Turkeys!

Look at that beautiful face!

           It is almost Thanksgiving here in the States and I am most definitely looking forward to eating a ton of delicious food.  My wife always makes the best meals for the holidays and since she’s Canadian, and since her Thanksgiving is in October, I get 2 Thanksgiving meals.  What a sweet deal I landed, eh?  Generally speaking, each year we have meals that features new dishes or variations on the old standards that make each holiday unique and never dull.  Not once has there been a meal that’s disappointed.

It’s odd to think that since I used to always associate the holidays with specific dishes and any variation on that would feel catastrophic.  Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, and broccoli casserole were absolute musts and I would eat them until I would collapse.  But now?  Now, each holiday is something new and different – variety truly is the spice of life and I don’t miss the animal-centered meals that used to constitute my traditions at all.  I don’t mind doing something different.  Doing something different has become our tradition.  This brings me to my next point.

Just because something is a tradition, doesn’t mean you have to keep doing it.  We’ve outgrown many traditions as human civilization has advanced without giving it a second thought.  It used to be traditional to use leeches in medical procedures but I don’t see people being treated with leeches in every hospital across the country.  Why?  Because it’d be silly to do so when we have the knowledge to make better decisions.  The same can go for the traditions we hold around our food options.

Why raise turkeys by the millions just to be tortured, killed, and then consumed by us for one or two meals out of the entire year?  Just for tradition’s sake?  Turkeys don’t deserve that weak excuse and if you’ll keep reading, I hope to explain why that is.

To start, turkeys are incredible creatures.  My wife and I were able to discover this firsthand when we visited both the Woodstock Farm Sanctuary and the Farm Sanctuary location in Watkin’s Glen in New York.  They will stroll right up to you if they’re in the mood and let you pet them.  It’s very cool to see how brilliant their colors are in person and to feel how soft their feathers are and how unafraid they are of humans.  It would be like petting someone’s dog or cat that would come rubbing up against your leg.  If they’re feeling particularly friendly, they’ll show off by spreading their tail feathers at you.  I must’ve taken over thirty pictures of all the turkeys I saw while at the two farms.

They are incredibly social and I could’ve watched them cuddle next to each other or walk around in their enclosure together all day.  Not only that but turkeys can identify each other by the noises each makes and can form bonds with each other that lasts forever.  Their mothers will also sleep with her poults (baby turkeys) under her wings at night until they can be on their own.  I had no idea but their heads can also change color depending on their emotional state.  This may also blow your mind:  wild turkeys can fly.  What’s more, turkeys can adjust their sight to gain a 360-degree view.  I think the coolest fact, however, is that they have such an amazing memory for location that they can recall a place they’ve been only once before.  Turkeys in the wild can have a roaming range of up to 1,000 acres and can remember where they found food the previous year and return there in hopes of finding food again.

Sadly, there are way too many turkeys that don’t make it to safe havens like the ones I visited last year.  Millions of turkeys are raised and killed each year for those holiday meals.  Right from birth they know only terrible conditions.  Most of the turkeys raised will never feel the grass under their feet or the sun on their heads.  More and more turkeys are being consumed and so bigger and bigger turkeys are in demand.  To reach this goal, most are genetically enhanced to reach a weight that they would never achieve in nature.  These overgrown turkeys suffer health issues because their frames were never meant to carry the weight.  Think of all those supermarket tabloids or the daytime TV shows that show morbidly obese humans that are over 400 pounds.  Just like our bodies weren’t meant to carry that much weight, neither are turkeys’ bodies.  Remember how I said wild turkeys can fly?  Unfortunately, domesticated birds can’t due to their larger frames.

Since they are crammed into tightly packed barns where they only receive a few feet of space to stand or sit, many turkeys suffer from incredible stress.  Imagine being crammed into a bus or train and being stuck squished between people you don’t know for any amount of time.  You’d go insane within five minutes.  Imagine having that for your entire life.  Due to the stress turkeys feel, they have to be painfully de-toed and de-beaked to avoid them attacking and injuring each other.  The process is performed on newborn poults with shears or a hot blade and without any pain medicine.

Sadly, within just a few months of age and due to the genetic manipulation to increase their size, the turkeys that are sent to slaughter can be injured by the rough treatment they experience during the shipping process and many die even before they reach the slaughterhouse.  No matter if you are buying a “humanely raised” turkey (which is a bullshit expression no matter what you were told or what you believe) or not, all turkeys are hung upside down for slaughter while they are both alive and conscious of the process.  Not only is the process barbaric but there is such disgusting conditions on these farms that the chances a turkey is covered in some sort of disgusting by-product of other animals is probably quite high.

You don’t need me to tell you that turkeys face terrible conditions at the slaughterhouses.  You probably have heard or seen reports from such places that service familiar turkey companies like Butterball.  Sadly, such stories tend not to be the exception to the rule.  Cruelty abounds in the animal food service like with THIS story.

This all brings me to my next topic.  If you feel sad over the conditions these smart and beautiful creatures feel and you want to do something to help the few that make it out of those conditions alive, I highly urge you to donate to Farm Sanctuary.  Currently you have the chance to ‘adopt’ a turkey for just thirty dollars.  That thirty dollars will go to help care for the turkeys at Farm Sanctuary.  It’s such an easy thing to do and the feeling you’ll get knowing you helped improve their life is worth it.  If you don’t want to adopt one or if you are reading this and they don’t have their annual adoption drive, then you can always make a donation for all of the animals at their locations because not only have turkeys suffered, all farmed animals have suffered.  We’ve adopted turkeys in previous years and this year we’ve adopted Cecilia (Who is so cute.  Just go look at her inquisitive stare!).

I can hear you ask, “But what about my turkey at Thanksgiving [or any holiday]?!  What do I do instead?”

Fear not!  There are plenty of options out there nowadays for you to try.  Tofurky still has one of the best go-to options for those craving a turkey substitute.  Quite honestly?  Their roast is very good with gravy and I never thought I’d ever eat anything from a company called “Tofurky”.  Seriously, give it a shot if you can.  Not only that but a great company called Field Roast has a few options for you to try (also quite good!).  You could always try your hand at homemade roasts using seitan if you feel confident in your cooking skills.  My wife has made a few homemade seitan dishes during the holidays and they have all been amazing.  They might not taste the same as that turkey did but when you combine the knowledge that you aren’t hurting another living being and you’re eating a bit healthier, you won’t even care.  Many of the vegan roast options also have a similar consistency as animal flesh so if you’re just craving that experience, you won’t be lacking in that department either.  Or you could just as easily make several amazing vegan dishes without any animal flesh substitutions.  You are only limited by your imagination and the amount of spices you can throw together.

"See? Going turkey-free is easy as can be!"

See, who needs those silly food traditions when you can try cool, new, and even tastier options?  Besides, eating turkeys at Thanksgiving only really came about in the 19^th century.  We think of the first Thanksgiving meal coming shortly after the arrival of the pilgrims to the New England area.  That leaves a few hundred years where turkeys were not apart of any fall celebration.  So, as easily as turkeys became apart of our traditions, so to can it become separated from our traditions.  It just takes one meal to start things off for you!  If I can do it, anyone can!

If you’re vegan or vegetarian, and you’re reading this, what is it that you do  for food around the holidays?  Let me know!

I hope you all have an awesome and safe Thanksgiving this year filled with good times and great food!  I shall update about the meal we will have on my next post.  Since my wife is making dinner tonight, the house is filling with mouth-watering smells that are making it difficult for me to concentrate on writing.  I will have to end this here and try to sneak a bite or two before we eat.  Until then, keep calm and vegan on!

To learn more about Farm Sanctuary and/or their turkey adoptions, go HERE.  They’re also on a number of social media sites including Twitter at: @FarmSanctuary

To learn more about Tofurky, go HERE.  They, too, are on Twitter at: @Tofurky

To learn more about Field Roast, go HERE.  They are also on Twitter at: @fieldroast
For more on turkeys, go HERE or HERE.

Social Outings: Part 1 of – Let’s Say – 1 Billion

            Holy frijoles, Batman!  I had no idea so many people would take a gander at my last entry.  Thanks for the views and I hope it was entertaining.

            There are a lot of things I wanted to get to but I think those will wait for a few days.  Another restaurant review and my first book review are coming up.  Yeah, you heard me – more food pictures to drool over.

            No, what I wanted to mention in this entry is probably the one and only thing that has been a slight annoyance since going vegan.  No, not the lack of meat or dairy (like so many of my omnivore friends have asked), but the persona non grata vibe I sometimes feel when it comes to social outings with friends.  I call it (as of right now) the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Syndrome, because like Rudolph I’m never invited to play in reindeer – I mean – human games.  (Quick thought: perhaps Rudolph wasn’t invited not because of his nose, but because he was vegan?)

"My veganism will allow me to be the most qualified reindeer for this job!"

Perhaps it’s the workings of my already paranoid mind, but whenever there are outings to restaurants or fast food joints I seem to be forgotten about.  I know my friends don’t mean to do that on purpose, either.  It’s totally subconscious but I think I know why it happens.

            First, let me reiterate the fact that I don’t think I’m being forgotten about on purpose.  My friends are awesome people and I’m not walking home as if I’m Charlie Brown.  Okay?  Got it?  Friends = good.  That should save me from any hassle from my friends.  Moving on.

"Veganism didn't cure my early onset balding. SIGH!"

            That being said, I shall give you one example that happened just recently.

            I was at work and a few of my coworkers were trying to gather a group to go to some place to eat after they all got out for the night.  That place changed from Denny’s to some burger joint (I’ve forgotten which one).  Either way: ew.  Despite there only being about 4-5 of us in the area when the plans were being drafted, nobody seemed to address me specifically.  I wasn’t annoyed; on the contrary, I was quite amused because I knew I could get a lot of material out of this for the rest of the shift.

After a few minutes I piped in and said something along the lines of, “No, I’m all right, guys.  I don’t need want to go but thanks.”

There were a few sarcastic replies but one coworker said something like, “Matthew, you wanna come?  You know you’re invited.”

From there, several sarcastic comments were bandied about but I assured them that I was fine and couldn’t go anyway.  I really couldn’t due to obligations I already had.  That didn’t stop me from being sarcastic the rest of the night by saying the various, “It seems everyone’s going but me… since I wasn’t invited.”  While I didn’t care too much about not going out to eat, I guess the more I thought about it, the more a small part of me was a bit irked that I really hadn’t even been addressed when plans were made.  I didn’t even care if they were going to some burger joint.  That wasn’t the point.

The point was, I like to socialize, too!  That’s what I think omnivores sometimes forget and why I was ignored from the initial conversation.  So many of our interactions outside of work take place around food that they forget that what they’re really doing is bonding.  Food just happens to be a part of that whole social exchange.  What’s more, vegans like to socialize and have friends just like everyone else.  Shocking, I know!  I didn’t want to go because I wanted to eat a burger.  I wanted to go because I wanted to talk and engage in fun conversation.  As someone who tends to lean toward introversion, I tend to cherish the few times I am invited somewhere.

That’s why I don’t think omnivores do things like that on purpose – at least, not to me.  I think once you take out the food equation, omnivores think, “Well, they clearly wouldn’t want to be in a place that is serving the foods we like,” and then they go about scrubbing our names from the list of ‘People To Invite Out’.  It may be true that I don’t like the food but it’s not like I haven’t been to family functions or work events that have served animals.  I just ignore it, content myself with the fact that I’m doing good by the animals and to myself, and carry on unless somebody asks me about veganism.  Generally, my veganism never ever comes up.

Not only that but most places they like serves at least one dish that I can enjoy.  Even a garden salad is something for me to eat.  Everyone worries I’m going to be wanting whenever I go somewhere.  Then they open the menu and find several items that are already vegan or vegetarian that can easily be turned vegan.  It amuses me.  Besides, in the unlikely event that no food is available it will not kill me to wait a half-hour to go home and find something to eat.

No, omnivores just forget that we like to talk.  Plain and simple.  Doesn’t mean I can’t give them a good ribbing for forgetting me from time to time.

I suppose we just need to work on tearing down those mental blockers people tend to have.  Maybe t-shirts need to be made?

“I’m Vegan But I Still Want To Be Friends!”  For some (obvious) reason I’m picturing a cow and a pig hugging.  Get on this, creative people!

Does anyone else have experience with this phenomenon or had different thoughts about why it happens?  Like I said, I am not sitting in the dark listening to Morrissey (a vegetarian, by the way!) while I lament about not having friends.  I HAVE friends and they are great.  I like observing people and their behaviors is all and since going vegan, I’ve been getting good at it.

HOW IS THIS PICTURE EVEN REAL?!

QUICK DISCLAIMER:  I am sitting in the dark but I’m not listening to Morrissey.  It’s Coldplay.  But it’s not because I’m depressed and alone!  I swear. Ha

Until next time, keep calm and vegan on!

P.S. - The picture of Morrissey comes from THIS site.  The picture of Charlie Brown was grabbed from HERE.  The image of Rudolph was just a stock picture from Google.