This Thanksgiving, I will not have a turkey at my table

“What’s Thanksgiving without a turkey?,” was proclaimed with great amusement and mockery as we sat around the dinner table. At the time, I couldn’t help but laugh along with my family, as we joked about how the turkey on the animal sanctuary pledge card sent to us by a friend would be on our dinner table in two days. While that exact turkey in the image was not on our table that year, someone else was.

Last week, I picked up a new culinary centerpiece for this year’s family Thanksgiving from the plant-based section of Zehrs: A Tofurky roast made of vital wheat gluten stuffed with wild rice and tofu. It’s high in protein and delicious. Many people may be turned off by the idea of plant-based food, yet much of what we already eat on a day-to-day basis falls into this category. 

Alongside my Tofurky, my Thanksgiving dinner will include many other holiday favorites that require simple swaps (or no change at all) to be plant-based, such as mashed potatoes made with plant-based milk and butter, vegetable broth gravy, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, and of course, pumpkin pie.

For most of us, the closest interaction we will have with a turkey is while feasting on their corpse. Perhaps you’ve been lucky to see live turkeys in the wild, or like me, had the rare opportunity to get up close and personal with a turkey while visiting an animal sanctuary. The turkey I met there was named Kevin and he was an incredibly handsome fowl with just a touch of attitude. 

His grumpiness was understandable though, given that he caught a bug during my visit and was being isolated in quarantine for several days. Whenever I was around to check in on him, he was intrigued, wanting to get to know this new human living in his home. Kevin was loving, curious, and gentle. He made leaving the sanctuary a difficult goodbye as I walked down the gravel road at the end of my week-long visit. Like humans, turkeys’ personalities vary widely; they can be social and bond deeply with each other, as well as with humans and other species. I find comfort knowing that Kevin continues to live his life, well taken care of and valued for the individual he is. 

Present-day Canadian Thanksgiving has connections to both American Thanksgiving and the European Harvest Festival. In 1957, Canadian Governor-General Vincent Massey proclaimed Thanksgiving “a day of general thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed.” 

For most of us, Thanksgiving is simply a day to be present with loved ones and show gratitude. So, how did a turkey enter the equation? There isn’t consensus on this. Certainly, no evidence exists to suggest that turkey was served at what is considered the first Thanksgiving dinner in 1621 among the Plymouth colonizers from England and the Native American Wampanoag people. 

However, turkeys were widely available for slaughter, being native to North America and domesticated by the 18th century, so it may simply have been a matter of availability. In America, Thanksgiving traditions popularized eating turkey largely because of Sarah Josepha Hale, who wrote about the importance of turkey to Thanksgiving celebrations in her 1827 novel Northwood. Whatever the reason, nowadays, eating turkey has become a staple of almost all Thanksgiving dinners in the USA and Canada.

According to Turkey Farmers of Canada, in 2023, 2.1 million whole turkeys were purchased by Canadians around the time of Thanksgiving. More than a million turkeys were sold in 2023. Across the border, that number reaches over 200 million annually. Nearly all the turkeys purchased come from factory farms, where they are crammed into tight quarters with broken wings, experience heart failure as they are selectively bred to be oversized and are shackled upside down by their feet before their throats are slit. 

When I think about the conditions they are kept in, I think about over 200 million Kevins being reduced to a product to be sold and discarded. I remember Kevin, who exhibited his unique personality during my visit to the animal sanctuary. When I think of these factory farms, I can’t reconcile how this industry represents the essence of Thanksgiving.

After all, it’s called Thanksgiving, and what better way to show gratitude for what we have than by saving a life instead of taking one? As I sat around the dinner table years ago, staring at the turkey on the front of the animal sanctuary pledge card, I jokingly asked, “What is Thanksgiving without a turkey?” 

I answer my own question with: It's Thanksgiving when we show thanks by giving rather than taking, show compassion instead of apathy, and teach our children that all living beings deserve respect and dignity. That’s why, this Thanksgiving and everyone hereafter, I will not have a turkey on my table.

Cogie is a passionate advocate for animal rights, currently pursuing an undergraduate major in Animal Ethics and Sustainability Leadership at Huron University College. They have worked as an animal welfare research assistant, are currently a member of the ProVeg International Youth Board, and founder of Huron Protection of Animal Welfare Society (HPAWS).