This year’s Vegan Thanksgiving returned bigger and better
There are many reasons why individuals may want to reduce their consumption of animal products. Common reasons for changing one’s diet include nutritional reasons or ethical purposes, such as protesting against eating animal products or reducing pollution. However, a major barrier to reducing animal product consumption is the pervasive belief that vegan cooking is bland and less appetizing than omnivorous diets. As such, for this year’s Thanksgiving, the Animal Justice Club set out to show that vegan cooking can be just as delicious as omnivorous food!
All the cooking occurred entirely in Olivia’s kitchen, an all-day endeavour on the Saturday before the event. Fateh Hayer (2L, Representative) worked very hard on the Home Depot bucket full of mashed potatoes. Lisa Scholtz (1L, Representative) masterfully cooked the acorn squash and expertly formed and prepared the tofurkey dough. Emily Sarah Hean (3L, President) was responsible for the mouthwatering cupcakes and provided fridge and freezer space for storing the huge quantities of food until the event day. Olivia Schenk (2L, Vice-President) provided the cooking space, gathered ingredients, and curated the recipes. Everyone worked very hard and learned lots of new cooking skills!
This year’s event marked some major milestones for the club. The turnout was triple compared to the previous year. Also, this year marked an attempt to make the event as inclusive as possible, as the food was completely free for students! The menu consisted of mashed potatoes, maple brown sugar squash, tofurkey, bread, gravy, and vanilla vegan cupcakes—all completely homemade.
The event was a great representation of the club’s growth; the club was resurrected by Hean last year. Stay tuned on Facebook for future club events next semester! If you would like to join the club’s event mailing list or be actively involved in future club events, please send us an email at [email protected].
