Not Eating Turkey? 10 Answers to Nonsense Comments You’re Gonna Hear At the Holiday Dinner

The holidays are a time that bring family from all over the world together under the same roof to celebrate. It can also bring a litany of questions and comments about your food choices that may or may not make you want to hit the wet bar extra hard. Seriously, questions pop up when people discover that you prefer a plant-based diet and, many times, questions can be awesome. People usually have good intentions and genuinely want to know how your eating plan works, which poses a great opportunity to show them how good you feel, how delicious it can be and how easily it could work for them too.

Other times, like the time your Aunt Hilda asked why you weren’t eating the green beans after she made them vegetarian for you by using turkey bacon instead of “real” bacon, you want to just reply with an answer as nonsensical as the question itself. When a family member says something that makes your head want to pop off and spin around, responding with a direct answer can be so very tempting. Telling Aunt Hilda that you had no idea there was such a thing as a turkey tree would be ideal, but coming up with a witty way to just change the subject is often the better bet.

It is the holidays after all and, as much as a spirited debate about your compassionate and health driven lifestyle choices can be a total hoot for the 4th year in a row, it really is completely okay to just deflect the “why won’t you eat turkey?” question on occasion. Here are a few responses for when, well, you just don’t want to go there.

1. “So, what are you even going to eat if you won’t eat turkey?”

Nutrition By Mi

2. “It just seems like way to much work to be chopping all those vegetables and, like, making smoothies all the time.”

Magnolia Etiquette

3. “How many green beans had to die for your side dish?”

 5 Minutes For Mom

4. “Hey, you know that has meat in it right?…Hahaha, just kidding!”

Dr. Greene

5. “It’s Thanksgiving, you can cheat a little, you know.”

USDA

6. “You’re eating a turkey made of tofu? That’s so dumb, if you want to simulate meat just eat meat.

Telegraph

7. “Why won’t you eat the stuffing, there’s no meat in it? Of course I used chicken stock, what does that have to do with it?”

Daily Mail

8. “Did you know humans were designed to eat things like turkey?”

She Knows

9. “All I know is, I could never live without turkey.”

Quoteko

10. “You’d eat meat if you were trapped on a desert island though, right?”

 Mamin Svet

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