I could feel my tummy rumbling. The banana smoothie I'd gulped down for breakfast wasn't cutting it, as my boyfriend, Andy, and I hit the six-hour mark on our road trip to his parents' house for Thanksgiving dinner. I had vowed to eat light that morning so there'd be tons of room in my belly for Andy's mother's scrumptious cooking. She lived for the holidays and was famous for baking pies that were so good they brought tears to your eyes.

We pulled into the driveway just as I started having erotic food fantasies about her delicious stuffed mushrooms and spicy apple stuffing. Andy could have gotten down on one knee and proposed to me at that moment, and I'd still be salivating over the thought of cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. As we pushed open the front door, however, we weren't greeted by the aroma of a juicy bird roasting in the oven. In fact, we didn't smell anything cooking at all. And we found Andy's mother, Linda, sitting in her living room — knitting. "Mom, what's going on?" he asked. "Is the bird already done?" To which Linda replied: "Oh, sweetie, Tofurky doesn't take long to cook."

I'm sorry, did someone just say "Tofurky"?

Yes, Linda had nixed her usual traditional menu for a new holiday diet. She had become a vegan just in time for Thanksgiving: not for animal well-being or environmental reasons, but because she'd heard that a diet free of animal products would help her lose inches fast. Linda wasn't a woman who looked like she needed to mind her weight, but her weight was always on her mind. I knew she was a chronic dieter and had tried everything from the grapefruit diet to the cabbage-soup diet, so I didn't question her reasons for wanting to drop pounds. I just crossed my fingers and hoped that vegans ate pie.