I know I may seem a little obsessed with food this week, doing two entries in a row already, but we are coming up on the holidays and I'm hungry.
That said, I know that the holidays can be quite sad for people who have no family or friends, at least not close by, or who are suffering from ailments of all kinds. Sometimes we can't make things better even if we want to desperately.
And some things make me wonder if they make everything better or worse.
You've probably seen little overpriced snack packs around, mostly in with the cold cuts. Hormel and Oscar Mayer and Hillshire were out in front on this, apparently an adult version of longstanding kids food packs like Lunchables. Now Butterball, the turkey magnates, have jumped into the game with their own turkey-based snack products.
And it's sad. Or is it?
They come in three varieties as I write this, and two are Cajun Style and Citrus Teriyaki. Nothing sad about that, unless you're a turkey. But it's the Thanksgiving one shown above that made me sad.
It's not the interior of the snack, shown here:
What we have here is an almost Jetsons-style Thanksgiving meal: sliced turkey breast, dried cranberries, "stuffing bites," and a coupon at the top to buy more of the same. Not quite a meal, but it would see you through for a while. The turkey tasted good, as one might expect from Butterball; the cranberries were fine. The stuffing cubes really are croutons, even though seasoned with poultry seasoning, and belong on a salad. The coupon is acceptable, though small and easy to lose.
It's just that the idea of the Thanksgiving meal being reduced to this little snack pack seems sad, like it's saying, We know your Thanksgiving will suck so we made this for you. Which is kind of nice. I wish every deployed American in the field on Thanksgiving Day could get one of these if he wanted it. I'm sure it beats the MRE.
Butterball was probably thinking this would be a little taste of our great American holiday for those who don't want the turkey dinner to be just a one-day thing. And maybe I should stop looking at the gloomy side of life and take that as such.
However, I think it might be smart for the Tofurky guys to come up with a similar snack tray. After all, fans of the meatless substance are the most likely to get sore about the food at the family feast and want to storm out and go eat something conscientious. I'd call that a win all around, actually.
5 comments:
I don't think there was such a thing as vegetarian when I was a kid.
When we invite people over for Thanksgiving (and we will have 22 this year), it is so they can share the meal we are preparing.
In a major concession, we do serve buffet style, so if you don't want any delicious sausage stuffing or turkey or giblet gravy or green beans with bacon, just don't have any.
I think it is impolite to demand or expect some vegan or otherwise politically correct alternative (and I'm looking at you, cousin Cathy).
There was a time in my life when holidays could be very lonely affairs. My parents died, leaving me (age 23) alone with my brother (age 30). We didn't do much together and would not have shared a home if we were not related.
We would go to our aunt's house for Christmas and Easter, but Thanksgiving was the one day of the year when we actually cooked and ate together. I might have preferred the Butterball snack pack to dining with my brother.
The first Christmas without our parents, people at my work kept asking me if we wanted to come over and celebrate with them. No thanks, we always go to our aunt's on the 25th. I liked having Christmas Eve to relax in solitude.
A few years later, I accepted the invitation of a cute girl at work to go to her house for Christmas Eve. We've spent Christmas (and everything else) together for 25 years now. But when she asks me how we should handle Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, I'm going to tell her, "I heard about something new from a guy named Fred...".
My earliest Thanksgiving memories were Swanson Turkey TV dinner with just mom and little sister. I thought it was just grande at the time. We were alone at Thanksgiving because grandmother had died rather young, grandma's sister spent it with her husband's family and my mom's sister spent it with her husband's family. Christmas we were all together so it was no big deal for me. Don't know how mom felt.
Got real turkey and trimmings for Thanksgiving for first time via a big box of goodies from the Salvation Army. I will not be changing my charitable focus this year and plan to give extra.
Since they're not from the Vega starsystem, and probably don't drive that '70s Chevy model, perhaps we should use the existing perfectly good word: herbivore.
(Although I did hear that Vegan and Vegetarian were American Indian words for "poor hunter.")
Thanks for your thoughts and stories, fellows. I hope Fiendish Wife doesn't assault me now...
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