Does Animal Agriculture Monopolize Holidays?

Nov 19, 2020

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."
-Voltaire

Monopolizing Lives

Animal agriculture monopolizes every day of our existence as long as we stay ignorant of its control over us. However, with food being such an integral part of culture and holiday celebrations, I find it interesting how particular animal foods and dishes are so strongly associated with specific holidays, like turkeys on Thanksgiving. Today, I want to explore how we eat certain animals and animal products on certain holidays, though this will be predominantly "western" holidays -- Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas -- because many other "non-western" holidays -- Diwali, Lunar New Year, Cinco de Mayo -- don't have the same focus on eating specific animal products (and I'm just not as familiar with those traditions).

New Year's -- Assorted

While New Year's doesn't have any traditional foods (unless you include champagne, which may or may not be vegan), it's generally celebrated with parties instead of dinners. Therefore, most of the foods are hors d'oeuvres and finger foods. Common dishes include pigs in a blanket, deviled eggs, chicken legs or wings, and deli platters made with assorted meats and cheeses. And you can be sure that the crudités will be the one thing left largely untouched after midnight.

Australia Day -- Lambs & Other Meats

As this is a summer holiday in the southern hemisphere, many celebrations occur outdoors, similar to the United States' 4th of July, with barbecued meats from both the land and the sea being staples. Australia is the world's largest sheep producer, so it's no surprise that lamb flesh is a staple in Australian celebrations. There is even an annual ad campaign called We Love Our Lamb to encourage Australians to eat more lambs (you can find the videos online), and some ads have even claimed it is "un-Australian" to not eat lambs.

Valentine's Day -- Dairy & Expensive Meals

The food most synonymous with Valentine's Day is chocolate, and, unfortunately, most of that chocolate is made with milk. This is also a holiday of opulence and going out to "nice dinners," which generally means paying a lot of money for dead animal foods because they're deemed more sophisticated. Products like oysters, fish eggs, steak, and other expensive animal-based foods are commonly consumed on this holiday.

Lent & Easter -- Fishes, Lambs & Eggs

Eating fishes on Fridays as a way of forgoing meat during Lent never made sense to me, even as a non-vegan, because what we call "fish" is just the meat of fishes. I guess it's too difficult to completely stop eating meat, even in the name of Jesus Christ, just one day a week for only few weeks out of the entire year. Easter isn't much better, as this holiday menu often has a diverse range of animal-abusive foods. The centerpiece is often a lamb's ribs as a symbol of the sacrifice of Jesus, the lamb of God, though more secular foods -- eggs, rabbits, hams -- are also common.

Ramadan -- Assorted

Since Ramadan is a holiday about fasting, there are certain foods traditionally eaten to break the fast each evening. The most common foods eaten during iftar -- the meal in which the fast is broken -- are legumes, vegetables, and fruits, though some dishes include milk and other dairy products, eggs, and meats, particularly lambs and chickens.

Independence Day -- Processed Meats

The 4th of July is all about barbecue. Ribs, burgers, hot dogs, and sausages are all Independence Day staples. Similar to New Year's, many foods are meant to be eaten while drifting around at parks or pool parties. My memories of carnist July 4th celebrations included lots of chicken cheeseburgers, turkey hot dogs, chips, soda, popsicles, and ice cream.

Oktoberfest -- Red Meat & Pastries

If there was ever a meat holiday/festival, Oktoberfest would be it. Aside from (vegan-friendly) Bavarian pretzels, most iconic German foods are very animal-centric. In addition to the bratwurst and schnitzel and rouladen, there's also strudel and spätzel and kuchen. That's not even to mention all the beer, which may or may not contain animal ingredients.

Halloween -- Dairy

Much like Valentine's Day, Halloween is all about chocolate and sugar. As the sugar industry is, like animal agriculture, heavily subsidized by the government, it's no surprise that sugar is targeted at children (more than usual) on this holiday. I've always been a chocolate gal, so I would grab up as many mini chocolate bars as I could while out trick-or-treating, all of which contained dairy.

Thanksgiving -- Turkeys

Turkeys are probably the most iconic holiday animal in the US and Canada. If Thanksgiving were a religious holiday, it would probably be considered blasphemous to even consider not eating a dead turkey to celebrate. Some families even double up with two turkeys or, for some variety, a turkey and a ham. Notably, the turkey's disemboweled corpse is stuffed with bread and cooked (because that sounds delicious). Buttery mashed potatoes, buttered rolls, meat-based gravy, bacony green beans, and non-vegan pumpkin pie are also common staples.

Hanukkah -- Assorted

It seems like today Hanukkah is more of a chance for Jewish people in the western world to make more traditional meals, but there are a few foods generally considered to be Hanukkah staples in the west. Aside from oil, which is problematic on its own, brisket, kugel (egg noodle casserole), sufganiyot (jelly-filled doughnuts), gelt (chocolate coins), rugelach (cream cheese-filled pastries), and butter cookies are all common dishes prepared for the holiday.

Christmas -- Turkeys & Pigs

Even though "The Christmas Song" claims that "everybody knows a turkey and some mistletoe/ help to make the season bright," turkey isn't quite as common on Christmas as it is on Thanksgiving. Many families do, however, celebrate with a large roast as the table's centerpiece. Honey-glazed ham, for instance, is commonly consumed on Christmas Day.

Kwanzaa -- Sea Life

Kwanzaa is a cultural holiday to celebrate African heritage, and though the word is derived from a Swahili phrase that means "first fruits," many Kwanzaa recipes contain animals. I found that most are based around Creole and Southern foods, and seafood in particular -- catfishes, shrimps, and crabs -- along with fried chickens and stews.

Veganize It!

All these holidays can easily be veganized by simply swapping out the animal products for plant-based alternatives and making minor changes to other speciesist traditions. If you're unsure exactly how to do that, I have several guides on veganizing Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Easter and soon will be releasing guides for Hanukkah and Christmas.

be conscious, be kind, be vegan