A Thanksgiving tradition I wish my family would give up
My family has a Thanksgiving tradition. “What is that?” someone will ask as I sit at the table with my plate of tofu and kale with nutritional yeast.
My family has a Thanksgiving tradition.
“What is that?” someone will ask as I sit at the table with my plate of tofu and kale with nutritional yeast. These words emerge naturally, not out of genuine curiosity but with a look on their face that suggests I dropped a stink bomb. Then, in keeping with the holiday spirit, someone else will make a joke about how they sure are glad they aren’t having what I’m having and, like a Hollywood film, hilarity ensues.
I’m not alone. Countless people who don’t — or can’t (or both) — eat traditional Thanksgiving food such as turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie will be the butt of the joke when families gather around the table on Thursday. But if you’re the one throwing the food insults, be mindful of how your comments make others feel. Or, at the least, come up with better material than my relatives.
While I don’t need my family to know the difference between seitan and tempeh, I do need, to quote Otis Redding, a little respect.
I’m not offended because I’m vegan or because, in 2022, tofu and kale aren’t as foreign as when I went vegetarian on Thanksgiving 1997. (Nutritional yeast? Yeah. Maybe that’s still foreign.) I’m offended because my family has been telling the same jokes since “Frasier” anchored NBC’s Thursday night lineup.
Rating: 5