Vegan Thanksgiving
I was able to enjoy a vegan Thanksgiving this year, and it was delightful. We had two Thanksgivings here in Chicago in 2020 (pandemic, obvs) and 2021 (we had just moved to our current apartment) where we ordered food from the Chicago Diner, an amazing vegetarian restaurant on the north side of Chicago (probably one of my favorite spots. The soul bowl plate off their regular menu is my favorite meal). The Thanksgiving meals from Chicago Diner are amazing. They have plant-based roasts and wellingtons, which we stock up on (we make a lot of the side dishes ourselves but grab stuffing from them as well). We also stock up on their vegan corned beef and roast beef for sandwiches after the holiday. They do it right.
Prior to this year, we had three Thanksgivings in a row in the Detroit area with my husband’s family. Those were very nice years of hanging out with the family. But you know what? Not eating meat or dairy, and then being in group where that is all that everyone else is eating, so that there is no food for you for Thanksgiving aside from what you bring yourself and try to sneak into the microwave…this made me feel very sad. I also get tired of having to food-splain my plate to those sitting around me, especially on a holiday. I don’t want to be eating my baked sage tofu which I love and have everyone around me telling me they don’t like tofu. That’s…not cool. And I make a damn fine tofu. I want to enjoy my plate just like everyone else. I really didn’t realize how stressed these Thanksgivings away made me, or how I felt I had to play small and huddle in a corner with my little plate on a day when we’re supposed to gather and share food. I never really spoke up about it, and I probably should have. Though no one wants to be asked to swap out their dairy butter for non-dairy butter. People get really serious about their Thanksgiving dishes, which I get. I mean, here I am sharing how ‘get off my lawn’ I feel by being at a non-vegan Thanksgiving. To each their own.
This year? We were back home. And it was just my small snuggly family of four, and we got our Chicago Diner roasts again. Everything felt so beautifully available. I loved it.
Who wants to see someone else’s Thanksgiving plate? No one- we all ate the same food, didn’t we? :) Yet, I can’t resist. Here was my plate on a leftover day when it was light enough to get a decent pic. Silly me poured gravy all over the roast in this pic so you can’t see that it’s also filled with STUFFING.
The green bean recipe we use is from The Minimalist Baker cookbook and it is SO GOOD. My pumpkin bread rolls came from a recipe from The Homemade Vegan Pantry cookbook by Miyoko Schinner.
