From Providence?

[Guest guest]

WARWICK -- Paul Dumont, a piano tuner from Lincoln, celebrated Thanksgiving early yesterday at the Radisson Airport Hotel with a feast of butternut bisque, stuffing and potatoes with gravy. What was missing from his plate was the turkey. Instead, he ate seitan, a meat substitute made of wheat gluten. Dumont became a vegan in 1997 when his older brother sent him a box of books on animal rights and health. The books persuaded Dumont to give up meat, dairy and other animal-based foods so he and his twin sons can prevent such problems as heart disease and high cholesterol. "It made my life have meaning, not hurting

animals and making my children healthy," he said. "There's a lot of positive things from it. It makes my life fuller." Dumont was one of 110 people who attended the sixth annual Compassionate Thanksgiving held by Rhode Island Vegan Awareness, a group that promotes a vegan diet for animal rights, improving the environment and nonviolence. Elana Kirshenbaum, the president and cofounder of the organization, held the Thanksgiving event at her house in 2001. She noted some vegans and vegetarians might face confrontation when celebrating with family members who eat meat. "Thanksgiving can be a stressful time because their ethics aren't understood, their values, whatever [reason] they chose to be vegetarian," she said. "Sometimes they feel misunderstood and they can feel trivialized." It is difficult to count the number of America vegetarians. One national poll this year by the Vegetarian Resource Group estimated about 4.7 million adults over 18, roughly 2.3 percent of the population, said they never eat meat, fish and poultry. There are a number of reasons people embrace a vegetarian diet. Some believe in animal rights, others choose it for aesthetic or religious reasons. Still others choose vegetarianism for environmental reasons because industrial farms use tons of grains, thousands of acres and millions of gallons of water to raise animals. The farms can produce tons of waste, leading to air, water and land pollution. While some may view vegetarianism as a lifestyle, it is more of a "philosophy and practice of living in harmony with animals and nature," said Karen Iacobbo, a Glocester journalist, cofounder of the online Vegetarian

Museum and coauthor of two vegetarian books with her husband, Michael. "Vegetarians had a remarkable influence on society that the community isn't aware of," Karen said. She noted that vegetarians were early champions of ideas such as preventive medicine, exercise, eating fruits and vegetables, and abstaining from drugs and alcohol. Vegetarianism has been practiced for thousands of years in religions such as Buddhism and Jainism. Notable figures such as philosophers Plato and Pythagoras were vegetarians. One of the first famous American vegetarians was Benjamin Franklin, who gave up meat for humanitarian reasons and even served a vegetarian meal to George Washington, Iacobbo said. However, during a fishing trip off Block Island, Franklin was tempted by cod and reverted. Vegetarians also played a strong role in how Americans eat today. The man considered the "father" of American vegetarianism, the Rev. Sylvester Graham, promoted "natural hygiene" and advocated using whole wheat in the 1830s. In the 1870s, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg proved Americans didn't need to eat ham or sausage for breakfast and developed cereals, Iacobbo said. Vegetarian food festivals in America date to the 1840s and meat-free Thanksgivings can be traced to 1895, according to Iacobbos' book . Nowadays, vegetarianism is more accepted by Americans and even meat eaters are willing to try the occasional vegetarian meal. Robert Yaffe, owner of the vegetarian Garden Grill Restaurant, in Pawtucket, said about 60 to 70 percent of his customers aren't vegetarian. "My customers are primarily into eating healthy, natural foods, but [are] not necessarily vegetarian," he

said. The restaurant has offered five-course vegetarian Thanksgiving dinners since 2003. Last year, the dinner drew 75 people. Yaffe, who worked in the natural foods business for 36 years, opened the restaurant partly for environmental reasons and to cater to a special niche. Meatless Thanksgiving can provide a sense of community for vegans such as Barry and Chris Brown, of Warren. While the couple celebrate Thanksgiving with their own family, which includes vegetarians, they have attended the RIVA event since 2003 to show solidarity and meet other vegans. Being vegan made a huge difference for the Browns, who became vegetarians in 1991 when Barry was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of cancer. In 1993, they became vegans after watching a film about a chicken farm. Barry said his cancer has been in remission since 2002, and he credits his diet. And Chris changed her career from layout artist to natural foods educator in 1997. Chris Brown said events such as Compassion Thanksgiving "brings people together and introduces them to healthy eating and changes their minds on what vegan food tastes like." The other benefit of a vegan diet is not worrying about hormones and food-borne diseases in meat, Barry said. "There's no such thing as mad tofu disease," he joked. For more information about Rhode Island Vegan Awareness, visit www.veganawareness.org. For more information about the Vegetarian Museum, visit www.vegetarianmuseum.com. -- Michelle J. Lee is a fellow with the Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting. Peter H

 

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