Away from Thanksgiving table, families, friends have fun, serve others in unique ways

Lifestyles feature for The Commercial Appeal

Nov. 25, 2010

There are as many Thanksgiving Day traditions as there are recipes for stuffing or opinions on canned cranberries.

Kimberly Baker, her husband and two children are strict vegetarians. Though they don’t preach the way of life, they adhere to it at every meal, and Thanksgiving is no exception.

“For us, it’s a choice that we make,” Baker said. “We don’t want to demonize anyone who chooses to eat meat, and we knew that we would be invited to other peoples’ homes where they were serving meat.”

Concerned that it became an issue several years ago for their 7-year-old son, Joseph, they made the situation special and showed him that vegetarianism is something to be valued within the family. After the family shops for the ingredients for a dish to be prepared and shared at a friend’s house, the Bakers turn the paper grocery bag inside out and cut it, decorate it and fashion it into a turkey likeness. The new work of art is hung on the front door as a sign to the “Thanksgiving Turkey” that this is a turkey-friendly house and that the family does not eat turkey.

“It always becomes an issue when you’re a vegetarian and you’re invited to a table where there’s meat, and we didn’t want it to be an issue,” Baker said … (read more)