Contrary to popular belief, vegetarians do not eat ‘tofurkey’; in fact, I will not go anywhere near that dish. Why try to mimic taste and appearance of the dish you are purposely avoiding in the first place? In a vegetarian’s eyes, the side dishes, creating new exciting recipes and the combination of delectable flavors are the most attractive parts of the meal. My family likes to change the meal every year, but we keep a staple of which we absolutely refuse to let go: our yam casserole. This year, I took charge of the meal, deciding to go with baked winter squash (yes, locally grown) stuffed with a sweet apple-cranberry vegan stuffing, and some wild rice. Simple, but delicious.
So why don’t I eat turkey (or any other meat for that matter)? My reasons are very simple. The mainstream meat industry is not sustainable, economically logical, conscious of the needs of starving peoples, encouraging of a local food economy or healthy. Although many meat-producing farms (corporations, I should say) engage in less-than-satisfactory treatment of their animals, I have chosen not to delve into that complicated topic. Below, I have elaborated on these topics, but only briefly.
Sustainability: The meat industry, particularly the beef industry, cuts down thousands of acres of forests every year to make room for cattle grazing area — forests that had previously served to sequester carbon from the atmosphere. Corporations insist on using ammonia-doused fertilizers to grow the heavily subsidized corn they use as feed, which are rapidly polluting our natural water resources like lakes and rivers. Creating these fertilizers requires enormous fossil fuel inputs. Additional energy is required to refrigerate and transport the meat. All told, the Food and Agriculture Organization found that the raising of livestock for food is responsible for 18 percent of climate change-causing greenhouse gas emissions — more than cars, planes and all other forms of transportation put together. On top of that, three to five times more water is used to cultivate animal protein than plant protein; harvesting tomatoes uses 23 gallons of water per acre, whereas turkey requires about 1,000 gallons per acre.
Economical Nonsense: Raising animals for food at the rate we do in the United States today is extremely inefficient. The U.S. livestock population consumes enough grain and soybeans to feed more than five times the entire population. One acre of pasture produces an average of 165 pounds of beef; the same acre can produce 20,000 pounds of potatoes. It takes 80 pounds of feed to raise a single 30-pound turkey.
Needs of Those Without Abundant Food Resources: If Americans reduced their meat consumption by only 10 percent, it would free 12 million tons of grain annually for human consumption. That alone would be enough to adequately feed each of the 60 million people who starve to death each year.
Not Encouraging of a Local Economy: Because adequate land to raise livestock is not readily attainable in all locations across the U.S., a diet heavily reliant on meat products supports an economy that pollutes our atmosphere with fossil fuels during food transport and discourages small, locally-owned businesses — the heart of the American economy. Did you know that meat production in the U.S. is now almost completely controlled by a small handful of about four multinational corporations?
Unhealthful Diet: I’m not saying it’s unhealthy to eat meat, but I am saying anything in excess is definitely not a good idea. Americans have gotten into the habit of eating meat at nearly every meal, which research has shown is linked to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, arthritis and osteoporosis. A vegetarian or near-vegetarian diet is easier for the human body to digest and provides a variety of nutrients (given your vegetarian eating choices are diverse) because fewer of your daily calories are used up on the same meat product. Finally, because most cattle are fed grains such as corn instead of their preferred grass, cows are increasingly getting sick. Rather than switching to feed that cows’ stomachs are designed to digest, corporations simply force their cattle to intake tons of antibiotics, which gets into the meat that humans eat on a daily basis. Not too appetizing, is it?
While this is only a brief explanation, I recommend you do your own research to find out what kind of diet is right for you. Humans have always eaten meat, but keep in mind that in ancient cultures, meat has rarely been the main course, but rather a way to accent the meal. If you take one main point from this article, I hope it is that less is better, especially when it comes to a meat-based diet. If Americans opened their minds a bit more, they would see that there is more to food than the meat in the center of their plates, and more to Thanksgiving than the turkey.