Two meals that Jonathan Safran Foer discusses in Eating Animals that have a symbolic relevance are his grandmother’s chicken and carrots and the Thanksgiving tradition of eating turkey. Each meal is meaningful in its own way, and each meal contains a critical meat component. Chicken and carrots is the one meal that Ethel Safran can claim as a recipe, and it has earned her the title of “Greatest Chef Who Ever Lived” (15) in her family. Foer wonders if his son should be allowed to eat meat so that he, too, can understand why his great-grandmother is worthy of that title, highlighting the importance of the bonds and emotions evoked by specific meals. However, Foer resolves that his son can get to know their family and traditions even without that meal, since it is the stories surrounding the food that matter.

Similarly, Foer plans to omit turkey from the first Thanksgiving that he will hold in his own home. At first, he worries that omitting the turkey will ruin the holiday, but he resolves that the absence of the traditional meat component can become “inspiring” as he doubts that joy of the day would be lessened “by the hunger to eat that particular animal” (251).