Solstice Potluck Sat., Dec. 17th
Come celebrate Winter Solstice with your fellow islanders at this season's Community Vegan Potluck scheduled for this Saturday (NOT Sunday!), December 17th at 6:30 pm in the Back Hall. As always, food lovers of every persuasion are invited to join in on our delicious, turkey-free holiday smorgasbord. After dinner we gather round the blazing Yule-fire to celebrate both the nurturing darkness of winter’s respite and the promise of returning light with carols appropriate to the solstice season!
Any 100% plant-based dinner entrée, salad, dessert, or single item dish that all may share (excluding dairy, eggs, honey and gelatin, please) is a suitable contribution to our feast. The now quarterly potluck series continues to welcome food lovers of every persuasion, and the delicious opportunity to pick up creative, and healthy new vegan recipe ideas. However, nothing fancy is required unless you are so inspired!
Please bring along your ingredient list, and thankyou in advance for also helping keep these inclusive community gatherings accessible for folks with chemical sensitivities by attending ‘scent-free’. Admission is by donation (suggested $3 towards expenses). Peace to one and all!
Going Cold Turkey
It you’ve been thinking about it, you’re not alone. More and more folks are deciding they’re no longer comfortable including the sacrifice of a bird (or any other animal) in their holiday dinner plans. Fortunately, the discomfort of disapproval from some friends and family is a worthwhile trade-off for the peace of mind that comes from opting out of a ritual that more often than not supports the horrors of factory farming- not exactly peace on earth! Somewhere in the range of 1.9 million turkeys are raised in BC each year, with approximately half consumed during the Christmas season.
Turkeys are the only commonly farmed animal native to North America, and wild ones live in forested land where they can roost high in the trees at night, safe from predators. Unlike their domesticated counterparts they have excellent eyesight and can run up to 35 mph. Comparatively, the vast majority of turkeys raised for human consumption today can only manage a slow walk, as they have been bred to be twice the size of their wild relatives, mainly to increase breast volume for the marketplace. They can no longer fly, or even mate (they must be artificially inseminated). In nature these birds would spend up to five months- the age when most farmed turkeys are slaughtered- close to their mothers.
Supermarket turkeys labeled 'free-range' do not necessarily fare any better, as the vast majority are still raised in cramped grow-out quarters awash in ammonia. To prevent these so-caled ‘free-roaming’ birds from injuring each other, a portion of their beaks and toes are routinely severed. While it is standard practice not to use anesthesia, Ian J.H. Duncan, a professor of Poultry Ethology at the University of Guelph, says, “The idea of beak trimming being a short-lived discomfort for the bird may be far from accurate”. Changes in behavior, he explains, such as a substantial decrease in activity, particularly following the first week of the operation, “suggests that the birds are suffering severe pain”.
In the wild a turkey can live from 10-12 years, but domesticated free-range birds are routinely slaughtered between 14 and 25 weeks of age. BC turkey production is concentrated in the Fraser Valley and the live birds are transported via multi-tiered, flat-bed trucks in crowded, tight wire cages, through all kinds of weather conditions. At the slaughterhouse, they are hung upside down by their legs to have their throats cut- still fully conscious.
In BC it is only legal to kill an animal raised for food yourself- rather than make sure the act is carried out by the butcher in a government inspected abattoir- if the animal’s carcass is for ‘personal use’ only, and not going to be sold to someone else. In online forums that discuss backyard poultry slaughter, differences of opinion abound about the most so-called ‘humane’ way to extinguish a bird’s life. Not everyone is convinced that when a bird ceases to struggle it is actually calm. Some small-scale poultry handlers believe this is more akin to the kind of ‘playing dead’ response many animals resort to once escape seems unlikely. Many agree that avoiding exposing individual birds to the ‘kill process’ prior to their own turn, is integral to stress reduction- a modicum of consideration still admittedly difficult to provide in a backyard operation, and obviously impossible on a standard slaughterhouse assembly line.
I would like to stress that my comments here pertain to the industry at large, and not to any local production of turkeys I may or may not be familiar with here on Denman, or elsewhere in the Comox Valley. Whether or not one can afford to pay the high price for a certified organic turkey (the feed alone can cost the farmer three times as much, and the ‘finishing’ time is longer), it simply bears remembering that regardless of the 'label' attached, not all animals are necessarily raised, or slaughtered, under the kind of conditions we might imagine. Ultimately, of course, most will meet the same end in a fear-filled environment. Even those folks who take personal responsibility for the act of extinguishing the lives of the animals they choose to eat, cannot deny the fact that death does not always come easy for those who would prefer to live.
Whenever we allow ourselves to really 'connect' with an animal, it’s impossible to deny their individual will and unique personality. If you find yourself drawn to the idea of going ‘cold turkey’ this season, it’s easy to find inspiring stories on-line about ’companion’ turkeys- birds people have allowed themselves to bond with, and been moved by to include in their circle of compassion.
There are lots of wonderful resources on the internet to assist anyone interested in eating lower on the food chain, and you’ll find all sorts of great links on Denman’s Community Vegan Potluck Series website at www.denmanpotlucks.blogspot.com. If you could use some support in the new year, Denman is already home to a friendly community of happy herbivores who love to share great food and recipe ideas. Happy holidays, and bon appetit!
