Sharing Our Vegan Thanksgiving — With You

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In behalf of animals, I'm Nicole Arcello and welcome to our

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very special vegan Thanksgiving episode.

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I'm here with Patrick today. Hi, Patrick. Hi, Nicole. Hi.

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So we're here today to be with you, to spend a little bit of time

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on this holiday with some like minded people. If you're

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hearing this before you're off to visit family,

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or if maybe you need a little bit of support after the day

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so you'll know that you're not alone. Even though

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we all feel very alone on this holiday, I'm very,

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I'm very lucky because my mom did a vegan Thanksgiving

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right, right away. So for 16, this will be my 16th vegan Thanksgiving.

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I acknowledge that I'm very lucky and I,

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you know, I know it's hard and I still have hard things. And I'm.

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I want to talk about that too because I don't want it to sound like,

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you know, like this isn't. This is. It's hard. I mean,

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when the calendar turns to November 1st, it's hard. It's heavy.

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Yeah. And all I can think about, like every minute

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of every day is like, I have to do something for the turkeys. I can't

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let this year go by. I can't get busy and not do some posts.

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I have to do something. So it's. I feel all that anxiety. And I'm sure

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we all feel that because we want to scream it from the rooftops, we want

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to tell our family. But when I went vegan

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16 years ago, right. 2009, it was toward

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the end of spring or summer, and I called

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my mom and I said, I'm not vegetarian anymore. Pretty sure I'm going vegan.

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And the first thing out of her mouth was, what are we gonna do on

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Thanksgiving? And mind you, I was already vegetarian

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for a couple years, right. So she, I wasn't. We weren't

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having turkey. Mom and dad decided to do that a different day. Because back then,

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you know, I was like a militant

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vegan, right. When I first. Or vegetarian. I was doing this for animals. So I

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was telling them a lot. So they were probably like, we don't. We're gonna do

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this a different day. Cause we don't want her coming in the house. Right.

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Um, and if I was, if I had siblings,

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I'm sure it wouldn't have gone down this way. Cause this is only. Cause I'm

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an only child, which is good and bad. But it's for another discussion.

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Um, all of the sides were already vegetarian, so she

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just had to veganize them take that extra step. And so that was, you know,

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she saw that as, as pretty easy, you know, the replacing the milk,

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the butter, you know, the broth or whatever. But I know for a

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lot of other people it's not that easy. And I know for

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us with your family. Yeah, please talk about before,

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you know, you and I were together, but also after too.

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We're together and we get invited to your families.

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So talk about maybe before, like when you went vegan

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almost 23 years ago, right? Yeah. So it was very challenging.

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And no matter where, whether we hosted or went to

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one of my family members homes, there was meat

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served with the Tofurky. So that was

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my life. And you know, I think that your description

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of a heaviness that we, we feel around this time

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of year, especially on Thanksgiving Day, is so apt.

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You know, it's the weight of the knowledge that we

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all have as to what turkey

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evolves for, for the holidays. And. Yeah,

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so the first holiday that I went to your parents, the first Thanksgiving

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or I was invited to your parents was, was the most wonderful

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experience for me. Not only it was all vegan,

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as you said, but you and your mom are both incredible cooks

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and no one loves to eat more than I.

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And it was instantly my favorite day of the year.

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And, and what do I, what, what did I say? Like almost every year.

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Why are we, why do we do this just once a year? This is insane.

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We should be doing it more, more than. And I still only do it once.

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Yeah, well, you've gotten a little bit better. But, but the point is,

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you know, it was just, it was a, just a wonderful experience for

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me from the outset. And so we

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recently made a decision as a couple that we were no longer going to

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go over to anyone's homes when

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meat is being served or where it had been served just recently.

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So Thanksgiving, for example, we've been invited for dessert

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in the past and, but the remnants are still

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there or the leftovers are already being eaten

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by the other guests. And we decided we don't want to

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be around that any any longer. And it's, it's a difficult

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thing. I'm, I still am very, very close to

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most of my family. Yeah. But I have a large family.

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I have four siblings, many, many nieces and nephews and

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my parents. And aside from my son and one niece,

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they all eat meat and I just don't

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want to be around that anymore. It's, it's too, too much of a negative for

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me. And, and it was actually your idea. Yeah. And of

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course. I, Well, I think we had to. Stop this, the, the struggle.

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Right. You know, because, like, we both feel inside

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like, oh, someone's going to invite us. What are we going to do? And you

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know, know, like, we're like, we always would say dessert. So.

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But the, but then it was all this anxiety of me being

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like, well, what time are you guys eating, right? Oh, around three or

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four. And I'm like, last thing we want to do is walk in on them

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just carving turkey. And then we got to sit there and then they're going to

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say, you guys eat or whatever. We'll get to comments in a minute. But.

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And not just your family's comments, just comments in general. So I'm not beating up

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on your family. But. And I just, I do want to point out though,

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though that that was just a decision that we made. We feel like we

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can make that work with my family dynamic.

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But if you still are going to your, you know, your family's houses

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on Thanksgiving and they are serving turkey, we totally understand. It's not,

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it's not one size fits. All right.

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But you know, just, just know that we understand the

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internal conflict and that's what this is about, this episode.

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Right? This is a kindred spheres. I threw it.

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So it wasn't a lot of anxiety, like, we're going to get invited somewhere.

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Do we have to make an excuse? Do we have to figure out,

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like I said? And then we're to the point where, okay, yeah, we'll come for

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dessert. Well, what time are you eating? So we're not walking in like you said,

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right? And now it's like, okay, so if we say we're going to

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be there for dessert at six, let's be a little bit late.

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Well, one year. One year we deliberately held

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off as long as possible when we got there.

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So we had dessert with my father and my stepmother and

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that was fine, but that was all about self

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preservation, right? We didn't want to subject ourselves to

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those feelings. And not only the turkey being there, but everyone reveling,

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celebrating the day. And that's what makes it hard. Right?

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It's not just the fact that a turkey is there.

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It's the celebratory feel of the holiday and

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it's talking about the tenderness of the meat or whatever.

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And that's what we where their sandwiches. Are going to have.

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Right? And, but so that's why I was like, you know what, we have to

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make a change here because this is too much anxiety, you know, and you

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know, this is. And this worked for us. And you'll hear from some other activists

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because we have a recording from, from, for some other activists and what they do,

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and it's really interesting and eye opening and inspiring too. But yeah,

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that's what we, you know, decided to do. I don't know how we're going to

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navigate other holidays and things like that, but we'll take it, we'll take it.

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As a point, our own tradition. To be among

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other kindred spirits during the holidays is so very, very important.

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So if you can't be with other ethical vegans on Thanksgiving Day,

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find some time, right, during the holiday season to get together, do a

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potluck, do something where you can all be together and make it

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a positive experiences. There's enough heaviness. We all,

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we all know it's there. It's just, it's omnipresent. But try

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to find some pockets. You have to, you know, so many of you are

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going to have to be around family members. And I know that you,

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you were listening to my interview with Kathy Stevens. Whether they have

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to go where they want to go, obviously, you know, family, family ties are

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what they are and people still are very, very close to, to family

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members who eat meat still. Yeah, we love our families and we. Understand that and,

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but Kathy had great advice. You know, you could, you could

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opt out like, like we've decided to do,

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or you go and you go, but you go with,

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with, with love in your heart, openness,

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prepare a great vegan dish to

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share with, with, with the group. But no judgment.

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Right. And no, and that's certainly not the time for, for,

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for direct verbal activism.

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You know, you could do your activism through your food, right through your dish,

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but it's not the time to, to talk to people

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unless someone were to ask you. Yeah. As an aside, and you know,

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you maybe have a side conversation, I should say, with someone about

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that. But, but you have to, you have to pick, pick your,

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your moments. Right. And that's, and she does point out that, you know,

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family dynamics are different and things like that. So you may have opportunity.

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Right. You know, finding a way, and that's part of why I

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wanted to do an episode today is like finding a way to walk into that.

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So if you're, you know, if you're listening to this before and you have all

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that anxiety, we all feel it too. And if 100

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people or 10 people listen to this today, they all feel it too. Right.

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All of us feel the same way. We have to go anywhere. I mean,

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think of all the anxiety just of like, oh, we're going to get invited.

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I got to figure out what time they're having dinner. And it's a lot,

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you know, and families are already a lot of anxiety. You know,

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I have a very small family, so I don't have, you know,

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tons of. I don't have siblings. I don't have people that I have to,

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you know, worry about. But. But also. So another

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thing, and I made a video about this last year was all

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the people that say, like, text you, like, happy Turkey Day, gobble,

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gobble. And I know you've.

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Well, I get upset about it. Yeah. And I. I think I. I feel

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like it's a personal shot sometimes. Like, what. What the hell?

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You know, like, I like to use a stronger word by trying to keep it

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clean. But what the hell do we. Do they. Why are they saying that?

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Are they saying that? Because. But you have a really interesting. Yeah, I don't.

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I don't think it's meant to be insulting

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or demeaning. I think it's more rooted in an uncomfortableness

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that they feel they know who we are and what

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we do. Yeah. We're not confrontational with any

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of my family members. We never have been. No. If someone

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were to ask us the question, we are certainly going to answer. There was one

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night in particular we were out to dinner with my dad. Yeah. That's why I

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say you're fantastic. Yeah. If I could have snuck a video camera while

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you were talking to your dad that night. It was so calm and

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so full of compassion.

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Right. But that was. I came into. Again, that was unsolicited. That was,

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you know, he, He. He brought up the topic and. Yeah.

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So, you know, we find moments where, you know, if. If opportunity

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presents itself, we certainly will talk about it. But,

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but getting back to those, you know, gobble,

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gobble, or Happy Turkey Day, Those, Those kinds of comments, I don't take them in

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any way as a shot.

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I don't think that they are mean people, you know,

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that are saying them to us. They're just. They're just uncomfortable.

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And also, there's a certain amount of habituation.

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Right. This is the way we all grew up. You know, that's where I grew

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up. You know, turkey day taffy, you know, and gobble gobble. And that's

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just the way, you know, the greetings are passed along

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on Thanksgiving. So I don't take anything. I don't.

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I don't take them in any way to be. I know,

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I know. Maybe people, like, copy and paste Them to everybody to get it done

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fast or something. But. Yeah, I know, but it's still, like, irks me

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a little bit because I'm like, come on, you know,

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And I did an episode about this last year about

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to remind people, like, we've been vegan a long time. Like 16 years,

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23 years. That's a long time to me. And our families think

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that, oh, they're, you know, oh, that's Pat. You know, he's the vegan

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one, or Nicole's vegan one, or Sally, or whoever you are out there

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is a vegan one. And sometimes they just forget. Right. Because maybe

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we're eating pretty healthy food or. So they're kind of. Their thoughts

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have changed to why we're vegan. Yeah. Talk more about it, obviously, to people

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who I care about the most in this world,

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but if they don't ask me, I don't talk about it. And. And so,

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yeah, that makes it difficult. But, you know, and as

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Kathy said in the interview,

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the time to talk about it is either before the holidays, in between

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the holidays, or after the holidays. But you have to be willing.

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It's a risk. Right. And you have to be willing to have

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that possibility that that relationship will be compromised

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in some way because you are bringing it up. But again,

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that's someone that. Something that each of us has to decide on his

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or her own. So. And something I think we

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did this year, this summer to remind our

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family members why we're vegan.

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We put tattoos on our arms, right? Yeah. We got tattoos

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that say animal liberation on our forearms. They're matching different

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fonts, different. And that's a perfect example. So when I did share that

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with my sibling and my parents, and there was. There's like,

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oh, really? And then they would make some kind of a joke about. I never

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thought that, you know, Pat would be the one to get a tattoo, but nothing

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about the actual text saying animal liberation because it

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makes them feel uncomfortable. Right. And let's face it,

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ethical veganism is a judgment. Right?

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We. We are saying this is the right way to live.

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Right. We can talk about that amongst ourselves. We firmly

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believe that it's the right way to live. And there's a subtext in

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every kind of, you know, conver or every relationship that we have outside of

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the vegan community. Right. People that. Who know us,

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our family members, they know that there's a certain amount of judgment,

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even though we're not presenting judgment

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and our interactions with them, the subtext is always

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there. And that's why they Feel uncomfortable

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when we show them a tattoo saying animal liberation. Right. It was really

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like. Yeah, yeah, it was. The reactions were definitely

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interesting, but in. No way are we doing it to make them feel uncomfortable.

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We're not doing. You know, we did it because this is what we believe.

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This is our philosophy. No,

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we're really excited. That is our philosophy, and we want that to, you know,

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to be, you know, I wanted it to be on my arm, you know,

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forevermore. And. And of course, you know, it's there.

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It's. It was summertime, so it's. I have to show it. Well, look what I.

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You know, look what I did. The tattoo. And.

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Yeah, so I think. I think it was.

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It was definitely an eye opener, and it definitely served its purpose,

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I guess, in that way, to remind. And we did it for ourselves. Right.

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Because we wanted to be like, where that. You know, I have three tattoos,

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and they're all. One says vegan, one says for the animals, and once this.

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Yeah. And you can't see the other two, you know, only in

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the summer, I guess. But, yeah, even my daughter. And my daughter has

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been very. Always been very supportive of. Of what we

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do in our lifestyle. She's open to eating all

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kinds of vegan food. Oh, yeah. She loves everything. But. Yeah, I get.

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It was the same reaction from her. It was like, oh, my goodness. Oh,

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you know, that's. But she doesn't know what to say. I mean, what are we.

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We're telling. Animal liberation is saying that, you know,

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we're trying to stop you from living this the way you are. Right. I mean,

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that's what animal liberation is. Yeah. And I think that's a really,

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you know, strong wording

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for those people. Right. Because that really does hit home, and I was worried about

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that. I think when we got our tattoos, we're kind of veering off the subject

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here, but it's okay. It's all the same subject. But we,

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you know, we wanted animal liberation. That was what we decided on.

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But I also was like, are people gonna understand what that means? And I

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really think they do more than I thought, because I was like, maybe they're not

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gonna know what animal. But they. They get. They get it. It's been around long

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enough. Yeah. Well, it's a. It's a. It's a title of Peter

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Singer's book is. Now we're going to share with you some

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voices for some from some other animal. Vegan, animal activists.

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I asked a few people to let us know what they do on Thanksgiving

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Day, how they celebrate and how they really,

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how they make it through the day. Hi,

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this is Suzanne Gonzalez and I've been vegan for over a decade.

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Living vegan each and every day is a powerful and impactful

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way to live my compassion and empathy for all animals.

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My vegan family and I celebrate Thanksgiving by choosing to

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serve a 100% vegan feast. We honor the spirit of the

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holiday by extending kindness and gratitude towards all animals.

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Traditional Thanksgiving meals can easily be made vegan.

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We serve mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, roasted vegetables,

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bread stuffing and a lentil or seitan loaf with gravy.

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And of course pumpkin and fruit pies. We know that

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delicious festive foods can be free of all animal exploitation,

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cruelty and suffering. It's also a chance to bring non vegan family and

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friends together around a meal that reflects our values of empathy

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and mindful living. So celebrate each and every day by choosing vegan

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and give thanks for all living beings who share this earth

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with us. Happy thanks Living from the Gonzalez family.

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Hello, my name is Bailey Chapman. I have been vegan

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for six years and I celebrate Thanksgiving

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in a pretty traditional way. I will spend the majority of my day cooking

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all vegan meals for myself and then in the evening we'll

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join my family for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

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My favorite things to have at the table are the

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gardein turkey roast, green bean casserole, roasted brussels and

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potatoes, wild rice and stuffing. And that's

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how I celebrate my Thanksgiving. Vegan, animal friendly and surrounded

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by family. My name is Kate and I've been Vegan for over 15

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years. As an ethical vegan, it's sometimes challenging to

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find ways to celebrate Thanksgiving. But thankfully I have a wonderful

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vegan boyfriend. One was also an incredible cook. I took the liberation

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pledge several years ago and so dinner is just the two of us. We have

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the traditional meal and this is the first year we're having a roast from a

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local vegan butcher and we always order a pumpkin pie from a local vegan

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baker. I also always incorporate activism into

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this holiday. And this year my friends and I are doing a vegan roast

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giveaway at the Buffalo Turkey Trap. Another tradition is sponsoring a

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turkey at Farm Sanctuary. And for the days leading up to Thanksgiving,

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I collect pumpkins for my neighbors and donate them to a sanctuary.

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I also put signs on my front lawn with messages like Happy

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Thanks Living and Celebrate with compassion. And I also place

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vegan informational leaflets in supermarkets. All with the hope of

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educating and inspiring others to make kinder choices.

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Happy thanks Living everyone. This is Matthew and Nina

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King. We've been vegan since late 2016, about nine years.

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We spend Thanksgiving together with my brother Sam. We usually

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make garden or field roasts with various forms of potatoes as sides like

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mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, sweet potatoes can never have enough potatoes.

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Then we usually have green beans or broccoli and corn pudding.

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A new tradition we started on Thanksgiving was giving our dogs Ripley and Zyra

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a puppy plate which usually consists of what we're eating for Thanksgiving providing

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it is safe for the dogs and we give them a little plate of their

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own. Happy Thanksgiving from Matthew and Nina King.

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Hello, my name is Angie, I'm Nicole's daughter. I'm 25 years

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old and I've been vegan since I was 9. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite

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times of the year. I love making new traditions and being with my family.

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One of my favorite vegan Thanksgiving foods is a vegan roast. It's a great

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substitute for turkey. They are delicious and easy to prepare. I also

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love mashed potatoes. They're very easy to make. Vegan Every turkey deserves

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a chance at life instead of being dinner. Hello everybody, My name is Jodi Whitaker

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and I want to wish you all a very happy thanks living. I say thanks

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living because this sad day is all about suffering and death. But it should be

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about giving thanks, being kind and living by the golden rule.

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Treating others as we want to be treated. I have never liked

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this holiday but what I do love is spending it with my family and those

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I care about. During our vegan meal we go around the table and

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say what we are thankful for and sometimes my niece Emma comes up with a

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fun game that we all play. Unfortunately I always eat too much since

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we make a bunch of appetizers like homemade salsa,

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guacamole and my specialty vegan buffalo chicken

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dip. And then we snack all day so when the meal is ready I'm usually

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too full to eat too much. Haha. Although I do enjoy our

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veganized green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and Tofurky the original.

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It's so good. But there are plenty of other plant based turkeys that

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make it so easy to not take part in the extreme violence against these

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wonderful animals. I hope you will please consider all animals this

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holiday season and beyond. And remember, it's never too late to

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re examine what we were taught when we were young. Choose vegan and

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stop supporting the tearing apart of families, intense confinement,

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brutal treatment and the horrific slaughter of billions of sentient

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beings. Thank you very much. Hello everyone,

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my name is Bryce and my wife Christina and I have been asked to

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speak about our vegan Thanksgiving traditions. And for the moment,

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I have to say we're in a transition phase. I've been vegan since 2019 and

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my wife has been vegan since 2023. This year we will

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be at an omnivorous friend's home for Thanksgiving. And we've done this a couple of

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times where we've seen them offer more and more vegan options that we can all

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partake in during the holidays. This year though, there'll still

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be exploited animals on the table. But she is remaking

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a wonderful vegan beef Wellington which everyone really enjoys.

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So we're really looking forward to that and we will take the small opportunities

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to spread veganism, especially when we're all at the table

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giving thanks. Maybe something like. We're grateful for the

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growing willingness around this table and everywhere to explore delicious plant

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based options that honor both tradition and kindness.

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So hopefully that goes well. And other than that, my wife and I are

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strongly considering taking the liberation pledge. I think we both try

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to bring up veganism with our friends and families, but ultimately they

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aren't willing to address the exploitation they pay for. We know that taking

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the pledge will bring about change for all of us. And we know that you

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only, usually only get one good shot with loved ones to talk about veganism

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because if it's not done right, they'll get defensive. But at

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this point, we're both experienced street outreach activists and we feel

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we have the tools to have that conversation and bring about positive change.

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So maybe we'll have an update for you next year. Thanks for having us and

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I hope everyone has a wonderful time around the holidays.

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Oh, how, how great was that? That and fantastic.

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I. Wonderful idea that you had. And I, I love listening

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to the diverse voices and the different, different perspectives.

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And I have one question for you. When are we going to get vegan

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Wellington? Well, a lot of times

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it has mushrooms and you know, you're doing better with Washington.

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I'm doing better. But you know, I didn't, I didn't actually know about the liberation

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pledge. Yeah. Until I heard a couple people mention it here.

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So that's really interesting. And I think that's what we're doing. Like we

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talked about before, I think it's, I think it's,

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you know, not, not participating in, you know, being in,

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at the table. Right, right. So that was

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wonderful though. Yeah, I think that was really great. It was so great to hear

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different voices and I hope it helps everyone listening to

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know you're not alone. I hope that you can spend a little bit

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of time with us today just knowing that we're here to

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support you. We're here to help you keep going

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and to be a voice for the animals and,

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yeah, happy, thanks, living. Right? Yeah, happy,