When American Thanksgiving became an official national holiday in 1863, vegetarians were already upset with the meat-based menu.

The holiday's newly elevated status only increased the objections, but the vegetarians didn't just complain they got to work changing the meal. By the late 19th century, vegetarians were well on the way to inventing their own distinctive Thanksgiving menu centered around a plant-based roast. Join Seth Tibbott, who invented Tofurky a century later in 1995, and vegan news columnist, Avery Yale Kamila, as they explore the history of vegetarian Thanksgiving and the evolution of plant-based, celebratory roasts. They will also share vegetarian turkey recipes from the late 19th century and early 20th century.

* This presentation is brought to you by The Vegan Museum, based in Chicago.

You'll Learn About

What ingredients chefs used in the first “vegetable turkeys” of 130 years ago
A vegetarian National Champion football team
Kellogg’s connection to early plant based Thanksgivings
Native Americans’ contributions to vegetarian diets
Non turkey vegetarian centerpieces of the early 1900s
The woman who wore faux fur to her large veggie Thanksgiving in 1913
Nut lobster?! Seriously….
The original Tofurky recipe and other early products

About The Vegan Museum

Kay in front of Vegan Museum Displays

As the world’s first Vegan Museum, we opened on February 1, 2017 in efforts to address historical gaps in knowledge and resources within the vegan and vegetarian communities. Currently, the museum consists of 12 large panels located at the XMart Food Hall, https://xmarket.plantx.com/, which guide the viewer through vegan history, fun facts, and a wide range of vehicles toward a vegan lifestyle, and two online exhibitions chronicling U.S. vegetarian history, https://veganmuseum.org/vegetarian-history-in-the-us, and Illinois vegetarian history, https://veganmuseum.org/il-story-map.

Our mission is to relentlessly discover and share this amazing, ongoing, and historical movement. Whether it is for the environment, our health or animal well-being, there are so many ways to leave a softer footprint on this earth.

Nearly 50 Chicago institutions have displayed our museum. We have impacted thousands of individuals with over 60 inspiring programs including food demos, documentary films, panel discussions, story map presentations and children’s events.

Museum walk-throughs and events are generally free to the public, however, donations towards the continuation of our programming are always welcome and, most importantly, appreciated! We invite you to join us in exploring veganism across time and culture.

Learn more about the Vegan Museum by visiting this link: https://veganmuseum.org/

Vegetarian Thanksgivings are Older Than You Think