As I was pondering what to talk about for this week’s blog, I put the question out to my Facebook friends who provided many wonderful ideas. After a bit of internal debate, I decided to take the Tofurky suggestion since we are so close to Thanksgiving.
First, I want to provide complete transparency and say I am not a vegetarian or a vegan, but have a close friend who is and has served the infamous Tofurky for Thanksgiving. I am also not a meat eater. I fall somewhere in between.
So what is somewhere in between? Well…I don’t eat beef or pork or any animal that I deem cute. That usually includes animals with fur. My friends and colleagues call me a cuteatarian. It’s a made up word, so don’t bother to look it up. I should probably copyright it because I’ll bet there are plenty of people who share my preferences.
I am not one of those rabid individuals who insist that you don’t eat those cute animals in front of me, because if I did I’d never go out to dinner with my carnivorous wife. I also have to confess to eating rib roast once a year because it’s our Christmas tradition. I just say, “La la la la, I’m not really eating that cute cow with the big brown eyes”.
I’ll bet you’re wondering how I managed to go down that slippery slope. Okay maybe you’re not, but I’m going to tell you anyway.
My mother, who has since passed away, was Italian. For Thanksgiving and Christmas she would prepare food the Italian way, which always included Lasagna made with beef in addition to a huge Turkey with all the dressings. Well… there was no way in hell I would offend my Italian mother by refusing to eat her Lasagna made with loving care (especially since it was my favorite food growing up). Thus, the tradition of, “La la la la, I’m not really eating that cute cow with the big brown eyes,” was born.
So what does all of this have to do with Tofurkey? I know this is a bit of a stretch, but for those who turn up their noses at Tofurkey, like me, I want to advocate for a non-judgmental Thanksgiving. Personally, I hate the notion of eating soy bean for Thanksgiving and no amount of insistence that it has the same consistency of a real Turkey will sway me. I feel the same about tofu dogs. Not going to happen. I will never believe they taste just like real hot dogs or chicken hot dogs. Ironically, my wife, the carnivore, loves Tofu. However, this does not mean that we should pass judgement on those who insist this is the right choice for them. Can’t we all just get along?
Today I helped with our annual Turkey Food drive. I took one for the team and wore the ridiculous Turkey costume, parading around the Safeway, collecting food and smiles from everyone as I moved the food to the truck to deliver to the local food bank. Of all the donated food items including several frozen Turkeys, there was not one Tofurky. It got me wondering about those vegetarian families in need. Would they be forced to become carnivores? We are a biased society after all….
Now my openness to Tofurkey as a legitimate food for Thanksgiving stops when that is the only option. I mean, really, you can’t expect me to be happy about that as the only option. So my answer to this dilemma is to make sure you have something for everyone. Let’s celebrate the Italian tradition of way too much food in every possible category that you’ll end up eating until it rots in the refrigerator. Happy Thanksgiving everyone. If you find you have some down time while preparing your Tofurkey roast, well then feel free to download one of my books. LOL.
As a special treat I’ve also added audio teasers to the currently published books.
My first two books, Love Forever, Live Forever, and Asset Management are available in both e-book and print format. Links below will get you to all the places you can purchase the books. Out of This World is only available through Amazon and is FREE to Kindle Unlimited subscribers. Thanks for supporting a new writer!! Coming soon is Locked Inside.
Link to Out of This World: Amazon
Out of This World Audio Teaser
Links to Love Forever, Live Forever:
Amazon Affinity E-Book Press Smashwords Barnes and Noble Bella Books
Love Forever, Live Forever Audio Teaser
Amazon Affinity E-Book Press Smashwords Barnes & Noble Bella Books
Annette Mori 
I am going to have to remember the “cutetarian” line..sounds just like my girlfriend..she is a south philly girl and I was raised in the south to hunt and fish..makes for interesting meals and holidays around here that is for sure!
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Yes I’ll bet it does. My wife absolutely loves red meat.
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I love tofurkey! I’m making two of them to take with us to our sister in laws place for Thanksgiving. Thx for the share! It’s great that more and more people are choosing veggie options for the holidays. 😄
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My friend loves it too, but I don’t really like Tofu like my wife does.
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As someone who was a vegetarian for 15 years, I find the idea of Tofurkey funny. Not the product itself, but the notion of serving it to people like my family (all Italians). There was a period of about 10 years when Thanksgiving was at my house, and much of that time, I was still a vegetarian. One year, my brother asked me why I was making turkey. I asked, “What would you like me to make, a Tofurkey?” This caused my cousins to burst out laughing. It’s like an alien product to them. The whole thing is just funny to me. 🙂
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It is funny to me as well which is why I had to blog about it. As a fellow Italian I would have gotten the very same reaction! I used to cook up a storm on Thanksgiving…now we go out to eat. Can’t say that I’ve ever seen Tofurky ever on the menu. I don’t think Thanksgiving is a holiday for vegetarians….
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