What Tofurky Day Means for Animal Rights

Thanksgiving means something special to each of us, whether it is time spent with family and friends, a chance to reflect on the past year and all its good fortunes, or, to a fan of Wikipedia, “A traditional North American holiday, which is a form of harvest festival.” To me, Thanksgiving means I get to indulge in my favorite of the seven deadly sins, pass out by 3 p.m., and wake up to a fresh pie. Unfortunately, several years ago a crisis of conscience made my favorite sin a lot more sinful and took the turkey out of turkey day.

Hi, I’m Eric, the president of Columbia Students for Animal Protection, and a long-time vegan/vegetarian. Every year, Thanksgiving seems to dredge up the same old questions for me. How should turkeys, as well as all other animals, be treated in a modern industrial world? Given all the excellent reasons against eating animals, should meat be eliminated from diets altogether? If so, what would this mean for the spirit of Thanksgiving, an American tradition going back almost 400 years?

It’s no surprise that Thanksgiving in particular gets a lot of attention from the animal rights community—it is a holiday based around eating an animal. It also has widespread popularity, a history, and an industry, the three ingredients that vegans need in order to raise awareness, get people to question their beliefs, and show the rampant corruption and cruelty people are supporting. CSAP has already begun this effort. Yesterday we held our annual Vegan Thanksgiving Dinner to raise awareness and show the Columbia community that vegan food can be delicious. In a movement where activists spend most of their time protesting into the ether, Thanksgiving gives us something tangible, something flesh-and-blood, which we can really sink our teeth into, so to speak.

Truth be told, though, Thanksgiving gets more attention than it deserves. Each year, over 46 million turkeys are slaughtered in preparation for the holiday. However, what most people don’t realize is that this is roughly double the 23 million chickens that are slaughtered each day in the US, according to Viva! USA, a group that campaigns on behalf of animals killed for food. This does not even mention the countless other animals which suffer in factory farms throughout the world. Is eating turkey on Thanksgiving ethical? Probably as ethical as eating turkey any other day—it all depends on your own beliefs. The nice thing about Thanksgiving is that it gives people the perfect chance to test out vegetarianism and make a difference without having to make a long-term commitment or life change.

The increased awareness of animal rights due to Thanksgiving raises the question of whether people should focus more on improving the treatment of the animals or eliminating meat from the holiday altogether. I’d say both. I don’t think people biologically need to eat meat; in fact, I’d go as far as to say that the quality and quantity at which it’s consumed in America significantly contributes to heart disease and cancer. According to the United Nations and several other respectable organizations, factory farming and the consumption of meat in general are major causes of many of the world’s worst problems including the state of the environment, high demand for oil, loss of arable land that could be used to grow crops, and even disease caused by water pollution. So, should you stop eating meat altogether? Once again, it’s your call. There is only one thing I can really be sure about—what’s going on in most factory farms today is wrong, inhumane, and should not be supported, no matter who you are, where you come from, or what you believe in.

So how much does faux-meat change the spirit of Thanksgiving? Not much from what I can tell. Thanksgiving has always been a first class harvest festival with a long history of commercialism and patriotism mixed in. As far as harvest festivals go, it’s second only to Samhain and maybe Lammas (not Mabon though—Thanksgiving is definitely better than Mabon). It’s a time to get off school or work, see your family and friends, and enjoy local food originating from North America. Whether it be a species of fowl or a manufacturing process native to the good ol’ U.S. of A, it doesn’t matter to me one bit. Either way, after the parade is watched, the dinner is eaten, and the nap is had, I’ll still wake up to that fresh pumpkin pie. I don’t know what Thanksgiving means to you, but for me, that’s what it’s really all about.

The author is a second year master’s student in the School of Engineering and Applied Science majoring in computer science. He is the president of Columbia Students for Animal Protection.