For millions of Americans, Thanksgiving is a celebration of gratitude and time spent with loved ones, but for millions of turkeys, of course, it’s something far different.
And despite the near-ubiquity of turkeys on Thanksgiving plates, families in San Diego County do have an impressive number of other meal choices.
The most popular vegan option for holiday dinners is Tofurky, an Oregon-based company founded in 1980 by self-described teacher, naturalist, and hippie Seth Tibbott. The company debuted its tofu-based Holiday Roast in 1995.
Tofurky roasts and other products are available at many California supermarkets, and can also be found online for as little as $15.
Several other companies have followed suit and developed their own vegan roasts in recent years, including Gardein, Field Roast, Quorn, Country Life, and Trader Joe’s.
The website Locally Well has a guide on where to pick up a vegan holiday meal in the San Diego area, as well as holiday recipes that don’t involve animals.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 46 million turkeys will be killed for Thanksgiving dinners this year. And many animal rights activists say that even before they’re slaughtered, their short lives are filled with pain and fear.
“Before ending up as holiday centerpieces, these gentle birds spend five to six months on farms, where thousands of turkeys are packed into dark sheds with no more than 3.5 square feet of space per bird,” according to a report from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which cites a 2006 study by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
“To keep the extremely crowded birds from scratching and pecking each other to death, workers cut off portions of the birds’ toes and upper beaks with hot blades and desnood the males (the snood is the flap of skin that runs from the beak to the chest). No painkillers are used during these procedures.”
The group further says that “genetic manipulation has enabled farmers to produce heavily muscled birds who can weigh nearly 40 pounds in as little as four months.”
“Factory-farmed turkeys are so large that they can barely walk, are unable to fly like their wild cousins, and cannot even engage in normal reproductive behavior, so all turkeys raised for food are conceived by artificial insemination,” PETA states, citing a 2015 article by Nicholas Staropoli for the American Council on Science and Health.
Indeed, according to the Product Lifecycle Management company Trace One, the average size of a turkey raised in the United States has nearly doubled since the 1960s, going from 18 pounds to 32 pounds.
The National Turkey Federation, a group formed in 1940 to market the animals as food, did not reply to a request for comment about the welfare of factory-farmed turkeys, but the group says on its website that turkeys are “raised in specially designed, environmentally controlled barns that provide maximum protection from predators, disease and weather extremes. Except for breeding and transportation purposes, turkeys can roam freely within their house.”
The group further states that “to ensure animal welfare practices are upheld throughout the industry, the National Turkey Federation works closely with America’s turkey growers, veterinarians and industry experts to develop and maintain strict Standards of Conduct and Animal Care Guidelines for raising healthy birds in a safe environment at every stage of a turkey’s lifecycle.”
The top turkey-producing states are Minnesota, North Carolina, and Arkansas.
California is further down the list, producing 6.2 million turkeys each year, or about 2.8% of the U.S. total, according to the National Turkey Federation.
Southern California animal rights groups are busy marking the holiday in a number of ways this year.
Farm Sanctuary is conducting its 38th annual Adopt a Turkey Project. For a donation of $35, people can symbolically adopt a rescued turkey or sponsor an entire flock for $135, allowing the animals to live out their natural lives at one of the group’s spacious farms.
Donors who give $35 receive an adoption certificate with a photo of either Serena “The Swiftie,” Thelma “The Tender Heart,” Freyja “The Introvert,” or Ferris “The Underdog.”
The sponsorships support the care of the rescued birds, as well as the organization’s other work at its farms in Acton and Watkins Glen, New York, to rescue animals in need, educate consumers about the realities of the nation’s food system, and advocate for an end to factory farming.
The group has been sponsoring the program since 1986, and several of the turkeys’ stories can be viewed here.
The organization has petitioned U.S. President Joe Biden to give the turkeys pardoned at this year’s White House ceremony a “real pardon” by sending them to one of Farm Sanctuary’s locations.
“Celebrating Thanksgiving without the body of a turkey in the middle of the table reflects a growing movement away from factory farming cruelty,” Farm Sanctuary President and Co-Founder Gene Baur said in a statement provided to City News Service.
“When we choose compassionate, plant-based foods, we honor the lives of other animals and engender kinder customs for future generations.”
Mercy for Animals, an international animal protection nonprofit headquartered in Los Angeles, has launched its “Pardon A Turkey” campaign, in which anyone who pledges to pardon a turkey for the holidays will get a free copy of the group’s holiday cookbook, “Plant-Powered Holidays: Delicious Recipes for a Turkey-Free Table.”
The group is also promoting a ChooseVeg guide as a resource for incorporating plant-based foods into holiday meals.
PETA is also promoting a no-turkey pledge for Thanksgiving, in the sixth year of its “ThanksVegan” campaign. More information, including recipes, can be found here.
