“Where do you get your protein?”

This question is beyond obvious and antiquated. It should be buried and never allowed to resurface. We apologize in advance for brining it up now. Yet, despite all of the information out there, protein remains the focal point of many omnivorous minds. Whether you have been vegan for five days or five years, the protein question is bound to come up by some misinformed relative over the course of your holiday dinner. You could roll your eyes – you’ve been over this with them before – or raise an eyebrow and gesture to the heaping pile of plant-based goodness on your plate, but this may lead to some confrontation. To keep things civil this holiday season, we gathered responses from plant-based professionals so you can positively address this question and get back to enjoying your meal.

Scenario One
Uncle Joe: Yeah, but where do you get your protein? You need plenty of protein to stay healthy!
Response: All plant foods contain protein. Many plants contain more protein per calorie than meat. In fact excess animal protein drives cellular reproduction, rapid aging and susceptibility to cancer. A better question should be—how much animal protein is safe to eat, if any?  

Dr. Joel Fuhrman is board-certified family physician. With his years of experience transitioning ailing omnivores into healthy plant-based clientele, Dr. Fuhrman knows exactly what to say. If you’re up for a bit of conversation about the topic, steal Fuhrman’s response to turn the question back on Uncle Joe while you continue enjoying your savory kale salad.

Scenario Two
Aunt Barbara: I rely on a good roast chicken for my protein. How do you cook to make sure you get enough protein in your diet?
Response: I love using my favorite qseudo grains like quinoa and teff to make protein-packed holiday loafs!

Michelle Marquis, private chef and contributor to Jason Wrobel’s cookbook, “Eaternity”, knows exactly how to fuel her body. After discovering she had several food allergies (including gluten and soy), she made it her mission to develop delectable plant-based recipes devoid of food sensitivities. She now hosts pop-up dinners and brunches, which sell out every time. Give Aunt Barbara some culinary inspiration with Michelle’s simple advice.

Scenario Three
Little Cousin Charlie: We learned in school you need protein to be strong. So where do you get your protein?
Response: From the same source as elephants get their protein from. Plants!

Dominick Thompson is a vegan endurance athlete and owner of Crazies and Weirdos, the vegan apparel line famous for its “Eat What Elephants Eat” and “Clark Kent Was Vegan” t-shirts. Not only is he ripped, he has also competed in a number of triathlons on a mostly raw diet. Follow his advice and encourage Little Cousin Charlie to eat his lentil loaf if he wants to be big and strong like an elephant.

Scenario Four
Sister’s Boyfriend, Chris: I’m eating chicken and broccoli and I’m seeing mad gainz. Where do you get your protein?
Response: To be honest, I don’t worry about protein but rather I focus on amino acids which are the building blocks of protein. You can find amino acids in fruits and vegetables. So I have no reason to worry about where my protein is coming from, because I am consuming what is essential.

John Lewis, also known as the Badass Vegan, is a plant-based fitness consultant and influencer. A quick scroll through Lewis’ Instagram will prove that you don’t need animal protein to build major muscles.

Scenario Five
Niece Katie: I heard protein is important, and protein comes from meat. How do you get it?
Response: I get my protein the same way the king of the jungle does! I eat plants like gorillas. #gorillastrong!

Nicole Derseweh is an enthusiastic, creative plant-based chef known for her festive pop-up brunch series. Her elaborate unicorn and mermaid-themed brunches for sixty-plus guests are true delights, and they happen to be packed with protein. Use Derseweh’s response to keep the conversation fun and lighthearted. 

Scenario Six
Nephew Dylan: Where do you get your protein? Do plants have protein, too, or just stuff like milk and turkey?
Response: Protein is found in every single plant in the world. Plants are alive and protein is a necessary nutrient to all living things. Did you know even lemons are 16% protein?

Dotsie Bausch is an Olympic silver medalist turned plant-based advocate. She earned her medal in women’s cycling on a plant-based diet, and now she is on a mission to spread the word through her non-profit, Compassion Champs. This year, she will be making a 100% plant based Thanksgiving meal for eight. Her menu includes a lentil and quinoa main dish, mashed yams, fall harvest salad with apple cider vinaigrette, artichoke, vegan spinach dip, cranberries, mini-vegan pot pies and a vegan stuffing with wholegrain bread, lentils, onions, celery and sage. We’re copying both her response and her menu for our Thanksgiving table!

When All Else Fails
Mercy For Animals Global Vegetarian Support Manager, Erin Kwiatkowski, helps people transition to a plant-based diet. It’s her full time job to support everyone on their vegan journeys, be it with nutritional advice or how to navigate their social life. Kwiatkowski offered her sound wisdom to keep peace at the holiday table:

I try to treat this question like it’s the first time I’ve heard it. Keep in mind that most folks are genuinely curious and don’t realize plants have protein. There is also no way for them to know that you’ve answered this same question over one million times since going vegan, so don’t punish them for it. Lead with your heart, then with the facts, and you can’t go wrong. Happy Thanksgiving!! 

Find Tanya on Instagram and The Vegan Potluck Podcast. 

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The post Where Do You Get Your Protein? How Vegans Can Keep Peace at the Holiday Table appeared first on EcoSalon.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. If you need some holiday inspiration, take a look at how Woodstock Farms celebrates the special day that they call Thanksliving. It’s quite heartwarming.

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This Thanksgiving, we’ll leave it up to you if you want to dry- or wet-brine your turkey, roast it or deep-fry it, spatchcock it or stuff it. No matter how you choose to prepare the main event, though, there’s one thing we just can’t stress enough: choose a pasture-raised turkey for Thanksgiving. Here are six reasons why this is the best choice.

1. It’s more humane.

Picking a pasture-raised turkey is important, first and foremost, because of how problematic the alternative is. Conventional turkeys may be a bit easier on your wallet, but they cost more in the long run, particularly when it comes to the humane treatment of the animals.

“Turkeys raised in confinement (CAFO) operations isn’t good for the turkeys (just ask them),” says John McAuley of Healthy Hen Farms.

Civil Eats shares the somewhat gruesome details of the lives of industrially raised turkeys on factory farms, noting that these turkeys are first hatched in incubators before being debeaked and fed a diet of corn laced with antibiotics.

“Industrially produced turkeys spend their first three weeks of life crammed into a brooder with hundreds of other birds,” Civil Eats reports. “In the fourth week, turkey chicks are moved from the brooder to a giant window-less room with 10,000 other turkeys where bright lights shine 24 hours a day. With the lights constantly blaring, natural sleeping, eating, and fertility patterns are completely disrupted and the turkeys are, for the most part, kept awake and eating non-stop.”

Heidi Diestel of Diestel Family Turkey Ranch notes that her family’s methods afford the animals a far more pleasant life.

“Diestel birds are raised almost twice as long and given three times as much space as conventional birds,” she says.

Other farms that sell pasture-raised turkeys have similar policies, keeping the birds out of doors and allowing them to carry out their natural feeding and roosting behaviors.

2. It’s better for the environment.

CAFO operations are notoriously bad for the environment. According to the Socially Responsible Agricultural Project, agricultural emissions comprise nearly 20 percent of all human-generated greenhouse gas emissions.

“It isn’t good for the land because of all the infrastructure and waste that gets treated as sewage,” explains McAuley.

Pasture-raised turkeys, especially those hailing from small farms, are much less hazardous to the environment. The Diestel family, for example, works to eliminate the use of toxic inorganic substances and to conserve natural resources through its farming methods.

“Through the use of composting, the Diestel family reduces the greenhouse gas emissions of products that would normally be landfilled by approximately 70 percent,” explains Diestel. “And by composting our manure, feathers, and cardboard, we reduce their waste stream by nearly 75 percent!”

3. Pasture-raised turkey tastes better.

Once you’ve tasted a pasture-raised turkey, it’s impossible to go back to conventional.

“Most of our customers say it is the best tasting and moistest bird they have ever had,” says McAuley.

This has a lot to do with the ways in which pasture-raised turkeys are handled.

“The vast difference in the way a small scale sustainable turkey is raised results in a totally different tasting bird,” explains Ken Norton of Norton Farms, noting that both the birds’ living conditions and their ability to eat a naturally diverse diet of bugs and insects supplemented by a quality feed changes their flavor and fat content.

The improved taste also has to do with the ways in which these turkeys are processed for consumption. Unlike conventional turkeys, most pasture-raised turkeys from small farms are not pumped full of water or saline solution, which conventional birds often are to increase moisture, according to Norton.

The farmer’s attention to the needs of the individual breed helps as well, as Diestel explains.

“We select specific breeds of turkeys and raise them to their ideal weight,” she says. “If we didn’t allow our turkeys to be slow grown naturally, the birds wouldn’t develop the flavor and texture our customers know so well.”

4. They’re quicker to cook.

Because pasture-raised turkeys are often leaner than conventional, they have a tendency to dry out if not cooked properly. But if you cook them to the right temperature – between 170 and 175 internal temperature – and then leave them to rest for 30 minutes before carving, they will be juicy and tender, and they’ll monopolize the oven for less time than a conventional bird.

“When we started raising and eating our own turkey and chicken, it was too dry as we were going by how long we cooked other poultry in the past,” explains Norton. “As soon as we switched to the temperature method we have never had better-tasting poultry.”

Another benefit of choosing a pasture-raised turkey from a small farm is, of course, that you can ask your farmer for advice. Be sure to ask how he or she prefers to prepare the turkey so that you get the most out of your bird.

5. Pasture-raised turkey is healthier.

Several studies have shown that eating pasture-raised meat is healthier than conventional, and the same holds true for poultry.

A study at the University of Perugia showed that chickens raised out of doors were higher in omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants, and a 2013 study by the American Pastured Poultry Producers Association showed that pasture-raised chickens were also higher in vitamins D3 and E.

Health doesn’t begin and end with what’s in the poultry, however; it’s also important to focus on what’s absent from pasture-raised turkey: namely, antibiotics. Studies have shown that up to 70 percent of all antimicrobials are fed to farm animals in the U.S. in a constant, low-level stream to ward off diseases that stem from animals being kept in such close, unclean quarters. This can lead to antibiotic resistance, amongst other issues.

This isn’t a problem with pasture-raised turkey, as Diestel explains.

“Diestel farmers walk the turkeys every day and pay close attention to their health, removing the need for antibiotics,” she says.

6. Buying pasture-raised turkey makes it easier to promote biodiversity.

The broad-breasted conventional turkey has become popular in most American kitchens due to its high proportion of white meat, but small farmers are now bringing back the heritage breeds that were the norm until the middle of the 20th century.

Elmwood Stock Farm, for example, raises pastured Narragansetts, a breed that offers a much richer flavor than a conventional turkey.

“Because the heritage turkeys have a better balance between the dark meat and white meat, roasting a bird to perfection is easier, and the meat has a richer flavor,” explains Ann Stone of Elmwood Stock Farm.

These options are far more available with small, sustainable farms, so be sure to ask questions and choose the turkey that best suits the environmental, humane, and flavor profile that you feel good about.

Related on EcoSalon
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The post 6 Reasons You Need a Pasture-Raised Turkey on Your Thanksgiving Table appeared first on EcoSalon.

Thanksgiving is about so much more than the turkey: from stuffing to sweet potato casserole, there are so many traditional Thanksgiving sides to think about, and unfortunately, that tends to be where a lot of the empty calories are hiding.

Turkey on its own is actually quite healthy, and there’s no reason you can’t carry that through to the rest of your meal, all the while hanging on to the delicious traditional flavors. With that in mind, here are ten of our favorite healthy Thanksgiving sides to enjoy the holiday without packing on extra pounds.

1. Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Grapes and Walnuts

Brussels sprouts are one of our favorite Thanksgiving vegetables, and on their own, they’re super healthy. A member of the cruciferous vegetable family, Brussels sprouts are rich in vitamin C, soluble fiber, and a variety of phytochemicals and other nutrients. The problem comes when they’re cooked in too much butter or with fatty bacon. In this dish, they’re paired with sweet grapes and walnuts and drizzled with sweet and tangy balsamic vinegar, for a healthy dish rich in the flavors of fall.

2. Creamy Fall Soup in Acorn Squash Bowls

This dish is beautiful, tasty, healthy, and easy — what else could you ask for on Thanksgiving? The roasted acorn squash bowls hold a creamy, vegan fall soup made with sweet potato, carrots, butternut squash — all great sources of vitamin A –, and fiber-rich red lentils, which lend this soup some body.

3. Roasted Butternut Squash Salad

This salad includes some of our favorite Thanksgiving ingredients: squash, cranberries, and pepitas. It also features nutty farro, peppery arugula, and a bright citrus dressing with a hint of maple syrup.

4. Green Beans with Almonds

Many of us grew up with heavy green bean casserole, made with cream of mushroom soup and canned fried onions. This easy, lighter green bean recipe pairs the fresh green vegetables with slivered almonds, lemon, and just a touch of butter. Not only will it be one of the quickest recipes to get on your Thanksgiving table, but it’s delicious as well.

5. Wild Rice and Sweet Potato Salad

This hearty salad is not only a fantastic addition to your selection of healthy Thanksgiving sides, it also serves as the perfect main for vegetarian or vegan guests. Made with wild rice, protein-rich Puy lentils, and roasted sweet potatoes, the salad sings of the autumn harvest.

6. Vegan Pumpkin Macaroni and Cheese

Macaroni and cheese might not seem like it belongs in the healthy Thanksgiving sides category, but this vegan version absolutely does. With a creamy sauce made with pumpkin purée, almond milk, and nutritional yeast, this pasta bake tastes decadent, but it’s a truly wholesome choice.

7. Healthier Cornbread

It’s tough to make cornbread completely healthy, but this version, made with low-fat and protein-rich Greek yogurt instead of too much butter or oil, is much better for you than the traditional version, and it’s just as moist and tasty, making it one of our favorite healthy Thanskgiving sides.

8. Carrot Soufflé

This carrot- and parsnip-based soufflé is a gourmet addition to any Thanksgiving table. A combination of the sweet spice of cinnamon and a bit of sharp cheddar cheese lends an enormous amount of flavor to this dish, which still manages to be relatively healthy thanks to the use of whole milk in place of cream.

9. Roasted Carrots with Farro, Chickpeas, and Herbed Crème Fraiche

This vegetable dish has a bit of a Mediterranean flair, with a base of farro and chickpeas and a sauce made with crème fraiche and fresh parsley. Choose a rainbow of yellow, orange, white, and purple carrots to make this dish even more pleasing to the eye and richer in different vitamins.

10. Beet and Turnip Gratin

Gratins and casseroles are commonly found on Thanksgiving tables, but this healthier version forgoes cream and cheese in favor of a purely vegetable-based dish. This beet and turnip gratin is seasoned simply with red onion, thyme, and fresh orange juice. It’s bright in flavor and rich in vitamins — the perfect healthy Thanksgiving side.

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The post 10 Delicious Thanksgiving Sides so Healthy You’ll Keep Your Pants Buttoned the Whole Meal appeared first on EcoSalon.

I think I want to celebrate Thanksliving this year, too. Let us explain…

Jesse Eisenberg recently was a guest on Conan O’Brien. During his interview, Eisenberg told O’Brien that his family celebrates Thanksliving. The holiday is similar to Thanksgiving, but instead of eating turkey, his family saves them.

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Avoid the stress of the holidays, and enjoy yourself, by being present and thankful.

Let’s face it, the whirlwind of Thanksgiving and the winter holiday season can be a stressful time of year. Between trying to pull off a seamless Thanksgiving dinner that accommodates everyone’s food allergies and preferences, to shopping for holiday gifts and making homemade treats for everyone on your list, the time between Halloween and New Year’s just flies by–and often without us taking the time to smell the fir trees.

Get off the Christmas cookie  treadmill this year and take the time to enjoy your holidays by being more present and appreciating all that you have for which to be thankful. I know it seems like idealistic, but it is simple to slow down and make each moment of this joyous season count.

Need some inspiration? Of course, you do. We all need some inspiration to unwind, de-stress, be present in the moment, and grateful for the good in our lives. It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day grind, so take a look at our suggestions for being present and thankful this season.

How to Be Present and Thankful This Thanksgiving

1. Share Your Daily Gratitude – Some folks make a point of sharing one thing they are grateful for every day on social media. It’s a great exercise for pushing out the negative in our lives and helping to focus on all the positive.
2. Giving Thanks at the Thanksgiving Table – The Thanksgiving table is an obvious place to share your thanks. Take turns sharing things about which you are thankful while eating the Thanksgiving meal. It’s also a great way to avoid those awkward politically charged discussions at the table!
3. Mother Nature Mindfulness – Getting out in nature is a wonderful and proven way to get yourself to be present and mindful. Whether it is a walk in the woods, along the waterside, or just a bike ride down to the local park, nature has a way of helping to bring perspective into our daily lives.
4. Journal Your Thanks – If you aren’t into sharing what you are thankful publicly on social media, jot down your daily affirmation in a journal instead. You don’t have to share it with the world to make it meaningful.
5. Avoid the “Perfection” Trap of Social Media – Remember that most of those seemingly perfect pies, tablescapes, and recipes you see on Pinterest and Instagram are carefully curated. Don’t beat yourself up when your pie doesn’t turn out just like the picture. It’s not the destination, but the journey that counts.
6. Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff – Sometimes, this seems to be easier said than done, but remember to keep perspective. If the gravy doesn’t turn out, have a laugh about it and move on. Spending time with your family should be the focus.
7. Schedule Time for Yourself – Don’t forget to schedule some time for yourself this season. Whether it’s a hot bath, a long run, or a good book and some tea, remember to give yourself quiet time. You can’t appreciate the good in your life if you are always on the go.
8. Give Back – This time of year is busy, but do make some time to give back by volunteering at the local food bank, being a mentor, or for supporting another good cause. Sometimes taking care of yourself means taking care of others.
9. Get Outside Your Comfort Zone – It’s easy to get in a rut with your daily routine and feel like you are just going through the motions. Be more present by trying something new to shake you out of your rut. Take a class, volunteer, take up yoga, learn a new language, but do something outside your normal routine.

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The post Simple Ways to be Present and Thankful This Thanksgiving appeared first on EcoSalon.

Column Don’t want to serve classic Thanksgiving food? That’s just fine.

Since it’s Thanksgiving week, I figured we’d tackle the topic of Thanksgiving food.

For the latter part of November, all food media, be it print, web, radio or television, turns into a “Hey You, Don’t Forget It’s Thanksgiving” feeding frenzy. Feature articles and episodes are devoted to recipes, tips and tricks that will help you ensure that this Thanksgiving is the Official Best Thanksgiving Ever.

Feel that pressure rising?

This will be the second year in a row that I’m not in the US for Thanksgiving. And this year I am so far removed from the realities of North American holidays that had I not seen a bunch of Thanksgiving themed food articles in my newsfeed, there’s a high chance I would have forgotten all about it.

My family was never one to do the traditional Thanksgiving roll out. In terms of Thanksgiving food, there was always some concoction of sweet potatoes, a cranberry salad of some sort and a rendition of a pumpkin pie, but only because those foods made seasonal sense; that’s why they’re Thanksgiving classics to begin with.

In an attempt to try to make Thanksgiving more official, one year my mother and I committed to cooking a turkey just for good measure, and the process was so time consuming and the result so boring (I mean really, of all the meats, turkey is not the most exciting) that it came to be lovingly referred to as The F*ing Bird. We never attempted to cook a turkey again, and these days I’ve gone mostly vegetarian.

And yet, I’ve always loved Thanksgiving. Not for the exact dishes that we eat, but simply because I get to sit around for a few days off with my parents, drink some good wine, eat some good food and just spend time unplugged. It’s not about what we eat, it’s the fact that we’re doing it together.

Over time I have found that there is a certain genre of Thanksgiving related stories that comes from people spending the American holiday abroad. There’s the account of trying to find a turkey, or if that’s impossible, something that will replace it. There’s the humorous tale of trying to bake a pumpkin pie when you don’t know how to translate the word pumpkin, and when you do, realizing that it’s not squash season wherever you are. There’s the embarrassing story of inviting a bunch of people around to experience a Truly Authentic Thanksgiving dinner, only to realize that you burned the pie, the bird and the stuffing (but the guests just ended up drinking more wine, so in the end, things turned out alright).

I always shy away from these stories with a hint of annoyance. Not because they shed light on the triumphs and tribulations of living abroad and trying to build community when far from home. My frustration has always come from the obsession with getting all the food elements exactly right. There’s no room for error and no room for creativity. If it’s Thanksgiving then a turkey has to be served and that’s that.

The same goes back at home, and yet our obsession with doing Thanksgiving “right” comes at a cost. According to the USDA, the average American family wastes about 35 percent of edible turkey meat. With around 248 million turkeys raised for slaughter in the United States, that waste comes out to about $282 million. Keep that in mind when you’re debating what size bird you “have” to get.

Food is a beautiful vehicle for transporting us back to certain memories. We bake pumpkin pie because it’s a reminder of a certain place and time. The smell invokes a sentiment, no matter where we are in the world. We stick to certain recipes because they remind us of the people that taught them to us in the first place. We’re reminded of our family and friends.

But in a quest for the appropriate dinner spread, we lose track of the goal at hand: to be thankful of what we have, to be present and spend time with people we love, to give to those less fortunate than ourselves.

No matter what food you put on the table this Thanksgiving, I ensure you that you will gather around it with your friends and family and have a wonderful celebration. Take the stress out of Thanksgiving food and you’re left with a wonderful dinner party. Cook in season, and cook what feels good, not what you feel obligated to serve. Create your own memories and traditions. And if you feel like baking a pumpkin pie a week after the Thanksgiving holiday, have at it. Seasonal food is comfort food for a reason; eating in balance with what the earth provides us is what we’re meant to do.

Food shouldn’t feel constricting, it should be a celebration. And that’s what I hope you get this Thanksgiving.

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This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’ weekly column at EcoSalon: Foodie Underground, an exploration of what’s new and different in the underground movement, and how we make the topic of good food more accessible to everyone. More musings on the topic can be found at www.foodieunderground.com.

Image: Satya Murthy

The post With Thanksgiving Food Traditions, It’s Not the Food That Counts: Foodie Underground appeared first on EcoSalon.

Black Friday started early this year as stores opened their doors (or rather—never closed them) around 5PM on the Thursday of Thanksgiving. But, a new study shows Black Friday’s decline over time. What’s behind the loss of popularity of this formerly trendy shopping day? 

This year Black Friday came early, on Thanksgiving to be exact.

The jump start wasn’t because of early waves of holiday cheer sweeping through the nation, but because retailers are compensating for the economic hit they will most likely suffer this holiday shopping season. For 2013, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is six days shorter than usual. It is estimated retailers make half of their entire yearly income during this time, so every day counts. Due to the truncated time period, retailers are afraid those six days will cause large financial losses. Their strategy? They started Black Friday on Thanksgiving evening—and some stores even controversially stayed open on Thanksgiving, forcing workers to labor on the holiday.

Perhaps all the panic from retailers is warranted when on paper they’ve lost six days of shopping, but was Black Friday in decline already?

A new study, by CFI Group, shows the hype around the bargain-hunting tradition of Black Friday might be on its way out. The study found fewer than 25 percent of people will spend more than half their total holiday shopping during Black Friday.

They also found only 21 percent of Millenials say they will go shopping at all during this time, and nearly half of shoppers nationwide will skip the Black Friday lines completely by having begun their shopping way before Thanksgiving.

“Consumers began their holiday shopping earlier in the season,” said Sheri Petras, CEO of CFI Group. “And as behavior is shifting beyond traditional Black Friday spending, those who focus solely on Black Friday-centric campaigns will miss significant sales opportunities.”

With this season’s retail race making up for lost time, we have to ask ourselves, is the rush really worth it? Consumers trends aren’t leaning towards the cheapest choices anymore. Only one third of shoppers are motivated by sales and coupons and more people are buying experiences as gifts, forgoing more “stuff.”

And, according to the New Yorker, those discounts aren’t as great as we think they are (or used to be): “Black Friday doesn’t even necessarily offer the best discounts, contrary to what retailers want their customers to believe. Rather than selling most merchandise at full price and marking down what doesn’t sell, stores now engineer their prices, so that the “discounted” prices are actually at the level they had wanted all along,” writes Amy Merrick. 

So what was the rush to move Black Friday into Thanksgiving? Maybe it wasn’t worth leaving the dinner tables early this year to partake in a tradition that might be on its way out.

See Also: 

Beyond Black Friday: Neuromarketing, Your Brain and Your Wallet

Vintage Shopping Tips from an Industry Pro

Zady: An Artisan-Powered Platform for Socially Conscious Shopping

image: Michael Holden

The post Study Proves Black Friday’s Decline: Are Consumers Sick of the Hype? appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnThanksgiving: Not only a time to eat food, but to really think about it.

Well, it’s that time of year again, the time known for sweet potato casseroles and overeating. Here’s the thing about Thanksgiving: it’s a holiday devoted to eating good food and doing so with people you love. No one can argue with the benefits of that. Unfortunately, it’s also a significant reminder of our culture of overconsumption.

Beyond that, we’re so caught up in the importance of doing everything “right” that we lose track of the point of the holiday. We frantically shop, we stress out about cooking and we forget to enjoy the moment that we’re taking so much time trying to create.

So here are some rules for this Thanksgiving.

Eat, but know what you’re eating and where it came from. Spend time with your family and friends. Remember to take a moment to be appreciative of what you have, because even if you burn the pumpkin pie and your vegan-friendly kale and roasted brussels sprouts dish goes to hell, you will be fine. In fact, while we may have elbowed our way through the checkout line, the fact that we even have food on the table is something to be thankful for.

When it comes to food, there’s a lot to think about on Thanksgiving, so while you’re prepping for this week’s food events, take some time to mull over the following. Consider it your official Thanksgiving Food for Thought.

So here we go, things to think about this week:

-How your food got there. No, really. Think about all the people that were involved. The large majority of us don’t have to get our hands dirty to put food on the table, and if you’ve spent even a few days working the land, you know the time and energy that takes. Find a farmer and thank them.

-Almost $282 million worth of turkey meat is wasted at Thanksgiving, enough to feed each American household in the country 11 additional servings.

–46 million turkeys were eaten in the U.S. on Thanksgiving in 2011. In 2012, 46.5 million people in the U.S. lived in poverty.

-The laundry list of reasons to never eat an industrial, factory-farmed turkey ever again. Maybe you’ve considered going vegetarian. Maybe you have considered cutting down your intake of meat. Maybe you are simply committing to knowing where your meat comes from. Thanksgiving might just be a good place to start.

-About 75 percent of farm subsidies in the U.S. went to only 10percent of farms. If there ever was a time to buy produce from an independent farmer, it’s this week.

-While you’re eating a second helping of stuffing, McDonald’s is busy telling its low-paid employees that a great way to deal with hunger is to “break food into pieces.”

So come this Thursday, eat well and then figure out what you are going to do to help the food system, because it needs it. Badly.

Related on EcoSalon:

5 Thanksgiving Recipes from Around the Web (That Don’t Involve Turkey)

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This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’ weekly column at EcoSalon: Foodie Underground, an exploration of what’s new and different in the underground movement, and how we make the topic of good food more accessible to everyone. More musings on the topic can be found at www.foodieunderground.com.

Image: vxla

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Tips for ensuring your Thanksgiving dinner is as conscious as it can be. 

No matter who sits down at your Thanksgiving dinner table – the gluten intolerant, the semi-vegetarian, the raw foodist, the vegan, the grain-free, the passionate Paleo, the lactose avoider – you want to have some options. This is 2013 people, and if you think you can get away with turkey and green beans, think again.

1. If you’re serving a turkey, know where it comes from.

The list of problems related to the hundreds of millions of factory farmed turkeys raised for Thanksgiving is quite long. From sexual abuse to crippled feet and swollen joints, the factory farmed turkey industry is a nasty one. If you’re going to eat a bird, make sure you know where it comes from and how it was raised.

2. Make easy, versatile dishes

If you are stressed about accommodating a variety of dietary restrictions, pick a few dishes that will work for most people. Roasted vegetables, a bowl of marinated olives, fresh salad, a Spicy Pumpkin Hummus perhaps?

3. Think about your waste

Last year Americans wasted over $282 million of turkey; and that’s only the meat part of the meal. Take a look at who’s coming to dinner and how much food you really need to make, then get creative with your leftovers. There’s no need for food waste.

4. Offer a variety of drinks

You may have thought about the gluten-free pie and the vegan Thanksgiving side dish, but did you consider whether or not you have any guests that have knocked alcohol off their list of consumables?

5. Go for nut-based crusts

This will make the gluten-free and Paleo crowd happy. Try a walnut crust for starters. Other good nuts to make crusts with are pecans and hazelnuts.

6. Serve a substantial, plant-based main

Just because you’re not serving turkey, doesn’t mean you need to put Tofurky on the table. Come up with a delicious plant-based main instead, like stuffed squash or a hearty vegetarian casserole. The New York Times has an excellent database of vegetarian recipes for the holiday.

7. Don’t be afraid to ask

Have some dietary restrictions that you’re nervous about catering to? Ask your guests to bring their favorite dish. This makes the meal more communal anyway, and you’ll learn about a new recipe in the process.

Related on EcoSalon:

Vegan Pumpkin Pie

Thanksgiving Dinner: The Glossies vs. Real Life

Image: The Sporkful

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