It's All About Tradition
Originally published 11-22-07
Don't mess with tradition
By Kelvin Wade
| | November 22, 2007 00:40
| | November 22, 2007 00:40
Ian Thompson wrote an interesting story on vegetarians and Thanksgiving this week. Vegetarians are sparing turkeys and having alternative dishes this Thanksgiving.
Meanwhile, my brothers and I will be dispatching no less than three of the 40 million turkeys that will be consumed this year. Turkey, resting on its back, all succulent and golden brown, is a tradition. The sacrifice of the turkey has been bringing families together for generations in this country. Who am I to mess with tradition? Some say the holiday is about family and not the carcass on the table. Wrong. It's about family surrounding a carcass on the table.
I always hate when the vegans trot out the old, 'turkeys are abused' canard every year. I'll grant them that they're not the brightest animals on the planet, getting fattened up and not noticing as the flock gets smaller and smaller as we approach November. But because turkey goes so well with stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce, I don't care if Jason from the Friday the 13th movies is the chef responsible for getting that bird to my plate.
Okay, I don't want any animal tortured. But PETA and the like don't really object to us eating turkeys because of how they're treated. If turkeys were housed in individual cages with Pergo flooring, granite countertops, crushed velvet lined beds with daily massages, Mozart piped in through a Bose speaker system, fed high quality foods and then dispatched via lethal injection in their sleep, it wouldn't be good enough for the vegans. Their issue is with eating animals period.
And rest assured I'm going to eat that bird. As you may have learned this week, my brother Tony is afraid of birds but not turkeys. He even prefers making something called a Thanksgiving burrito that I don't even want to know about. Either way, the birds are going down. One of the vegetarians in the article pointed out that a vegetarian meal is healthier. So now turkey is responsible for obesity? Really? Because every other day of the year, we're being preached to that turkey is one of the healthiest meats you can eat. Ground turkey gives you way less fat than ground beef. So the rest of the year, the diet police are trying to get us to eat more turkey and on the biggest turkey day of the year, we're told turkey will fatten us up. Huh?
According to the article, many people will be having faux meat instead of a turkey this year. Some vegetarians who stopped eating meat for ethical reasons object to pretending to eat meat. But to each their own. While you go to town on that 'tofurkey' I'm going to be polishing the bones of the real thing. One other thing. Vegetables are alive, too. Why is it terrible to eat an animal but perfectly OK to harvest veggies? Is it because veggies can't cry or scream? We cringe when someone lops off a turkey's head but feel nothing if someone breaks an ear of corn of a stalk. Why is that? Why is there no PETV? Side dishes get no respect.
Bon Appetite. Peace.
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NOTES: No, you shouldn't reduce Thanksgiving down to a turkey dinner. But it's that turkey dinner that facilitates all of the magic of the holiday. It's why people hit the road and hit the airports to get together with friends and loved ones. There's something about being in a house full of people with the aroma of turkey in the background, football on the TV and laughter reverberating throughout a living room.
It's a time to count your blessings. You get together with friends and loved ones because they're the most important assets in your life. As the Stylistics would say, people make the world go round. And if coming together for a hearty meal results in good times, it's all worth it.
Telling people they shouldn't eat turkey on Thanksgiving is like telling people they shouldn't exchange gifts on Christmas, shouldn't drink on New Year's Eve and shouldn't barbecue on the 4th of July. Come on now!
A note about the column. I had to change one thing for clarity's sake. I originally had the line, "But because turkey goes so well with stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce, I don't care if Jason Voorhees is the chef responsible for getting that bird to my plate. Chi-chi-chi-chi Ha-ha-ha-ha." I liked the way that went but I thought that some people, if not many people might not get the Jason Voorhees reference or the infamous Jason sound of chi chi chi chi ha ha ha ha. So I changed it to spell out who Jason was. I left the sound in there but I guess the editor thought it would be too confusing.
I get it. If you want your Thanksgiving table to just rock veggies and side dishes and faux meat, then go for it. Do that. This is America, after all. But don't tell me not to smother that bird with gravy and consume it. Happy Thanksgiving!
You can check out my other blog HERE.
Please post a comment on the DR blog. You can remain anonymous. All you do is choose a name and put an email address. You don't need to add a URL or anything. Just post something. Thank you.
Meanwhile, my brothers and I will be dispatching no less than three of the 40 million turkeys that will be consumed this year. Turkey, resting on its back, all succulent and golden brown, is a tradition. The sacrifice of the turkey has been bringing families together for generations in this country. Who am I to mess with tradition? Some say the holiday is about family and not the carcass on the table. Wrong. It's about family surrounding a carcass on the table.
I always hate when the vegans trot out the old, 'turkeys are abused' canard every year. I'll grant them that they're not the brightest animals on the planet, getting fattened up and not noticing as the flock gets smaller and smaller as we approach November. But because turkey goes so well with stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce, I don't care if Jason from the Friday the 13th movies is the chef responsible for getting that bird to my plate.
Okay, I don't want any animal tortured. But PETA and the like don't really object to us eating turkeys because of how they're treated. If turkeys were housed in individual cages with Pergo flooring, granite countertops, crushed velvet lined beds with daily massages, Mozart piped in through a Bose speaker system, fed high quality foods and then dispatched via lethal injection in their sleep, it wouldn't be good enough for the vegans. Their issue is with eating animals period.
And rest assured I'm going to eat that bird. As you may have learned this week, my brother Tony is afraid of birds but not turkeys. He even prefers making something called a Thanksgiving burrito that I don't even want to know about. Either way, the birds are going down. One of the vegetarians in the article pointed out that a vegetarian meal is healthier. So now turkey is responsible for obesity? Really? Because every other day of the year, we're being preached to that turkey is one of the healthiest meats you can eat. Ground turkey gives you way less fat than ground beef. So the rest of the year, the diet police are trying to get us to eat more turkey and on the biggest turkey day of the year, we're told turkey will fatten us up. Huh?
According to the article, many people will be having faux meat instead of a turkey this year. Some vegetarians who stopped eating meat for ethical reasons object to pretending to eat meat. But to each their own. While you go to town on that 'tofurkey' I'm going to be polishing the bones of the real thing. One other thing. Vegetables are alive, too. Why is it terrible to eat an animal but perfectly OK to harvest veggies? Is it because veggies can't cry or scream? We cringe when someone lops off a turkey's head but feel nothing if someone breaks an ear of corn of a stalk. Why is that? Why is there no PETV? Side dishes get no respect.
Bon Appetite. Peace.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
NOTES: No, you shouldn't reduce Thanksgiving down to a turkey dinner. But it's that turkey dinner that facilitates all of the magic of the holiday. It's why people hit the road and hit the airports to get together with friends and loved ones. There's something about being in a house full of people with the aroma of turkey in the background, football on the TV and laughter reverberating throughout a living room.
It's a time to count your blessings. You get together with friends and loved ones because they're the most important assets in your life. As the Stylistics would say, people make the world go round. And if coming together for a hearty meal results in good times, it's all worth it.
Telling people they shouldn't eat turkey on Thanksgiving is like telling people they shouldn't exchange gifts on Christmas, shouldn't drink on New Year's Eve and shouldn't barbecue on the 4th of July. Come on now!
A note about the column. I had to change one thing for clarity's sake. I originally had the line, "But because turkey goes so well with stuffing, gravy and cranberry sauce, I don't care if Jason Voorhees is the chef responsible for getting that bird to my plate. Chi-chi-chi-chi Ha-ha-ha-ha." I liked the way that went but I thought that some people, if not many people might not get the Jason Voorhees reference or the infamous Jason sound of chi chi chi chi ha ha ha ha. So I changed it to spell out who Jason was. I left the sound in there but I guess the editor thought it would be too confusing.
I get it. If you want your Thanksgiving table to just rock veggies and side dishes and faux meat, then go for it. Do that. This is America, after all. But don't tell me not to smother that bird with gravy and consume it. Happy Thanksgiving!
You can check out my other blog HERE.
Please post a comment on the DR blog. You can remain anonymous. All you do is choose a name and put an email address. You don't need to add a URL or anything. Just post something. Thank you.
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