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About Colleen Patrick-Goudreau

The award-winning author of five books, including the bestselling The Joy of Vegan Baking, The Vegan Table, Color Me Vegan, Vegan’s Daily Companion, and The 30-Day Vegan Challenge, Colleen Patrick-Goudreau has guided people to becoming and staying vegan for over 12 years through sold-out cooking classes, bestselling books, inspiring lectures, engaging videos, and her immensely popular audio podcast, “Vegetarian Food for Thought.” Using her unique blend of passion, humor, and common sense, she empowers and inspires people to live according to their own values of compassion and wellness. She also contributes to National Public Radio and The Christian Science Monitor, and has appeared on The Food Network and PBS.

Visit colleenpatrickgoudreau.com for more.

The chill in the air and the turning of the leaves means it’s almost time to celebrate the autumn harvest à la Thanksgiving! However, when non-vegetarians think of the idea of eating vegan on Thanksgiving, they’re often aghast. They can’t imagine what vegans eat if they don’t eat turkey, as 45 million of these beautiful birds are killed in the U.S. each year for this holiday alone.

I’ve also heard the accusation that vegans are flying in the face of tradition – that it’s culturally blasphemous not to eat turkeys on this day. The truth is we’re ALL breaking tradition if we use the “First Thanksgiving” from 1621 as a barometer for what we should eat today. During that first meal between the puritans and Wampanoag Indians, there were no potatoes or biscuits or apple pie or yams or sweet cranberries. And there weren’t any forks either.

Does that mean we shouldn’t eat those things today? Does it mean we shouldn’t eat with forks. No, of course not. It means we shape our traditions out of our ideals. We all do it – vegans and non-vegans.

Our vegan feast can consist of mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy, bread stuffing, cranberry relish, mashed rutabagas, butternut squash soup, sautéed green beans, roasted Brussels sprouts, cornbread or biscuits, and green salad. Dessert includes everything from apple pie, pumpkin bread, German apple cake to fruit cobblers, cranberry muffins, and other traditional, seasonal favorites. Over 150 recipes are in The Joy of Vegan Baking, including this one for Apple Cobbler.

Harvest-Stuffed Acorn Squash

For the main dish, which is really about creating a focal point on the plate, you can enjoy a beautiful stuffed acorn squash filled with a pilaf of wild rice, pecans, apples, celery, onions, and spices. You can also create a butternut squash timbale, stuffed Portobello mushrooms, or little mini-pumpkins stuffed with an array of grains and nuts. The options are endless, and over 200 are in The Vegan Table, including the Harvest-Stuffed Acorn Squash.

Of course there are other options such as Tofurky loaf or Field Roast’s grain-based loaf. And any customary Thanksgiving dessert recipe can be easily veganized with a few substitutions.

The point is we CAN celebrate tradition and honor our values at the same time. In fact, eating a vegan feast for Thanksgiving is more consistent with what this holiday is about at its heart: creating community, connection, gratitude, and compassion. I can’t think of a better way to do that than preparing food that causes as little harm as possible to animals, our health, and the Earth.

My only warning to you is to make more than you think you need, because undoubtedly everyone will covet your beautiful, colorful, compassionate recipes and, of course, you want leftovers!

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