Sarah Knudson

Have you ever noticed how meat-centric our culture is in America?  From the Thanksgiving turkey to Easter ham to hamburgers and hot dogs on the 4th of July!  Plus, most American families have house hold favorites when celebrating any significant event such has homemade fried chicken, meatloaf and potatoes or steak and french fries.  It seems that every where I turn, if we are celebrating we must do it at the expense of an animal’s life.  To me it seems so contradictory.  Death is sad, dark and depressing.  These qualities are the exact opposite of what we should be emphasizing.

Of course, it makes sense historically.  Meat used to be a highly sought commodity.  It was rare to eat meat and thus, in times of celebration the extra expense was spent to indulge in a large feast.  Of course, since the early 1900′s, the availability of meat, seafood and poultry has steadily grown.  Meat is no longer a rare extravagance; it is viewed as a necessity during each meal…that’s 3 times a day for most Americans!

So, as a vegetarian and someone that is uncomfortable  just being around dead animals (even if they are carefully presented on a plate), how do I handle this?  How am I able to still participate in celebrations such as holidays and family get togethers?  Well…to put it easily (and very honestly), it’s really hard.  I wish I had a better answer, but at the end of the day, we all have to choose our battles.  During times of celebration, I tend to talk to the host ahead of time to see what type of accommodations could be made that would make the event more comfortable for me and other vegetarians.  I have always found that the host is more than happy to make adjustments.

Just this past Thanksgiving, I spent the day with my family. The host was my cousin and she took it upon herself to prepared the turkey the day before and carved it ahead of time.  I didn’t even have to ask !   Plus, she suggested that I bring over my toaster oven so that we could heat up dishes in a vegetarian-friendly space.  This made it much more comfortable for me!  When it came time for dinner, she set up a buffet which was wonderful because I didn’t have to deal with passing large plates of turkey.  It was the best Thanksgiving celebration that I have had in terms of veggie-friendly.  In gratitude, I brought several vegetarian dishes to share and was happy to see everyone enjoying them.  In fact, I was asked for the recipes from most of the guests!!!

Until the world goes vegetarian (fingers crossed), meat-centric celebrations will remain to be a difficult time for vegetarians.  The thing to remember is that if done with kindness and honesty, accommodations are usually welcomed and you can promote kindness to animals by offering vegetarian-friendly dishes.

{ 4 comments }