Go beyond Thanksgiving recipes and consider the food’s source
I have always anxiously anticipated the arrival of Thanksgiving, filled with the promise of time with my family and some delicious turkey. But this year my excitement has taken a new form: for the first Thanksgiving of my life, I will be celebrating as a vegetarian.
By abstaining from turkey, which is often injected with hormones and antibiotics, and choosing instead to eat from the local fall harvest available in my area, it will be possible for me to observe Thanksgiving more ethically. The Thanksgiving holiday—which I choose to look at as a harvest holiday, rather than a commemoration of a mythical story about our Native American and Pilgrim ancestors—is the perfect opportunity to be thankful for nature’s bounty and the many gifts the earth gives us year after year.
My decision to eat vegetarian this summer was not surprising given the years I spent grappling with the idea. I’ve always mildly disliked meat, but after reading “Eating Animals” by Jonathan Safran Foer, a book about American farming practices that examines the importance of eating animals in American culture, the role of meat in my life took on a new complexity. With every bite of meat, I found myself considering the farming practices involved, how the animals were treated and even what effect my consumption of meat would have on my health.
Though I began to consider vegetarianism, it was not so easy to simply rid myself of meat. Meat was intertwined in every facet of my life, both Jewish and secular. “And what would happen if there were no turkey?” Foer asks in “Eating Animals,” prompting his readers to think. “Is the holiday undermined? Is Thanksgiving no longer Thanksgiving?”
Growing up and throughout college, meat has always been almost as essential in Jewish cultural practice as the Shabbat challah or kiddush wine. My general distaste for it aside, there was no denying the penetration of the influence of meat in my life. Yet I found myself constantly debating to eat vegetarian for ethical reasons. Or did I just not like the taste of meat?
My reasons for eating vegetarian became clear when I joined the staff of Hazon as an intern for the Food Development Team this September. Hazon is a Jewish organization that works to create healthier, more sustainable communities in the Jewish world and beyond through transformative experiences, thought leadership and capacity-building.
Hazon uses the food sustainability initiative as a way to create healthier communities. It’s also a way to promote food justice, or equal access to healthy food options. At Hazon, I learned the importance of being conscious about what we eat; eating kosher, with ethical and spiritual fitness, but also with modern sensibilities. Very quickly, I learned the truth of the old saying, “You are what you eat.”
Hazon’s Food Guide is geared toward Jewish organizations looking to make their institutions more sustainable. In it, Hazon provides many suggestions on how to eat ethically. That can mean using the Jewish concept of kashrut (literally “fitness”), but Hazon suggests redefining what “fit” means, in accordance with contemporary thinking and concerns. We can allow that definition to include factors like how and where food is grown and what effects the food production has on those who produce it. These factors—which are more commonly addressed through labels such as organic, local, fair trade and GMO (genetically modified organism)-free—help individuals assess the ethical “fitness” of the food that they consume. Combined with kashrut, these terms describe food that is fit for consumption spiritually, ethically and sustainably.
Despite my willingness and excitement for my first vegetarian Thanksgiving, it’s not as easy as buying local produce from my neighborhood farmer’s market. In my family, eating vegetarian is as heretical as eating a ham sandwich on Yom Kippur.
As Jews, meat is not just dinner; it’s our culture. We eat chicken every Shabbat, brisket and turkey on Rosh Hashanah, meat borscht on Passover and my mother’s sweet and sour meatballs appear throughout the year. By abstaining from eating meat, I’m not just passing on a serving of brisket. It’s as if I’m severing a cultural tie. However, my family understands the importance of acting ethically and consciously. Our choice of food is just one area where we can enhance our spirituality and embrace our ethical responsibility.
Luckily, eating ethically can mean more than just eating vegetarian or vegan. Eating ethically and consciously varies from person to person, and it can be incorporated at any degree. Steps like eating local produce from a farmer’s market can be an easy way to make Thanksgiving a more sustainable holiday. Eating locally helps cut down on pollutants that result from the delivery process and helps support local economies. Making food, as opposed to buying pre-prepared food, helps cut down on waste and ensures that you know the source of all of your food. It also does away with questions about the use of harmful chemicals or additives.
In addition, there are many organic kosher butchers, many of whom offer shipping throughout the United States in addition to online ordering. For families like mine, who aren’t quite ready to give up on the importance of meat at holiday meals, organic kosher butchers make eating more sustainably an option. Although my family won’t be enjoying a farm-raised, free-range turkey this year, there is always hope for next year.
For Foer, vegetarianism is the ideal method for ethical eating, but there are many options available for those interested in eating ethically. Whether it is buying locally grown cranberries, which are luckily in season in mid-September, or making side dishes from ingredients from a local farmer’s market, small steps toward sustainability decrease global impact and can enhance the ethical nature of any Thanksgiving celebration. While not eating turkey on Thanksgiving might seem strange or even heretical at first, it decreases the environmental impact of the pre-Thanksgiving turkey slaughter and can add new meaning to your Thanksgiving celebration. Thanksgiving should no longer be defined by turkey, but rather the bounty of the fall harvest and nature’s ability to provide for us year after year.
Alyssa Berkowitz is a senior in the Jewish Theological Seminary/Columbia University Joint Program and a food development intern at Hazon.
