Freebird!

Going turkey-free this T-day? In the Bay Area, you are certainly not alone. In fact, the Bay Area Vegetarian website has an event board that lists places, including people's private homes, where you can spend Thursday knowing no turkey died for your pleasure. They also have what they call an "ultimate guide" to local vegetarian, vegan and veg/vegan-friendly restaurants. But do call ahead to make sure that the restaurant you want to go to is indeed open and has space for you and your pet turkey.

For the rest of us who want to assuage our guilt by picking up an expensive free-range bird, make sure you check out East Bay Animal Advocates' website. Apparently, it doesn't take much to get a "free range" label, and more often the turkeys aren't treated any better than they are at the non-free-range factory farms. So make sure you grill (no pun intended) your butcher before you buy, to make sure you're getting the bird that died with the least cruelty possible. For more info and some sources of more-humanely-treated turkeys you can get around here, check out this Metroactive article from a couple of years ago.