Letters: Why I’m skipping the Thanksgiving turkey

While President Obama is pardoning two turkeys for Thanksgiving, every one of us can exercise that same presidential power by choosing a nonviolent Thanksgiving observance that spares a turkey’s life.

You truly are what you eat. Who wants to be a butterball?

Fruits and vegetables don’t have to carry government warning labels, and by skipping the turkey, you won’t spend a sleepless night wondering how the turkey lived and died, your body will appreciate a holiday from saturated fat, cholesterol and hormones, and you won’t have to call the Poultry Hotline to keep your family out of the emergency room.

This Thanksgiving, let’s give thanks for our good fortune, health and happiness with a life-affirming, cruelty-free feast of vegetables, fruits and grains.

Our own dinner will feature a soy or wheat-based roast, mashed potatoes, stuffed squash, candied yams, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. An internet search on “vegetarian Thanksgiving” is getting us more recipes and other useful information than we could possibly use.

This story was originally published November 25, 2015 at 1:57 PM.