Every November since 1947, the President of the United States has been gifted with a live turkey from the National Turkey Federation.  Don’t you think that President Obama would appreciate an update? I mean, how about a gift with a little more staying power, like the adorable Owl Salt and Pepper Shakers?  These are better than real-life birds.

How the turkey gift tradition started

Anyway, the tradition began of giving the President a turkey so that he and his family could then eat it for Thanksgiving dinner. It wasn’t until 1963 that the tradition of consuming the presidential turkey was upset. President John F. Kennedy was the first one to irk the system. He looked at the turkey and simply said, “let’s keep him.” Hence, the first presidential turkey pardon occured.

Now, despite President JFK’s trend-setting ways, turkey still remains the ubiquitous symbol and favorite food of Thanksgiving day. Did you know that every year, 5.32 million turkeys are slaughtered for Thanksgiving? Yikes, that’s a lot of birds!

Eco-impact of a turkey dinner

Meat production isn’t particularly earth-friendly. Conventionally raised meat does not contain as many pesiticides as produce, but it can contain both hormones and antibiotics. Plus, it takes multiple times the fuel and water to produce one meal’s worth of meat as it does to produce a meal’s worth of grain. So a veggie Thanksgiving menu is better for the earth, and for your body!

More options for Thanksgiving dinner

Before you say, “it just wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without turkey,” check out some of meat substitute products. Quorn makes a roast that is totally delicious- it really tastes and looks like the real thing! The main ingredient in the Quorn turkey roast is mycoprotein, which is made from eggs. This makes it high in both protein and fiber, while really low in fat.

A good vegan option is the Tofurky. This one is made from a tofu-wheat blend. It takes only .47 pounds of grain to make a pound of Tofurky; it takes 4.87 pounds of grain to produce one pound of turkey meat. Tofurky is an awesome earth-friendly option! Check out how yummy a slice of Tofurky looks when served.  Now imagine how sophisticated your table will look when you serve up your Tofurky with the Sapling Servers.

Elegant + earth friendly= a perfect modern Thanksgiving combo!

Tags: owl salt and pepper shakers, quorn, sapling servers, Thanksgiving, tofurky, vegetarian

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 7:44 am and is filed under Entertaining, Gifts, Holiday Stuff. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.