What I brought to an omnivore feast

I’m still in Seattle, but I want to tell you about my Thanksgiving meal.

I was invited to a gathering that was far from plant-based. Even the Brussels sprouts were cooked in butter. The host knew I was plant-based, so she said it was best if I brought a dish that I could eat. Because really, no one cooking a traditional Thanksgiving feast for 18 people has time to fuck around with figuring out what to make for the one gluten-free, whole-food plant-based chick at the table. I get it!

I decided to bring a version of the Gratitude Salad from our membership. It had great reviews, and I had almost all the ingredients I needed to make it. Bonus! I very much like a Thanksgiving dish that does not require going to the grocery store.

Sometimes we forget that we can make things easier on ourselves. 

I steamed the green beans, chopped the celery, diced the apple, sliced the red onion, threw the rest of the ingredients into a bowl, and made the Maple Tahini Dressing. I made a big portion because I wanted to share.

I added a bunch of lettuce to a bag, packed up the salad, put the dressing in a container, grabbed a big serving dish that I love, and zoomed off to join the festivities.

When I arrived, I was greeted by lots of people and a huge, long table of food. And as the host had accurately told me, there was nothing plant-based in sight, except for some sourdough rolls she had made. Not gluten-free, but plant-based and smelling all kinds of delicious.

I added a bunch of lettuce to the serving plate, then topped it with the salad and poured on the dressing. The dish was beautiful—so many bright colors!

I added the rest of the dressing to a nice little dish and placed it next to the salad. It was time to eat! I went straight to my salad and heaped a huge portion on my plate.

The salad was fantastic! The textures were on point, the flavor was bright and exciting, and all the different colors made it super enjoyable to eat. It was absolutely delicious. I chatted with some folks I didn’t know, and enjoyed eating my big plate of salad—it did take a while to eat on account of all the chewing.

When my plate was empty, I decided to get a bit more, and when I went back to the food table, I was delighted to see it was nearly gone! I was also delighted to see some dude pouring the Maple Tahini Dressing over his entire plate of food, turkey and all! And then wiping some dressing from his plate with his finger, putting it in his mouth, and saying, “Yum, whatever that is, it’s good.” By the time lunch was over, there was very little salad left. It was one of the most loved items of the whole feast.

Some plant-based people don’t like going to omni gatherings, but I love it. I love bringing something delicious and fresh and colorful and impressive, and changing people’s minds about plant-based food because it tastes so damn good.

Here’s a hot tip from my plant-based playbook:

When I go to this type of gathering, I never bring anything plant-based that’s pretending to be something else. If I’d brought a Tofurky to this meal, for example, it wouldn’t have gotten such a warm reception. I bring straight-up, adulterated, unapologetic plants. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good mushroom bean burger or a perfectly-cooked carrot dog, but there’s a time and a place, and a crowd full of hungry omnivores is not the place to try to pass a carrot off as a hot dog. Not advisable, not at all.

But a well-seasoned platter of veggies?
A bright, fresh salad?
A hearty bean and veggie soup?
These are all winners because they have little competition, they aren’t trying to pass for meat, and people are usually happy to have something light to balance out the meat and dairy-heavy usuals.

No one left that lunch vegan, but they did walk away with a new appreciation for salad. And that’s a reason to dance with celebration in my book.

For our paid Substack subscribers, find the recipe here, along with the modifications I made based on the ingredients I had.

Molly