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By muchagecko (Fri Nov 24, 2006 at 09:39:29 PM EST) Thanksgiving, tofurkey, vegetarian (all tags)
Why is vegetarianism so hard for meat-eaters to understand?

I've been asked a dozen times this year:

"What do you eat on Thanksgiving? Tofurkey?"

My reply is always polite, but I'd like to slap the questioner upside the head and say "What does everybody eat on Thanksgiving?"

This Thanksgiving I had: mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, baked ziti, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, olives, pickles, broccoli, fresh homemade rolls, ambrosia, carrots, salad, and pumpkin pie ala mode.

I've always thought Thanksgiving was one of the best meals to be invited to as a vegetarian. No worries about not having enough to eat.

I've never had 'tofurkey'. Although since so many meat-eaters have suggested it to me, I wonder if it's any good.

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tofurkey
- good 14%
- disgusting 42%
- don't know 42%
- WIPO 0%

Votes: 7
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tofurkey | 51 comments (51 topical, 0 hidden)
I understand vegetarianism by komet (4.00 / 2) #1 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 03:43:46 AM EST
but I don't understand people who eat the same thing every year based on the calendar.

--
<ni> komet: You are functionally illiterate as regards trashy erotica.
ritual feasts are fun, IMHO. by muchagecko (4.00 / 1) #8 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 08:39:05 AM EST
Without them, I imagine America wouldn't be the fatty-fat-fat country it is.

The only people to get even with are those that have helped you.
[ Parent ]
frankly, if Americans understood feasting by gzt (4.00 / 2) #30 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 04:35:52 PM EST
they wouldn't be the fat country they are.

[ Parent ]
What I don't understand by ad hoc (4.00 / 3) #2 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 05:18:35 AM EST
is why so many vegitarians want things that taste like meat. During the Big Boston HuSi Meet of Aught-4, we met at Buddha's Delight, a veg*an place in Chinatown. The menu things like: I had the "scallops"
--
Hypocrisy is the resin that holds the plywood of society together
because meat is tasty by 256 (4.00 / 2) #6 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 07:47:21 AM EST
doesn't seem that hard to understand
---
I don't think anyone's ever really died from smoking. --ni
[ Parent ]
Not for everyone. by muchagecko (4.00 / 1) #10 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 08:46:42 AM EST
Meat tastes like death to me. Dead and yucky.

I understand that many people like the taste of dead. I often prepare dead animals for my family to eat. They seem to enjoy it.

The only people to get even with are those that have helped you.

[ Parent ]
how strange... by nathan (2.00 / 0) #17 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 10:47:24 AM EST
Are you accustomed to eating live things? I'm certainly not.

AUBREY: He only ate it once it was dead.

MATURIN: It would have been a strangely hasty, agitated meal otherwise.

[ Parent ]
There's some Japanese dish by muchagecko (2.00 / 0) #19 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 10:59:41 AM EST
that's eaten live. But those Japanese live on the culinary edge.

The only people to get even with are those that have helped you.
[ Parent ]
once upon a time in a tokyo sushi bar by R343L (4.00 / 1) #29 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 04:34:32 PM EST
Something sitting on a large shell kind of oozed out of the shell and started a trek down the chilled glass case.

Rachael

"There will be time, there will be time / To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet." -- Eliot

[ Parent ]
Oysters! by ad hoc (4.00 / 2) #23 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 12:03:36 PM EST

--
Hypocrisy is the resin that holds the plywood of society together
[ Parent ]
too rich for my blood = by nathan (2.00 / 0) #33 Sun Nov 26, 2006 at 03:44:45 AM EST


[ Parent ]
But you eat eggs? by Dr H0ffm4n (4.00 / 1) #47 Mon Nov 27, 2006 at 04:35:10 AM EST
Surely that's like embryonic death.

[ Parent ]
I'd feel worse if by muchagecko (2.00 / 0) #50 Mon Nov 27, 2006 at 02:03:57 PM EST
the eggs were fertilized. But they're not. The eggs I eat would never become little chicks.

The only people to get even with are those that have helped you.
[ Parent ]
they're not free range then? by Dr H0ffm4n (4.00 / 2) #51 Tue Nov 28, 2006 at 01:34:27 AM EST


[ Parent ]
I guess a lot of vegetarians by muchagecko (4.00 / 1) #9 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 08:44:01 AM EST
want the taste of meat, without the guilt?

I can't stand the taste of dead animals. Why would I want dead-tasting meat substitutes?

Were the scallops good? I'd have hated the dish if it tasted like little dead mollusks.

The only people to get even with are those that have helped you.

[ Parent ]
No by ad hoc (4.00 / 1) #24 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 12:04:55 PM EST
I didn't like it. But then, they really weren't set up to handle large crowds. But no, I didn't think it was good at all. And it didn't taste like scallops, either.
--
Hypocrisy is the resin that holds the plywood of society together
[ Parent ]
Friends by ucblockhead (4.00 / 2) #25 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 02:28:02 PM EST
Most fake meat is there so that the vegetarians can convince their friends to accompany them.
---
[ucblockhead is] useless and subhuman
[ Parent ]
meat substitutes == disgusting, usually by gzt (4.00 / 2) #3 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 05:24:56 AM EST
so I would never try tofurkey.

I agree with you. by muchagecko (2.00 / 0) #11 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 08:51:31 AM EST
I like the meat substitutes that don't taste anything like meat. I find meat substitutes make cooking meat for my family easier. One pot with meat, one pot with meat substitute.

The only people to get even with are those that have helped you.
[ Parent ]
tofu is good on its own terms... by gzt (4.00 / 2) #31 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 04:37:02 PM EST
...I don't have to try to make it taste like turkey. shuck that jive, sister! shuck all that jive!

[ Parent ]
I don't know, by muchagecko (2.00 / 0) #32 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 06:49:57 PM EST
about tofu tacos. I've gotten used to the TVP ones.

The only people to get even with are those that have helped you.
[ Parent ]
tofu tacos sound disgusting. n/t by gzt (4.00 / 1) #34 Sun Nov 26, 2006 at 09:18:11 AM EST


[ Parent ]
Good? by ambrosen (4.00 / 1) #40 Sun Nov 26, 2006 at 01:41:03 PM EST
That's a rather understated way of saying that it's the uber food.

[ Parent ]
people look at me funny sometimes by gzt (4.00 / 1) #42 Sun Nov 26, 2006 at 03:56:55 PM EST
I order pad khee mao tofu and they're like, are you vegetarian? and I'm like, tofu is awesome?

[ Parent ]
Exactly by ambrosen (4.00 / 1) #46 Mon Nov 27, 2006 at 01:56:11 AM EST
I sympathise with the people who don't put tofu and beef combinations on their restaurant menus, but they really are excellent together.

I take it you aren't eating meat right now, anyway.

[ Parent ]
Mushrooms are a pretty good meat substitute by debacle (4.00 / 1) #35 Sun Nov 26, 2006 at 11:23:56 AM EST
But pretty expensive, if you don't harvest your own.
IF YOU HAVE TWO FIRLES THOROWNF MONEY ART SUOCIDE GIRLS STRIPPER HPW CAN YPUS :OSE?!?!?!?(elcevisides).

[ Parent ]
well, by substitute... by gzt (4.00 / 1) #38 Sun Nov 26, 2006 at 12:01:03 PM EST
I meant something like "veggie burger" or "tofurkey" or some such, something designed to behave like and even taste like meat, not something you're often able to successful replace meat with in recipes. mushrooms are quite good.

[ Parent ]
Portobella burgers are the shiznit! [nt] by vorheesleatherface (4.00 / 1) #48 Mon Nov 27, 2006 at 06:43:55 AM EST



[ Parent ]
The good thing about tofu by greyrat (4.00 / 2) #4 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 05:34:00 AM EST
is you really can make it taste like anything. I mean, soak it in au jus and it will taste like roast beef. The texture however leaves a lot to be desired. Of course, soaking in au jus kind of defeats and veg*an intentions anyway.

Nice to see that you're a sensible vegetarian. They don't whine about the very rare 6 pound beef tenderloin I cooked to supplement our 20 pound turkey this year. Mmmmmmmm. delicious meaty goodness...

BTW: YOU ATE EMBRYOS YOU EVIL PERSON!!! Mmmmmm. deviled embryos...

Tofu rocks. by muchagecko (4.00 / 2) #12 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 08:54:48 AM EST
Even the crazy guy I live with likes tofu. It's teh awesome.

I don't feel bad about eating unfertilized eggs. They'd never become chicks - so I don't even think of them as embryos.

The only people to get even with are those that have helped you.

[ Parent ]
I like by MillMan (4.00 / 2) #21 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 11:13:29 AM EST
most morningstar brand products. I usually have a box of the chicken nuggets in my freezer. I like tofo in Asian dishes as well, although at restaurants they rarely use the extra-firm variety which I prefer.

When I'm imprisoned as an enemy combatant, will you blog about it?

[ Parent ]
Yummy, Morningstar. by muchagecko (2.00 / 0) #22 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 11:29:29 AM EST
I've got a box of Morningstar fake bacon in my freezer. It's good and salty.

I used to get the chicken nuggets for my kids, but they decided that real nuggets were better.

I've sent back dishes of too soft tofu at restaurants. In my experience, the Chinese restaurants are more likely to have firmer tofu than the Japanese restaurants.

Have you tried Tofu-gan? It's marinated and dried tofu. YUM!

The only people to get even with are those that have helped you.

[ Parent ]
even silken ma-po doofu? by R343L (4.00 / 1) #28 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 04:33:14 PM EST
Ma-po tofu usually has silken tofu just folded in. Yummy. Actually, Little Szechuan in downtown San Mateo has really good ma-po tofu and they use silken.

Rachael

"There will be time, there will be time / To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet." -- Eliot

[ Parent ]
The fact that it was suggested by meat-eaters by Driusan (4.00 / 2) #5 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 07:05:40 AM EST
who you've already established as not being able to understand vegetarianism, and have most likely never had it, should probably weigh more on your "I wonder if it's any good"-o-scale than the absolute number of people who have suggested it.

--
Vive le Montréal libre.
I like your logic. by muchagecko (2.00 / 0) #13 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 08:56:49 AM EST
I wonder who's eating tofurkey?

The only people to get even with are those that have helped you.
[ Parent ]
Feminists [nt] by debacle (4.00 / 2) #36 Sun Nov 26, 2006 at 11:25:47 AM EST

IF YOU HAVE TWO FIRLES THOROWNF MONEY ART SUOCIDE GIRLS STRIPPER HPW CAN YPUS :OSE?!?!?!?(elcevisides).

[ Parent ]
a vegan would have trouble though by R343L (4.00 / 1) #7 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 07:48:44 AM EST
As everything has butter in it. ;)

I think some people have the notion that "vegetarianism" means plants-only not no-dead-animal-flesh.

In any case, why force tofu into something it's not to fulfill a preconditioned notion about "proper" thanksgiving food?

Rachael

"There will be time, there will be time / To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet." -- Eliot

I've never had the will by muchagecko (2.00 / 0) #14 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 09:08:34 AM EST
to try a vegan lifestyle. Too hard. Power to those that can.

I had not thought about the plants-only angle. There's probably a lot of that. Which reminds me of something I read many years ago. In an interview with Darryl Hannah, Darryl was described as a 'vegetarian that hates vegetables'. I don't imagine she's very healthy.

I agree with you about not forcing tofu into the Thanksgiving menu. Although I have grown accustomed to the East coast tradition of a pasta dish with Thanksgiving. It's just not Thanksgiving without lasagna or baked ziti.

The only people to get even with are those that have helped you.

[ Parent ]
pasta wtf? by R343L (2.00 / 0) #15 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 09:57:28 AM EST
Coming from a midwestern background where "spagetti" means canned sauce and long thing pasta, pasta at thanksgiving sounds weird.

Granted I eat more pasta now (and more interesting pasta) but pasta for thanksgiving?!?

:)

Rachael

"There will be time, there will be time / To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet." -- Eliot

[ Parent ]
Blame the Italians. by muchagecko (2.00 / 0) #16 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 10:32:54 AM EST
Gravy for them is marinara sauce.

The pasta goes well with the rest of the meal. I've never had an East coast Thanksgiving dinner without pasta.

The only people to get even with are those that have helped you.

[ Parent ]
Vegetarian that hates veggies by miker2 (4.00 / 2) #27 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 03:46:46 PM EST
I worked with one of those a while back.  She ate nothing but cheese, bread, pasta and candy.  The thought of eating a salad was almost as repulsive as eating meat to her.


[ Parent ]
I'll admit it by aethucyn (4.00 / 3) #18 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 10:51:46 AM EST
I've had tofurkey, and I like it better than turkey. Easy to cook, moist, pre-stuffed. I did thanksgiving with my family this year, and sucked it up and had turkey, and it just didn't compare. I'm thinking of picking up a tofurkey, cooking it up, and using it for sandwiches. The 'meat' with a circle of stuffing in the center just works so well for that.

But yeah, I've found that a lot of the places I've lived, a lot of people were incredibly threatened when I said I was a vegetarian. I'm not the sort to preach, but they'd usually go right on the attack over the issue. I think it's something that a lot of people feel unsure about. Whether it's a straight out feeling that eating meat is wrong, or at least that the agri-business model is deeply flawed and sick, they feel like they're doing something wrong, but don't want to change their behavior. So they grab onto something like tofurkey which by name alone seems just wrong.

Tofurkey sounds like by muchagecko (2.00 / 0) #20 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 11:04:14 AM EST
a no-fuss meal. I may look for it - maybe discounted after Thanksgiving?

I'd forgotten the huge amount of vegetarians that don't eat meat for political reasons. What conviction! Giving up something they like for a cause.

The only people to get even with are those that have helped you.

[ Parent ]
Thanksgiving by ucblockhead (4.00 / 1) #26 Sat Nov 25, 2006 at 02:37:53 PM EST
The in-laws now understand. Everything in our dinner was vegetarian except for the turkey and the stuffing that had been in the turkey, and everyone was stuffed and satisfied. We've finally gotten passed the "what will you eat!?!?" stage.
---
[ucblockhead is] useless and subhuman
Meat is good for you by debacle (4.00 / 2) #37 Sun Nov 26, 2006 at 11:28:18 AM EST
Why the hate?
IF YOU HAVE TWO FIRLES THOROWNF MONEY ART SUOCIDE GIRLS STRIPPER HPW CAN YPUS :OSE?!?!?!?(elcevisides).

Love little animals, by muchagecko (2.00 / 0) #39 Sun Nov 26, 2006 at 12:37:47 PM EST
don't eat them.

The only people to get even with are those that have helped you.
[ Parent ]
or by dev trash (4.00 / 2) #41 Sun Nov 26, 2006 at 02:03:48 PM EST
only eat the ones that want to kill you.  Mmmmmm bear.

--
Blizzard of Death '06
[ Parent ]
You realize by debacle (4.00 / 2) #43 Sun Nov 26, 2006 at 03:58:15 PM EST
That those little animals don't love you, correct?
IF YOU HAVE TWO FIRLES THOROWNF MONEY ART SUOCIDE GIRLS STRIPPER HPW CAN YPUS :OSE?!?!?!?(elcevisides).

[ Parent ]
what if I love to eat them? by garlic (4.00 / 2) #44 Sun Nov 26, 2006 at 07:21:57 PM EST


[ Parent ]
Tofurkey is okay by CountSpatula (4.00 / 1) #45 Sun Nov 26, 2006 at 08:28:01 PM EST
I've been vegetarian for a short time now (about four months) ever since a bad reaction to beef, so I have been trying out the meatless alternatives.  Tofurkey gets 744 out of 1000 on my scale, and is thus not all that bad.  However, there's a turkey alternative made by the Quorn company, Turk'y Roast, which is far superior both in taste and texture.  YMMV, of course, but having had both, the Quorn one beats Tofurkey.

Besides, a vegetarian at Thanksgiving has a hell of a lot to munch on while ignoring the turkey and the inevitable tryptophan reaction.  Why sleep through the football?

--
Organics.
"I've never been more afraid of a diary comment EVAR." - RapidHamster

Mycoprotein. by muchagecko (4.00 / 1) #49 Mon Nov 27, 2006 at 01:55:29 PM EST
Fungi Fusarium Venenatum. I'll look for it, although I hope it's not too meaty. I really prefer my fake meat more fake than meat.

Thanks.

The only people to get even with are those that have helped you.

[ Parent ]
tofurkey | 51 comments (51 topical, 0 hidden)

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