Posted on 11/23/2005 11:37:35 AM PST by neverdem
Cast your mind back to the Thanksgivings of your childhood--or if not yours, then Norman Rockwell's. See the flushed, familiar faces, the expanse of white damask, the jewel-like bowls of candied yams and cranberry sauce, and Granddad carving the large, gleaming, nut-brown . . . artichoke?
Wait--sorry. I've been looking at too many children's picture books. For though it's true that publishers still turn out Pilgrim- and Indian-themed stories about America's most beloved holiday--with pumpkins, cornucopias and roasted turkey--the aim of a surprising number of children's books about Thanksgiving seems to be to put little readers off their meat. In these stories, succulent turkey is out; crunchy veggies are in. And a plump gobbler isn't served on the table but at it.
"Thanksgiving dinner always means turkey! Or does it? One little pilgrim is not so sure . . " So goes the sell on the cover of Peggy Archer's "Turkey Surprise" (Dial, $10). In it, forest creatures help a turkey hide from two pilgrim boys, the younger of whom eventually succeeds in persuading his brother not to bag a fowl for Thanksgiving. In "Over the River: A Turkey's Tale" (Simon & Schuster, $14.95), illustrated by Derek Anderson, turkeys on their way to Grandma's house similarly manage to outwit and escape their pursuers before sitting down to a jolly meat-free Thanksgiving meal.
In "Thelonious Turkey Lives! (On Felicia Ferguson's Farm)" (Knopf, $15.95), by Lynn Rowe Reed, Thanksgiving's approach causes the eponymous avian hero to become "nervous about dinner--being dinner, that is." He assumes that Felicia is "trying to fatten him up for the chopping block." So he foments a barnyard insurgency to destabilize the apparently ferocious farmer, only to discover in the end that she merely wants his feathers to use as decorations on fashionable hats.
How cute! How O...
(Excerpt) Read more at opinionjournal.com ...
Hey Bibchr...we're getting ready for a low carb Thanksgiving. At least for my husband (I cheat). I have been slowly buying special treats to make the day special for him. I've got steamed spinach, baked cod, boiled shrimp and a huge salad planned with cheese, mushrooms and chipped up bacon and olives, not including the turkey and a low carb pumpkin cheese cake for dessert!
He has no idea...I have almost everything hid in the fridge and freezer out in the garage!
:-)
I hate PETA so much that I now slowly torture my turkey to death.
LOL!
Oh, yeah! Enjoy nature's bounty of tasty beast, fish and fowl!
LOL!!! Made me reverse some coffee!
Careful... lab experiments involving galvanic response indicate that vegetables feel pain when picked...
Piker. I got one up on you - I degrade mine.
That's very funny! I plan on using your line tomorrow when I have Thanksgving dinner with 2 vegetarians attending.
Well, by torture, I mean I put panties on its head and make naked-turkey pyramids.
And put it on a dog collar while a cigarette-smoking female military policeman looks on.
I'm going to be kind to my turkey and make sure it's nice and stuffed for Thanksgiving.
Besides, we all know that those PETA chumps eat fowl. Last I saw, they were eating crow after a bunch of their members were caught killing defenseless pets.
Before cooking it looks like this:
After cooking it looks like this:
And it tastes worse than it looks!!!
And put it on a dog collar while a cigarette-smoking female military policeman looks on.
Argh! Ok, ya got me beat. I just talk dirty to my turkey.
There's stuffing and then THERE'S STUFFING!
What normal dad could stomach reading such a book to a kid?
****************
Two excellent questions. Most of the people I have known to be vegetarians have been young women.
You ever here the Imus in the Morning 'fake commercial' by Wilfred Brimley? That's right along that avenue.
So to speak.
This time last year I was at Trader Joe's standing in the check out line. The girl behind me was buying a soy turkey....and it was in the shape of a turkey. Even SHE was laughing that it was ridiculous despite being a vegetarian.
Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!
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