JASMIJNʼS FOOD FOR THOUGHT FEASTS OF BURDEN
Jasmijn de Boo, Vice President of ProVeg International, delves into the history of the festive season, which highlights how much has been achieved and how much more there is still to do
“Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat.” It’s a line I grew up hearing as a child every festive season, and, while at the time I didn’t understand what the implications of the song were for the poor, gradually expanding goose, as an adult, it’s a somewhat more chilling song – although at least it’s not being overstuffed a la foie gras.
As an adult, I would also struggle to share a table with a cooked goose, which thankfully is generally not a core element of a UK Christmas any more, even as it remains standard yuletide fare in Northern Europe. Not that a stuffed turkey is any better – their raising and slaughtering is no more humane than it is for geese – although it’s remarkable how familiarity can turn down the repulsion/ disgust factor that so many plant-based eaters come to experience when they encounter meat. (In much the same way, I imagine that, in the West, many contemporary vegans might find dog meat more disgusting a concept than beef, even as there is an intellectual understanding of their equivalence.) Like many people reading this column, I won’t have to share my Christmas table with any geese, turkey, ham or gammon, but I’m aware that for many committed plant-based eaters, this won't be the case and that it won’t necessarily be easy.