As with all good stories, the one about Thanksgiving should start with Once upon a time. ...

But it doesn't, and there isn't a whole lot of solid fact linking the annual late-November feast we celebrate today with the pilgrims of the past. The credit really should go to Honest Abe. In 1863 President Lincoln declared Thanksgiving Day a national holiday. Congress made it a legal holiday in 1941.

If early Americans had followed in the footsteps of 1621 and this continent's very earliest Anglo feasting day, venison would be the main dish. I suppose a trussed, skinned and roasted Bambi as a centerpiece just wouldn't have the same appeal as a fat-breasted stuffed turkey. Nowadays many health-conscious and environmentally concerned people deem dead animal centerpieces unappealing, and are creating new traditions by moving toward alternative dishes.

To be clear, I am a meat eater and I love turkey. But this year I felt up to the challenge of seeing how the other half lives.

With the burning question "Can this meat eater go turkey-less on T-Day?",  I gathered suggestions from foodies, artists and chefs for replacing traditional Thanksgiving dishes with unconventional meatless ones. The following menu focuses on flavor and texture, locally sourced products and ease of preparation, because cooking all day, turkey or no turkey, just plain sucks.

At the suggestion of chef Ian Hamilton, a firm tofu with rosemary-maple glaze will replace my turkey this year. I selected the microbrew of tofu, Small Planet Organics, because quality is ultra-important and it's not genetically modified. SPO products are handcrafted on Vashon Island and made daily. Sold at Metropolitan Market, the firm plain tofu has a subtle sweet flavor that adapts easily to whatever you throw at it, or rather, on it. In this case, a blend of real maple syrup, ground coriander, apple cider, a few chunks of garlic and fresh rosemary from my garden will become a fragrant reduction that I will brush on slabs of wok-seared tofu before it receives the broiler's finishing kiss.

A big concern I had was how the stuffing would take shape. After all, where exactly would it be stuffed without the turkey as host? Stuffing with no place to stuff it seemed kind of wrong, but Chef Hamilton's apple-cranberry stuffing assuaged my doubts. His addition of sage fulfilled my savory requirement.

Pacific Northwest singer-songwriter Heidi Stoermer suggested corn pudding, another dish I wouldn't have thought of, which also proves that "traditional" is all in the mind of the beholder. Egg substitute can be used and it will still come out sweet, custardy and seriously high on the comfort food scale.

Certified Speech Level Singing instructor Renae Jerome hit a home run with her suggestion of Crock-Pot sweet potatoes. This dish gets the gold star for ease of preparation and clean-up. It doesn't take up a stove burner, can be started a day ahead and requires just a stir here and there. Dump peeled and chopped sweet potatoes into the pot with a blob of frozen orange juice concentrate, white onion chunks, basil chiffonade, walnuts and a bit of salted butter. Pop the lid on and leave it. Dave's Meats and Produce and Tacoma Boys are good sources for local vegetables and herbs if you don't grow your own.

Judi Hyman, part of the brains behind popular Tacoma Japanese restaurant TWOKOI, recommended winter squash. Switch up the usual buttery brown sugar topping and bake butternut squash with a colorful, spicy confetti of red and green bell peppers, purple onion, cayenne pepper and olive oil.

And, of course, I can't leave out my dear foodie mama if I hope to be invited home again. Her offering of curried lentil cauliflower casserole struck me as perfectly non-traditional. Prepare a box of corn bread mix, loosely stir in cooked curried lentils, raw cauliflower florets and sour cream, spread in a buttered baking dish and bake till corn bread is baked golden. Cauliflower can also be boiled, roasted and mashed to almost perfectly mimic mashed potatoes. Butter, heavy cream and salt? Yes, please.

The beauty of these dishes is that variety, nutrition, taste and overall tummy satisfaction is met without a real need for a star of the show.  Who needs turkey?