Arkansas article

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CONWAY — College senior Amanda Harris well remembers the first time she dined with her family after becoming a vegetarian about 1 2 / 2 years ago. “My entire family are hunters and very avid meat-eaters,” said Harris, a student at the University of Central Arkansas. “At first, it was a big deal,” she said of her announcement that she’d given up meat and poultry. Well, almost. “Most people know me as a vegetarian,” Harris explained, “but the actual terminology is pescatarian because I do eat fish.” Harris altered her diet after watching videos and reading about animal cruelty and slaughterhouses. “I really had no desire to eat meat after that other than, like, fish every

once in a while,” she said. Harris, 22, of Lonoke said her family respected her decision, once the initial shock passed. “They’re, like, why would you do that ?” she recalled. “They looked at me like I was this hippie kid, like, where is my daughter.” Across the South this week, omnivorous Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving with feasts of turkey and ham, stuffing with chicken broth, giblet gravy, green beans with ham hock, baked beans seasoned with bacon drippings, and mincemeat pie. Harris happily counts herself among those vegetarians whose families, while sticking with their turkeys, also are making culinary adjustments for their loved ones. A survey in April for The Vegetarian Resource Group in Baltimore found that among 1, 000 people ages 18 and over, 6. 7 percent said they never eat meat; 2. 3 percent said they never eat meat, fish or fowl; and 1. 4 percent said they never eat meat, poultry, fish or

seafood, dairy products or eggs — suggesting they are vegan. Harris’ mother, Sharon Harris, said her daughter’s conversion surprised her because her daughter had been a devout consumer of McDonald’s cheeseburgers and Arby’s barbecue. “I said, ‘No more McDonald’s or Arby’s ?’” Sharon Harris recalled. “It was like, ‘ Oh, my gosh, you’re going to have withdrawal. ’” The news also startled the hunters on her father’s side of the family. So many of them take to the woods that Thanksgiving gatherings have been known to be scheduled around the hunting season. “Practically every dish they cooked had meat in it in some form, even if it was like bacon fat... or beef broth,” Amanda Harris said of past Thanksgiving meals. MEATLESS FARE Come Thursday, however, when Harris goes to her mother’s home for Thanksgiving, she will find meat-free side dishes on the table, along with ham and the traditional family turkey with

giblet gravy. “They just will make their green beans without the bacon in them, or stuff like that,” Amanda Harris said. Like many other vegetarians, Harris is preparing some food on her own — in her case, a tofu turkey with mushroom gravy. “It looks kind of like a little turkey,” she said, referring to a popular brand called Tofurky. “You make the actual baste and stuff that goes in it with orange juice” and other ingredients, Harris said. “You cook it just like a turkey, and it actually looks and tastes a lot like one. “ It doesn’t have the texture of a turkey.... I think it’s great. Most people who are meat-eaters [who ] I’ve had try it said, ‘ Oh, this is really good. ’” Indeed, friend and meat-eater Ronnie Dobbs of Pine Bluff said the tofu turkey “was better than I expected.... It really tasted pretty good.” Hendrix College freshman Katie Rice, 18, of St. Louis said she was a vegetarian “on and off” during high school but has

been one “pretty steadily” for the past year, ever since she dissected a fetal pig in anatomy class. For Thanksgiving this year, she intends to skip the family turkey and fill up on sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, vegetarian stuffing and salad. “I like the sides more even than I like the turkey,” Rice said. “I don’t really feel like I’m missing out on very much.” ‘ STUFFING’ HIMSELF When vegan Jeremy Stevens, 30, of Elkins goes home for Thanksgiving, he opts for stuffing made with soy milk and passes on the turkey, ham and greenbean casserole with bacon bits. “I prefer it” to the traditional stuffing, said Stevens, who works at Ozark Natural Foods, a popular vegetarian spot in Fayetteville. (Elkins is about 10 miles southeast of Fayetteville. ) As a vegan, Stevens eschews meat, poultry, fish and animal products such as milk, eggs and butter, which explains why he uses soy milk in his stuffing, and egg substitutes or bananas as the

binding agents in dishes such as German chocolate cake. Stevens said he became a vegan six years ago for ethical reasons: “If I can be healthy and happy without causing suffering, then I’ll do that.” Then, after doing research on the science behind vegan diets, his choice became one of health as well. Stevens said the vegan stuffing doesn’t taste the same as his family’s more traditional recipe. “But it’s close enough that most of the family — even though they’re not vegan, they’re not vegetarian — they enjoy it.” Stevens said his family in northeast Louisiana has been supportive over the years, at times picking restaurants with vegan options — a Chinese one, for instance. “It’s definitely not your traditional Southern Thanksgiving dinner,” he said. “I’ve always found that being open to nontraditional ways of celebrating the holidays can be a way of finding middle ground,” he said.

For dinners at home, Stevens said, the family cooks prepare some vegan dishes. “Usually they’ll modify their stuffing recipe or green-bean casserole so I can have them,” he said. Stevens also cooks and shares vegan recipes with his relatives. If a traditional recipe calls for butter, he buys a margarine made without animal products. Pitching in with the cooking is the right approach, said Mary Margaret Chappell, editor in chief of Vegetarian Times. “I think the best thing to do is to say, ‘Let me help cook dinner, ’” Chappell said by telephone from El Segundo, Calif. “Instead of making it, “ I need this’ and ‘I need that,’ say, ‘Let me make you this. Let me make the greens without the ham hock,’ because then it just makes it so much easier” for the nonvegetarian cook. Or offer to make the stuffing and use vegetable instead of chicken broth, she suggested. “It’s delicious.” Stevens said he used to take along soy milk and special margarine — ingredients that he knew his family wouldn’t have on hand. Now, his family has them. “I’ve even had members of my family make vegan pumpkin pies. A lot of the members of my family take it as a challenge,” he said. But they still use meat to season their green beans, so Stevens passes on them. Also, if they make the mashed potatoes, “they’ll generally put cream or butter in them.” So, he sometimes makes his own. “I’m going to eat my stuff; they’re going to eat their stuff.... I try really hard not to be preachy,” he said. Chappell agreed that it’s best to avoid any Thanksgiving lectures. “It’s a holiday that’s really about getting together and accepting the togetherness. Maybe it’s the time to leave the politics behind that one day. You get your message across when you show, don’t tell,” she said. “There are plenty of other times to be

militant about your feelings on meat.” As for Stevens, the next big challenge may come the year that he and his girlfriend have the family to their home for an all-vegan Thanksgiving dinner. “It would be interesting,” he said. “One of our personal rules is, yes, we only cook vegan food in our house. We would make sure everybody knew going in that there wasn’t going to be a turkey.” Recent Activity 5 New MembersVisit Your Group