How To Have a Happy, Kind Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving can be a tricky time of year for us kind lifers. How you approach holiday meals is very personal, and one single approach might not fit everyone. Here are a few tips for different scenarios you might find yourself in:
1. If possible, try to host Thanksgiving yourself and cook for your loved ones. I did this two years ago. It was delicious and tons of fun.
2. If you’re going to a non-veg house for Thanksgiving dinner, offer to bring food and help cook kind dishes. If you need inspiration, check out my Thanksgiving menu.
3. At the actual dinner, avoid talking about veganism unless someone specifically asks. I have found that people get turned off when they feel like they’re being preached at, but often they’ll be curious about what you’re eating and ask you about it. That’s when you can explain why you eat the way you do.
4. If someone criticizes your diet or is rude, simply don’t engage. Let them know you feel great eating this way and it works for you. If you’ve lost weight or experienced changes in your health, you might mention it then leave it at that.
5. When talking about your diet, remember to keep it really positive. Emphasize how your health improved when you changed your diet. Often the health benefits of a vegan diet are a gateway to getting people to try it. Then, when they learn more about the animal rights aspect of veganism, they embrace that part too.
I love to empower people to discover a kinder way of living on their own. If someone in your circle expresses interest in a plant-based diet, offer to lend them The Kind Diet, or whatever book you think would be the best fit for them.
Do you have questions about how to navigate the holidays?
Ask in the comments below, and I’ll try to answer as many as I can in a future post.
Photo source: flickr.com/hildgrim
17 comments
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-Smurfy
Thanks for your encouragement.
I will stick to my guns about not eating meat during the holidays.
I spoke to my brother again after hearing from you and i explained to him my vaild points.
He relented and has agreed to try to eat more veggies, which he totally is unfond of.
Thanks for the encouragement. -
Thanks a lot Steph, I will make them whole then! Sounds good with some dipping sauce. mmm can't wait to try them and see what the meat eating family thinks THANKS!!!
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@Tina I've always had them whole and they are delicious that way just the way they are! I usually have a little dipping sauce like brown mustard. -
These are great tips. How you feel after becoming a Vegan really speaks for itself and you should not let anyone make you feel bad for the choices you are making. I think it is so much fun making great vegan recipes and taking them to different functions. Most of the time people are amazed at how delicious they are. By the way I just made your peanut butter cups with carob and boy have they been such an awesome hit!!
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princessomega,
If you brother loves and cares about you, he should respect your choices. Usually when people criticize, it says a lot more about them than the person they are criticizing. Don't let it get you down. If you'd still like to go to your brother's meal bring something delicious for yourself (you don't want to starve while everyone else is feasting). Perhaps a vegan quiche or stuffed veggie like mushrooms or squash? Do not give in and eat non-veg to appease your family or they'll never respect your convictions in the future. If your brother continues to threaten to disown you, I would remind him that veganism will increase your life be 10 years and lower your risk of cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Does he want you sick or dead? Because if he does, he should be the one being disowned, not you.
If I were you, I'd just stay home and have my own meal by myself. I don't willingly walk into hostile situations where I'm not welcome. My fiance and I have been having our own vegan Thanksgiving for two these last few years, and it's been really fun. Do you have a significant other or friends that might be interested in celebrating a veggie friendly Thanksgiving with you?
Good luck!
-Smurfy -
Thanks a lot Steph and Elle. I would like to make them as plain sausages, but are they better crumbled up in dish?
Happy Thanksgiving to all, ihh I am so excited. I am also going to make a loaf of some sort or a pot pie, mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy and vegan stuffing that I sampled at Whole Foods mmm it is so good, I am also buying their pumpkin pie to support that they are making such delish vegan food. I truly tastes super delicious. :-) -
My wife's family insists on eating "traditional" thanksgiving meals. For example, I had to buy the stuffing from the box, green beans from a can, gravy from a jar, and I have a very large bird in my fridge (and I don't know what to do with it).
My thought was just to cook that to accomodate them and then make my own meal. Any ideas? -
Alicia,
thank you for your tips towards a Kind Thanksgiving.
This will be a first for me being meatless on the holiday.
My brother who is the cook for the family is very upset with me and so is my mother. My brother went as far to call me a Hippie Poser and threaten to disown me.
I offered to bring something to prepare and share, but that seemed to make them even more upset.
they just cant wrap their minds around not eating meat, and I dont want to offend any one, I just want to have a happy and healthy Thanksgiving.
ahh the holidays dont we all just love them. -
My goal to hush those who like to vehemently criticize my dietary choices is to make something so delicious that they'll like it better than the meaty counterpart. Case in point, those Field Roast sausages mentioned above are being turned into the best vegan sausage, chestnut and apple stuffing. You can't criticize delicious. :)
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@Tina The Field Roast apple sausages are SUPER delicious so great choice! Depending on whether you want the crumbles or the whole sausage, you'd prepare them differently. I've always made them on my cast iron grill pan, turning them every few minutes until they have grill marks all the way around. You could probably also do it in a flat sautee pan, just be careful that they don't stick. If you want to do crumbles, I would prepare it just like regular sausage--throw them in a fry pan, add a little olive oil, and sautee!
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bonita la meza como la organizaron en chilito no tenemos acion de gracias solo navidad y año nuevo... lastima -
Great tips, thanks Alicia! I've always wondered why #4 even occurs -- I would think there's much more to object about when someone tells me they eat meat (even though I would never do so, attack is just not my style!), nevertheless the most common response I get from random people when I mention I've gone vegan is a lengthy tirade about why my decisions are "wrong." Makes me wonder if the person they're really trying to keep convinced is themselves.. Anyways, happy Thanksgiving to you, too, and just yesterday I committed to loaning my copy of The Kind Life to my lovely yoga teacher! :) -
First, Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!
well I have had the luxury of all of us being vegan, I am a single mom, with 2 grown children and both are like me vegan:) so holidays were never a problem, this year, very sad to say I will only have my son with me.. my daughter stayed in another state, and it will be just me and my son here, but hey thats fine, I will just miss my daughter;(
Ohh, and my dog is also vegan:( but having a hard time with a food that does not hurt her, as ear n skin infections..
so, what is everyone making for thanksgiving? -
Alicia and other kind lifers, how do you prepare the Apple sage Field Sausages? I would like to make them for Thanksgiving and think they might be better than the turkey alternatives since they got such raving reviews.
Thanks so much from Tina -
Thanks! Great advice. I'm planning on making stuffed acorn squash to bring to my family's Thanksgiving. I like to show them that food doesn't need to have meat to be delicious.
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