Turkey Cruelty

Happy Thanksgiving? Not for a turkey.

You may imagine your turkey coming from a nice farm where it wandered free and happily until November. Or, you may know that your turkey probably came from a factory farm where it was overfed, abused and traumatized before it made it onto your table. 45 million turkeys are treated this way every year for Thanksgiving alone, according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). So if you knew about this, why haven’t you done anything?

Maybe you have just ignored this sad truth because you simply can’t live without your Thanksgiving turkey. Well, here are the cold hard facts about the treatment of the turkeys that end up on your table.

The vast majority of turkeys are raised on factory farms. There, they are genetically engineered to grow as quickly and as big as possible. According to PETA, in 1970 the average turkey weighed 17 pounds, but today the average turkey weighs 28 pounds. They are so overweight that they can no longer reproduce naturally, so they are created through artificial insemination.

In factory farms, turkeys are living in extremely crowded conditions. They are in sheds where each turkey only has three square feet of space, according to Vegan Peace. Imagine your room being only three square feet. How would you feel?

You would probably feel extremely agitated. To avoid the turkeys lashing out at each other in anger and frustration, they are debeaked and their toes are cut. No warning, no anesthetics. It’s just like if your doctor grabbed a knife and sliced off your toe, and you watched it happen.

Once the turkeys are 14-18 weeks old, they are transported from the factory farms to slaughter houses. You may think that nothing could be worse than being slaughtered, but the transportation to the slaughter house is horrifying.

The turkeys are grabbed by the legs and literally thrown into a truck, as if they are a piece of sports equipment. This causes broken bones and injuries that are obviously not tended to. The trucks, full of up to 2,000 turkeys, are transported through every harsh weather condition possible. Turkeys die from freezing or heat exhaustion every year. There is no food and no water for the turkeys, and their transportation period could be many days straight.

Once they arrive at the slaughter house, they are hung by their legs and dragged through a stunning tank. According to PETA, this immobilizes them but does not kill them. Many frightened turkeys are able to dodge the tank, which causes them to be completely conscious when their throats are slit.

This has its faults as well. Sometimes their throats do not get slit all the way. Dead or not, the turkeys are then emerged in a tank of boiling hot water for feather removal. Because of the faults in the steps before, many turkeys are scalded to death at this step.

Throughout this process, turkeys are treated as inanimate objects. Workers forget that not only can they feel every abusive action, but they have emotions and are terrified. In many cases, one of the steps is not executed correctly, causing the turkey to suffer in tremendous pain and be inexplicably scared.

Put yourself in the place of one of these turkeys. You never met your mother, and you have lived in crammed and unsanitary places your whole life. Because of your obesity you are experiencing other health problems. You are pushed and shoved and thrown as if you are a vegetable. You watch as your neighbor goes through the slaughter process, and you hopelessly wait in fear for your turn. You feel every part of your death, and the pain is excruciating. Then, you are dead.

If you absolutely can’t have Thanksgiving without your turkey, check out Localharvest.org for a complete list of organic turkey farms, where the turkeys live a full life and are prepared humanely.

Otherwise, consider making this Thanksgiving turkey free. It’s the first step to stopping this horrible treatment of turkeys and of all the other animals we consume.

My Big, Fat AmericanThanksgiving

Aren’t you super excited for Thanksgiving? Can’t you already smell and taste the savory saturated and fat-filled turkey drizzled with warm gravy lard, creamy and starchy mashed potatoes, scrumptious high-sodium stuffing and finally sugary pumpkin pie all jumbled up in your mouth?

Isn’t this to “die” for?

Thanksgiving should definitely be reconsidered. It should be a day that involves activities other than pigging out with ginormous amounts of food to the point when we aren’t able to button our jeans any longer. A majority of the American population look forward to this holiday not because of commemorating the Native Americans and Europeans sharing a thanksgiving meal together, but because of the enormous buffet of food being served.

Many reports have stated that obesity is the fastest-growing and most significant risk factor for chronic disease the country has ever faced. It also currently results in over 400,000 deaths a year in America and costs the nation nearly $122.9 billion annually for obesity-related illnesses.

According to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one out of every three adults in the country is obese, which is nearly 34 percent. This is more than double the percentage 30 years ago. As with children, the obesity rate has tripled during that time to 17 percent.

During Thanksgiving, about 300 million turkeys are being produced each year, which is equivalent to over 675 million pounds. A typical Thanksgiving meal of 3,000calories is consumed by an American, which is 1,000 more than the appropriate daily intake. According to calculations, an average individual gains more than 2 pounds during this 24-hour period. This staggering statistic is so alarming because it shows how much Americans are really consuming during this festive holiday. How could so many turkeys be raised and kept roaming around in the United States?

In addition, the serving sizes in America certainly don’t help alleviate the obesity problem. With the convenience and affordability of fast food chains, the serving size portions are “super-sized” and have distorted the idea of how much is truly enough. Compared to the meals served in other countries, the portion sizes in America are about two to three times larger. This means that the bigger the serving, the more calories are being consumed.

“America’s portion sizes are larger than the rest of the worlds, with more caloric dense foods,” said Larry Linder, author of American-ized=Super-sized. “Studies after studies have shown when people migrate to the United States, they gain weight. The average is 5 to 9 pounds within weeks of moving to America.”

Indeed, a typical American usually doesn’t satisfy his tremendous Thanksgiving appetite until after standing in line, while piling on a mountain of food onto his third or fourth plate.

However, don’t get too discouraged over these statistics. You can certainly let go of the past and convert to a healthier and brighter future during this upcoming holiday. If you want to be more active, participate in the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot, which benefits the Second Harvest Food, Housing Trust of Santa Clara County Bank and Santa Clara County Children’s Health Initiative. Each step taken helps fight against hunger and poverty occurring in our local community.

If you want to spice up your Thanksgiving menu, consider preparing tofurkey, which is turkey made out of tofu with stuffing inside of it. This meal is a great source of protein and low in fat.

There are numerous ways to lead a better and nutritious life for you and your family. But make sure you keep one thing in mind: don’t let your cravings “gobble” you up this holiday season.

Once Upon a Time…

Every Thanksgiving, thousands of elementary school children across the nation dress up as Native Americans and pilgrims to celebrate the feast and the friendship between these two groups. But looking back, how successful was this friendship? Yes, the Native Americans saved the Pilgrims from starvation, and yes, they had a feast together, but what about after?

As more settlers came to the “New World,” this alliance and friendship disappeared. Instead of inviting the Native Americans over for a feast, the settlers took over their lands and pushed them away. They referred to the native people as “savages,”a nickname that would stick for generations to come, even though these “savages” were the ones to save the Plymouth colony.

Over time, relations between the two groups continued to deteriorate. As the colonies expanded, native people were used as slaves and seen as inferior to the white Europeans.When the colonies won independence from Britain, there were numerous conflicts with the Native Americans. FOR EXAMPLE, In the Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolution, America ceded vast amounts of Indian territory to the British. Wars, including the Northwest Indian War, followed but to no avail – the Natives lost their land and America entered the period of expansion.

Increased immigration and the dream of “Manifest Destiny” – having America stretch across the entire continent- led to continuous conflict between settlers and Native Americans. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson, in an attempt to force natives off their land, passed the Indian Removal Act. This infamous act was extremely controversial, and a majority of tribes were forced to move to the designated reservations.

However the Cherokee, one of the most “civilized” tribes, refused to move and in 1835, the Cherokee were forced to leave their land on the Trail of Tears. Thousands died and although the removal was a success, in the eyes of the oppressors, the morality of Jackson’s actions remain questionable today.

As time passed, Relations improved in the twentieth century between the Native Americans and America. In 1924, President Coolidge signed the Indian Citizenship Act which made all Native Americans citizens and when World War II began, a vast number of Native American men volunteered to serve.

According to the U.S. Indian Commissioner in 1945, “The war caused the greatest disruption of Native life since the beginning of the reservation era.”It changed the natives’ views, habitats and economic situations. It gave them the ability to see beyond the boundaries of their territories. Many native people left their reservations and took advantage of opportunities in urban cities thanks to their service in the war.

Even today, minor conflicts occur between America and the native people who were here when the Earth was believed to be flat. However, in the past century, relations have drastically improved. In 2009, President Obama signed into law the Defense Appropriations Bill which included an apology to the Native Americans from the American government for all “ill-conceived policies”.

Yet, things are still not perfect. Native Americans are still struggling to freely practice their tribal customs and traditions under American law. A majority of native people still live on their tribe’s reservations, isolated from economic centers and struggling to support their people. Many natives have turned to gambling for a source of income, but other tribes oppose this trade, believing it destroys their culture. Tribes on reservations also lack quality education systems and fewer Native Americans graduate from college compared to their Caucasian counterparts. Hopefully over time, improvements to the reservation system will be made and the relations between America and the native people will return to what it was that November evening so many years ago. This Thanksgiving, when family and friends gather, think about the true history of the famous holiday, and remember all those who were changed by the injustices of our own government.

New Twist on Turkeys

The warm sweet potatoes have a cinnamon aroma that diffuses through the room. The green bean casserole just came out of the oven, and the pumpkin pie has a dollop of whipped cream on top. The big centerpiece enraptures the family members gathered around the table. Mom starts to cut the biggest dish of them all, the delicious savory… Tofurky? What is that and how did that get on the Thanksgiving dinner table?

Tofurky is the vegetarian tofu substitute for American turkey. Tofurky, which is produced by the Oregon-based Turtle Island Food company, is 100 percent vegan and cheaper than an actual turkey. Made primarily of seitin and soy, Tofurky is also healthy. It has no cholesterol, only 1 gram of sugar, and 42 grams of protein in one serving size.

The antithesis of the vegan, soy-based tofurky is turducken. This large dish is a boneless chicken stuffed in a duck and then stuffed in a turkey–thus, the name, which combines turkey, duck and chicken. There are some theories about the origins of this Thanksgiving main course. Some say Chef Paul Prudhomme created this dish in 1983, but National Geographic later traced the dish back to a restaurant called “Hebert’s Specialty Meats” in Louisiana.

If you thought those turkey imitations were crazy, you have never heard of Herbert’s Boneless Turkey Stuffed with, brace yourselves… Alligator dressing!  This bayou-style 8- to 10-pound bird is stuffed with sautéed onions, tomatoes, white rice and alligator. This twist on the traditional Thanksgiving turkey is a hot item from Herbert’s Specialty Meats as well.

These diverse Thanksgiving main course are very interesting and unique. So, whether you are feeling like going healthy and vegan or filling and carnivorous, there is a Thanksgiving creation out there for you.

Recipes for Thanksgiving Leftovers

So you’ve had your Thanksgiving family dinner. But what about all the leftovers? While many of you probably opt for the typical turkey sandwich or turkey soup, why not put a twist on your leftovers and try one of these fun recipe ideas?

Cranberry Sauce:

• Heat up leftover cranberry sauce to make a warm topping for your ice cream
• Create a cranberry vinaigrette by whisking your cranberry sauce into your favorite vinaigrette
• Mix cranberry sauce into some cream cheese to make a fruity spread that’s perfect for bagels

Mashed Potatoes:
Make mini potato cakes by adding a bit of egg to your mashed potatoes and forming them into small patties. Cook them on an oiled skillet until golden.

Turkey:
Take a risk and substitute traditional fish ingredients with turkey and cranberry sauce to make turkey sushi.

Turkey Pot Pie

Ingredients
1 recipe pastry for a (10 inch) double crust pie
4 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, minced
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, diced
3 tablespoons dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 cubes chicken bouillon
2 cups water
3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 1/2 cups cooked turkey, cubed
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Roll out bottom pie crust and place in the 10 inch pie pan and set aside.
2. Place two tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet. Add the onion, celery, carrots, p arsley, oregano, salt and pepper. Cook and stir until the vegetables are soft. Stir in the bouillon and water. Bring mixture to a boil. Stir in the potatoes, and cook until tender but still firm.
3. In a medium saucepan, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Stir in the turkey and flour. Add the milk, and heat through. Stir the turkey mixture into the vegetable mixture, and cook until thickened. Pour mixture into the unbaked pie shell. Roll out the top crust, and place on top of filling. Flute edges, and make four slits in the top crust to let out steam.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and continue baking for 20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

Untraditional Traditions

 The aroma of pie, potatoes and butter permeates the house with the promise of contentment and a larger pant size. But exercise-related thoughts halt as, finally, the moment arrives—greedy eyes ogle the main entrée, the delectable main course that needs no introduction. No, it’s not a turkey, or even a tofurky. But to my family, it’s the symbol of Thanksgiving: it’s a dome-shaped loaf of sourdough bread overflowing with Indian potatoes. With it come the typical trimmings: yams, corn rolls—the works. In addition, there are also spring rolls, mozzarella sticks and chaat—to the Padgaonkar family, the works.

Such a Thanksgiving meal is certainly an untraditional tradition. Interested in seeing the various traditions that can be found within the walls of Presentation High School, I took to the halls and asked our very own students about their own specific Thanksgiving idiosyncrasies.

While many families seemed to follow the traditional stuffing-and-gravy-with-turkey style meal, others deviated a bit from the “eaten” path with some creative alternatives. Freshman Anna Thomas’s family experiences curries galore. At her potluck style Thanksgiving dinner, “everyone likes cooking and eating Indian food,” contributing to her diverse meal.

Senior Alexandra Ronco’s family celebrates their Italian roots by serving up a side of their family’s traditional ravioli with their Thanksgiving dinner.

And while some find meat substitutes, others avoid the hassle of a main course altogether. Freshman Anandita Choudhary said that she has no turkey replacement, instead enjoying three different kinds of pies that she and her family finish up by the end of the Thanksgiving holidays. Choudhary also said that she and her family did not begin celebrating Thanksgiving until a few years ago when her school began celebrating it also. “Not celebrating Thanksgiving at home seemed un-American,” said Choudhary.

Vegetarian sophomore Isabelle Polito finds her comfort food in bread pudding. Her most cherished memory of Thanksgiving, though, occurred before she abandoned her carnivorous ways. While her family doubted her ability to consume an entire turkey leg by herself, Polito proved her relatives wrong, earning the title of “monster.”

Other students found different ways to celebrate the holiday with their families through more than just their meals. Every Thanksgiving, freshman Shelby Ovram and her entire family participate in the Turkey Trot, a 5k race through downtown San Jose. The tradition began when her mom insisted upon participating in the race a few years ago. Ovram finds some caloric relief through consuming the pumpkin cheesecake she and her family prepare together post-race.

Senior Stephanie Schaniel plays hide-and-go-seek with her large family every Thanksgiving holiday. Schaniel said her most cherished memory of the holiday occurred when she and 12 of her cousins crammed themselves into a closet to hide during an intense game.

Senior Cecile Pham partakes in games of Guesstures at her grandmother’s house while, she said, “the adults make fun of us.”

From sourdough bread filled with Indian food to turkey-trotting around downtown San Jose, it’s clear that the meaning of Thanksgiving is different for all of us. Our traditions are as diverse as we are, truly expressing our roots. After all, a tradition is more than a meal. Traditions come from the heart of a family, from coming together as a bulwark of love to celebrate. In the end, we might just find that all of our Thanksgivings are truly untraditional traditions.

The Benefits of Being a Vegetarian

Let’s just get to the point. I’m a vegetarian, and I want you to be one, too. Thanksgiving is around the corner, and you could do a lot better than eating that poor turkey. Of course, being vegetarian has its drawbacks—limited options at Panda Express, always starving on family trips to Las Vegas and never finding anything to eat at sporting events, where they only serve classic hot dogs and hamburgers. So why am I still a vegetarian? Well, it’s partly due to my family values. Going all the way back to my great-great-great grandfathers, everyone has been a vegetarian. Apart from this, I’m vegetarian because I care. I care about animals, I care about the planet and I care about my health.

Most of us have a dog or a cat, and we know that animals are intelligent and have the ability to feel love, joy and pain. This is no different for the animals we eat. Animals such as pigs, sheep and cows suffer from animal cruelty, treated like production units instead of the intelligent beings that they are. They suffer from intense overcrowding or confinement so  extreme that they cannot move around. Your Thanksgiving turkeys are in continual contact with urine and feces, causing deformities on their bodies.

Would you treat your pet like this? Probably not. In addition, the average meat-eater consumes 100 animals every year. That’s how many animals you can save just by switching to a vegetarian lifestyle.

Being vegetarian is also the easiest way to ‘go green.’ Livestock production requires more land and water than the production of edible crops. In fact, according to the United Nations, livestock production is one of the biggest contributors to today’s most serious environmental problems. Being vegetarian reduces the rate of global warming, and it solves global problems such as the lack of water. More than one billion people worldwide lack enough safe drinkable water. A plant-based diet requires 15 times less water than a meat-based diet. Switching to vegetarianism can save up to five million liters per year! Why wouldn’t you want to help people from dying?

Aside from the benefits vegetarianism has for the rest of the world, know that being vegetarian is also a great way for you to stay healthy. It is one of the simplest ways to increase life expectancy and decrease chances of obesity, heart disease, diabetes and cancer. A meat diet is filled with fats that contribute significantly to high cholesterol and to these diseases. Conversely, a plant-based diet contains many goodies that fight these diseases, including fiber, which increases metabolism.

So just by eating green, you can save animals, save the planet and save yourself. It’s a triple package–don’t pass it up! So how about skipping the meat this Thanksgiving? Try vegetable lasagna, mashed potatoes, and a salad. Don’t forget the cornbread and pumpkin pie!

Thanksgiving Feast-ivities and Family Traditions

This year on Nov. 26, all of us will gather with our friends and families on Thanksgiving to join together for a meal or activity with which we commemorate the holiday each year.  Thanksgiving is a holiday that has been celebrated for centuries, and we expect no surprises when we sit down for our dinners and take part in those activities we now associate with the holiday.  Still, while we may not find surprises in our own Thanksgiving celebrations, some of us may be shocked what other Pres girls do to celebrate.

All of us at Presentation know the traditional activities associated with Thanksgiving, the general protocol.  The most common of these traditions is the “turkey and trimmings,” the traditional idealized dinner of turkey, cranberry sauce, gravy, and many other tantalizing foods.  Visions of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade also materialize in our minds when thinking of this holiday, a day often also associated with casual games of football played to liven spirits.  Many are also acquainted with the classic tradition of splitting the wishbone in the turkey, hoping each year since we were young that this year will be the one we get to make the Thanksgiving wish as the winter holidays  grow near.

Still, while many of us will sit down to nearly gluttonous amounts of food that will yield leftovers for weeks as tradition mandates, there are some girls in our local Presentation community who will be celebrating the holiday in their own special way with unusual traditions that set them apart from the classic horde of turkey-stuffed Americans.  Here is how some of Presentation’s families personalize their Thanksgiving with their own unique traditions:

“Every Thanksgiving we go with my mom’s side of the family, and we rent a cabin somewhere different. So we all go there, and we have a special “Iron Chef Cook-Off Night” where we compete – we have competed with pasta, pizza and other fun foods. We all have aprons and we get an iron-on of the name of the place we went that year. It is really fun, and it is a good way to spend time together.”
-Alex Perroots, freshman

“Both my mom and I have birthdays around that time, and every four years we switch off between whose birthday ends up to be on Thanksgiving. So, depending on whose birthday is on that day or closest to it, she gets that week all to herself. We get to pick where we go on Thanksgiving weekend, and we get to pick the food we eat on Thanksgiving. One year it was directly in between our two dates, and we got to plan it together. It was tons of fun and a cute little tradition we both love sharing.”
-Athena Santos, sophomore

“Every Thanksgiving, my family gets those artificial leaves and sharpies, and we each write what we are thankful for on the leaf, then use the leaves as decorations for the table.”
-Katie Donohoe, junior

“In my family, we go to my cousin’s house for Thanksgiving. During dinner, we each have a candle, and then we go around in a circle lighting the candle of the person next to us and saying why we are thankful for them.”
-Nicole Gomes, senior

Giving Thanks Around the World

Sometimes, I just want to be a two-year-old again. Who wouldn’t want to be adorable, carefree, and ask “Why?” to every little thing everyone says? Adorable and carefree aren’t exactly words I’d use to describe myself today, but at least I never lost the habit of asking why. Why, for example, do we celebrate Thanksgiving?

Throughout history, many variations on the American Thanksgiving tradition have been celebrated around the world to celebrate the harvest and to thank a culture’s god or gods for the food. In Greece, they honored Demeter, their god of grain, each spring with a day of fasting and a day of feasting. The Chinese celebrate the three-day Chung Ch’ui festival, celebrating the birthday of the moon and that year’s harvest with special foods and a feast. Hebrews traditionally build small huts of branches, like those their ancestors used, and then eat in them during their feast. The Egyptians honored Min, their god of plants and fertility, at their harvest festival.

But what about the United States? As such a diverse country, there is no one god that we are giving thanks to.
However, since the first pilgrims came we have wanted to give thanks for the bounty we have. In 1621 the pilgrims celebrated their second harvest in the New World. After a hard first year, they finally had surplus food and enough to last them the winter. The governor of the colony proclaimed a day of thanksgiving that became a tradition each year. In 1817 New York made Thanksgiving an official custom, and by 1863 Abraham Lincoln had made it a national holiday. Now if only the Pres teachers would recognize it as a holiday and not give us homework!

Today, Americans have a lot to give thanks for. We are one of the richest and best-off countries in the world, with numerous rights and a democracy that we so often take for granted. Here at Pres, we can give thanks for delicious cafeteria food, our friends that make us cake for our birthday, a safe school environment, a fantastic education and opportunities that many other teens don’t have. Thanksgiving should be an especially poignant holiday for all of us since we have so much to be thankful for.