian, Thanksgiving is probably the wrong time to lecture family members about how going meatless can save them money, improve their health and lessen their impact on the planet.
"I think that Thanksgiving dinner is not the time to have a conversation about the reasons you may be a vegetarian," said Colwell-Lipson. "There should be conversations about that in the family, but Thanksgiving dinner may not be the time. Just say, 'I'm so enjoying this lasagna. Thank you for making it. Next year, I'd love to bring my special recipe.'"
Tags: Thanksgiving | environment | holidays | vegetarianism
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A Thanksgiving Thought For All You Enviro-Vegans ...This Ought To Get Your Blood Pressure Up
THE OUTDOORS - “SORRY, WE’RE CLOSED”
BY: R.L. Schaefer
I saw the writing on the wall in 1988 when they began to eradicate all the Nonnative animals on Catalina. Animals who had lived there for hundreds of years wiped out - In order to protect the “native” brush - Which, of course, became overgrown and burned down half the island 2 years ago.
I saw it again, when they closed down camp grounds and roads, and stopped stocking fish along the Sespe in Ventura County. My kids were shut out of places where I grew up hunting and fishing. Again, in the name of restoration of native species and the destruction of those deemed, “nonnative”.
It happened again under Bill Clinton and his “Roadless Forrest Plan”... More “public land”, closed forever to the “public”.
It occurred, yet again, when the National Park Service spent millions on another, “Nonnative Species Final Solution” on the Channel Islands in order to enforce the dogma of Environmentalism.
Recreational opportunities again suffered with the ban on lead bullets in half of California, just 2 months ago.
And now, most streams, lakes and rivers in California have been closed to stocking fish, after nearly one hundred years of the practice. Again, because of litigation by Environmental Groups.
These closures are happening in every state in the nation - Always because of some violation of the Ethics of Environmentalism.
Now, Kern River has now been closed... Again, my kids have lost yet another opportunity to camp and fish. Again, allegedly, because of concern for one environmental ethic or another.
But, those of us who actually use the outdoors know it has little to do with “real” issues” - “real” problems. Rather, it has to do with simply keeping people away from nature unless they are a member of the religion of Environmentalism.
It is plain that Environmentalism has evolved into Neo-Paganism - An old religion with a new set of clothes.
They control politicians, the media, courts, schools and the bureaucracies of government. Unfortunately, it is far too late to rid ourselves of, what has become, our "State Religion". It has swept through our towns, cities and schools like a whirlwind over the past 3 decades... It’s propaganda and intolerant dogma now accepted as truth and science.
Their creed is simple;
"All forms of human endeavor are evil.
The only permissible interaction between man and nature is restoration, conservation, preservation and veneration."
Unless you subscribe to their creed they simply don't want you in the outdoors. Afterall, without accepting the, “The Creed”, how could you show due reverence to Mother Nature.
Whenever my kids ask why they can't fish or hunt in places we once did - Or why they don't stock fish in streams and lakes any longer... and when they wonder aloud about more closed roads and campgrounds - every year. I simply say to them, "They just don't want you out there... There's no "real reason" or logic. The enviros only want folks in limited areas who will simply worship nature and nothing else is acceptable. Locked gates, closed campgrounds and bans on all types of recreation is their answer. You must accept that it will never change - only worsen”
And so, now we have lost the Kern River and most of the the Sierras to fishing - and a hundred other lakes, rivers and streams, through out the state, as well. Resorts and campgrounds will close - their owners now bankrupt. Motels, restaurants, gas stations, tourist towns will be economically destroyed. Outdoor recreational opportunities for future generations lost - forever.
I see our nation’s wild places ringed with gates and fences - A barrier that keeps us, we the people, confined to our prisons of concrete and asphalt. A future of sterile veneration of nature - without touching ...without actually living in, or experiencing it... A dull, sullen future when gray , flaccid people only worry about how to mitigate their perceived sins against it.
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