How this holiday is feeling as a vegetarian

by bittersorbitol

26 Comments

  1. Thanksgiving is my least favorite holiday for this reason. It sucked as a kid because it was always hard to make myself food during the day and then I could only have a small meal at dinner. Now at least I can eat a big meal early in the day so I’m not super hungry the entire day.

  2. Bearded_Gussie on

    God, I hate this holiday. There’s essentially nothing I can eat because everything either has meat or chicken stock in it. And I’ve asked politely, could we maybe use vegetable stock instead of chicken? No. Okay, why don’t I bring a few dishes so that I’ll have more to eat? Also, no.

    Last year I was able to have candied yams and mashed potatoes and green bean casserole. I was so pissed off that I ate quick and then made an excuse that I had to leave and made the 3-hour drive back home instead of spending the weekend like I had originally planned. I stopped at Sheetz on the way home and had a real meal there, a quesarito as big as my head. With no meat products in it.

    I’ll be so glad when my mother gets so old she can’t do Thanksgiving anymore because then I’m just going to stop showing up for whoever the hell picks it up after her. But as long as she’s still able to pull a casserole out of an oven I’m stuck with this every year.

  3. InfallibleBackstairs on

    We’re vegetarian and have a huge thanksgiving feast. Plenty of meatless options.

  4. Huh, that sucks. Sorry bud.

    We do a tofurky or sham, a vegetarian stuffing, potatoes with vegetarian gravy, butternut squash, green bean casserole (cream of celery or mushroom works), rolls, cranberries… basically everything we used to have before becoming vegetarian. Some of it family has modified for us, other things we just bring and eat. My husband likes to cook though so that’s probably part of it.

  5. snakesssssss22 on

    Dang, y’all are getting ripped off on the sides! What about the pies?! The mac and cheese?! Sweet potato pie!!! Mashed potatoes!!!

    All the sides are WAY better than turkey anyway.

  6. Of course it’s a bummer to go to a family holiday function and not find many options, just like going out to a restaurant with friends or any sort of food centric gathering. But I’ve always felt it’s unfair to expect accommodations for my own dietary decisions, especially when I’m almost always the only meat-free eater. Family thanksgiving doesn’t really bother me. I can bring a dish I enjoy, and hope that others will too and see that animal protein doesn’t have to be the star of the show. I can have whatever I want beforehand or after. and honestly sometimes it feels better to not have absolutely gorged myself.
    Idk though maybe this is an unpopular opinion.

  7. One of my mom’s favorite things to make for me when she was alive was vegetarian cheesy corn bread casserole for Thanksgiving.

    It’s basically a box of vegetarian jiffy cornbread, a can of creamed corn, and an entire bag of Sargento cheddar cheese baked to a golden brown goodness.

    Eating that, I never cared if I had turkey or gravy. Everything else was plant-based and perfect.

    TLDR; sometimes you have to make your own traditions and joy.

  8. Inside_Sport3866 on

    It helps that I’m the vege and also LOVE cooking for thanksgiving, but we always had plenty of great veg options. It’s easy to make stuffing vegetarian, plus we had cranberries and mashed potatoes (w/ mushroom gravy) and salad and homemade rolls. I’ve also started doing a stuffed pumpkin rice dish just b/c it’s a flashy main course so it doesn’t feel like I’m just eating sides, even if the sides are delicious.

  9. thebaddestgoodperson on

    For thanksgiving I am happy heating up a couple veggie burgers to eat with the stuffing, green beans, yams, and mashed potatoes. Then the pies for dessert

  10. I dunno, I always have a ton to eat!! There’s so many sides!! So many! Also, I cook a couple of the sides! There’s so much. I feel like fancy vegetable dishes are a big part of thanksgiving, too! Plus, I’m usually drunk anyway.

  11. We have a couple meat eaters in our family but don’t even bother with the turkey anymore because our sides are so good no one really even misses the meat. Casseroles as far as the eye can see 🤤

  12. fexofenadine_hcl on

    I’ve had many Thanksgivings of chik’n nuggets, mashed potatoes, and stuffing.

  13. powersave_catloaf on

    So many veggie sides for thanksgiving, the Turkey is our only meat, the rest are mashed potatoes, roasted squashes and yams, green beans, cornbread stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce. My favorite holiday omg sooo delicious

  14. dogcalledcoco on

    Mashed potatoes, salad, green bean casserole, mac and cheese, rolls, asparagus… lots of good sides.

    I do hate it when every vegetable is adorned with bacon, luckily my family doesn’t do that.

    Op, bring something you love to share (or 2 things).

  15. You’ve got to take matters into your own hands. Buy a Quorn roast, makea couple of dishes for yourself.

  16. I will have survived 41 Thanksgivings as of this year. I became a vegetarian the day after Thanksgiving 1982.

    I have yet to go to bed with anything other than a full belly. But you need to know how to cook. I make my version of my grandmother’s cornbread/sage/onion dressing that rocks…

    And something like a Tofurky roast as the main course.

  17. FearlessTravels on

    Once we went to Portland, Oregon for Christmas. There weren’t many restaurants open for Christmas dinner and my parents called around to ensure the place we reserved had a vegetarian option for dinner. They confirmed that they did.

    It turned out to be an entire head of steamed broccoli on plain white rice.

  18. ProtozoaPatriot on

    Come to my house. You can have anything found in the typical Thanksgiving feast except the deceased bird. And lots of other things.

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