Welcome back from the holiday weekend! I hope everyone’s Thanksgiving was full of good food, maybe some football and lots of fun times with family and friends.

Thanksgiving is, of course, all about the meal. Each year for as long as I can remember, my family and I have gone to my Uncle’s house for the big food fest. My Aunt spoils us with free-range turkey and an assortment of homemade accompaniments, including gravy, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and of course, cranberry sauce. I get hungry just thinking about this fabulous meal. She is a great cook and her Thanksgiving meal is one of the highlight of the year for my family. This year she threw us a curve ball. One of my family members recently became a vegetarian, so my Aunt decided to make a tofu turkey.

At first glance I thought it was the real deal. It sat on the counter draped in tin foil waiting to be surgically carved by my uncle. This was no rolled piece of tofu with some unidentifiable stuffing. This was a whole tofu turkey. It looked like a turkey with a golden “roasted” texture, plump tempeh drumsticks, wild rice and raisin stuffing and golden “giblet” gravy. But would it taste like turkey was the question on everyone’s mind. Panic set in for 9 of my 10 cousins. What no real turkey? This can’t be right and after some teasing that nearly reduced one of my younger cousins to tears, my Aunt came clean and opened the oven. There sat turkey #2 with a golden “roasted” texture, plump drumsticks and her special stuffing.

As we all sat down to eat, the tofu turkey sat majestically on a platter of its own alongside the real turkey. Everyone dutifully took a slice of tofu turkey just to try. Sadly, the tofu turkey got a resounding thumbs down from the crowd. Meat lovers and even some vegetarians are not going to like this meatless option. It tastes like a cross between wet wheat bread and chewy paste. Basically, no matter how you sliced it — it’s not turkey!

Apparently, others do like it. Tofu turkeys are the lasted craze to hit gourmet supermarkets. Our version came from Whole Foods; It was one of over 50,000 sold!

If your local grocery store does not stocks tofu turkey you can order your holiday treat from tofurkey.com. Another option is to create a soy and seitan “turkey” cutlet with cranberry sauce. Websites like vegweb.com or savvyvegetarian.com have lots of creative cooking tips and ideas for those who want to experiment with a meatless diet. If you are not into cooking but want to try out some interesting vegan or vegetarian meals, check out these restaurants all on 18th Street N.W., Washington D.C.:

Bossa Organic Bistro

2463 18th Street, N.W

Description: Brazil meets Vegan

Himalayan Heritage

2305 18th Street, N.W.

Description: Napalese & Indian adventure

Meskerem

2434 18th Street, N.W.

Description: Spicy Ethiopian

For me, I’m passing on the all veggies format for now!