Vegan Thanksgiving Feast, 2008

I was cleaning things up in my blogger dashboard and I found a blog that I never posted from November of 2008. I am not sure why I never posted the blog. (And yes, I think there are others that never got posted.) Maybe I had reservations, maybe I just forgot. I still want to share this blog posting. I feel so fortunate to live in a place with so many others like myself. Vegetarians are rare and vegans are even more rare, yet I live in a place where I am surrounded by those people like me. I am not sure why, I am not sure how, but I love it! I originally meant to be posted sometime in early December of 2008 and I have been to the vegan Thanksgiving twice now. If you want more info, you can check out the site from last year.

Animals are my friends... and I don't eat my friends. ~George Bernard Shaw

John and I have been a part of the Triangle Vegetarian Society for fours years and this is the first year that have been able to attend the Thanksgiving celebration. The Triangle Vegetarian Society hosts the largest vegan Thanksgiving celebration in the country at Cafe' Parizade in Durham, NC. We live less than five minutes from the restaurant and were happy to be able to attend, finally. Every other year, we have had a family gathering to attend. This year we enjoyed the celebration and then met up with my parents afterward.


The day was a lovely way to celebrate Thanksgiving and participate in a cruelty-free meal. We sat at a table full of friends and dined on wonderful food. The food and the selections were just amazing. It was the best Thanksgiving meal I have ever had! It was a wonderful blend of traditional thanksgiving foods and some not so traditional foods. The menu included:

• Quinoa salad
• Breads, crustinis, and pita with hummus and other spreads
  
• Raspberry-relish
• Lime-marinated seitan with peppercorn and fig glaze
• Roasted garlic mashed potatoes with chives and mushroom gravy
• Apple-pecan stuffing
• Braised sweet potatoes with leeks and vegan maple butter chutney
• Squash and corn with tempeh
• Oyster mushroom croquettes
• Turnip greens with pearl onions
• Carpaccio vegetable- thinly sliced vegetables as a raw "pasta"
• Porcini-lentil cannelloni
• Orecchiette pasta with marinara sauce
• Chunky mixed vegetable and barley stew
• Cookies
• Pumpkin pie
• Cherry crisp
• Truffles
• Ginger cookies
• Chocolate cake
  
• and MORE

The meal was very fulfilling and I left with a full stomach and a joyous heart. This was the first year since I became a vegetarian where I did not want to leave the table in tears over the dead turkey that was being feasted upon. I did not feel helpless this year. I made sure not forget about the slaughtering of millions of turkeys around the nation and prayed for the ones that suffered and lost their lives. I felt proud to be a part of the largest cruelty-free Thanksgiving in the nation. There were 578 attendees from 40 cities and states, with an additional 50 person waiting list.


John and I hope to be part of the vegan Thanksgiving next year. Just thinking about the delicious food is making me hungry!