Last Updated on October 23, 2023
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals wants the word ‘tofucken,’ which refers to a vegan dish, added to the dictionary by Thanksgiving Day.
There’s a vegan version of a curious Thanksgiving tradition and PETA wants its name, tofucken, added to the dictionary by Thanksgiving Day.
Good luck to them.
This new concoction is a vegan alternative to a meat-overload concoction known as Turducken. Turkucken is a meat nightmare consisting of a deboned chicken stuffed inside a deboned duck, which is then stuffed inside a deboned turkey.
If the cholesterol in that dish isn’t enough to make a physician panic, some versions also add sausage somewhere in the mix. And the English offer Gooducken, which replaces the outer turkey with a deboned goose.
I’m a meat eater: I’ll have a better chance at winning a Powerball jackpot than ever voluntarily becoming vegan. But for those that are, the notion of eating meat is unacceptable. So they often turn to meat alternatives like tofu, otherwise known as bean curd. (If that doesn’t sound unappetizing, I don’t know what does.)
Tofucken combines tofu with tempeh, an Indonesian soy product, and seitan, a wheat gluten whose texture resembles the texture of meat when it’s cooked. So this blob of meat alternatives substitutes for a blob of real meats.
Honestly, neither of them sound all that appetizing to me.
But PETA, sent a letter to Merriam-Webster claiming that because of the cruelty committed against turkeys this time of year, millions of Americans would rather eat tofucken. That’s quite a claim in my book, but they asked the dictionary authority to add the word to their dictionary by Thanksgiving Day.
“PETA is calling on Merriam-Webster to add tofucken to the dictionary and help redefine Thanksgiving as a holiday of kindness,” the letter states in part.
If the word seems intentionally (and even needlessly) profane, you’re right. It was created in a viral video by a “granny” character who swears like a sailor.
PETA says it was to make an important point.
Some people seem to think that’s hilarious.
If you want to watch the video, go to YouTube and search for it. I won’t provide a link to it here; that should tell you what I think of it, for what it’s worth.
Whether you celebrate Thanksgiving with a dinner of traditional or alternative ingredients, I hope you have a wonderful holiday.
As for seeing PETA’s request fulfilled by the big day, I won’t hold my breath on that one.
