Vegetarian tries a non-meat roast

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SEATTLE, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- The roast by David Lee of Seattle may not be real Turkey, but he's hoping his vegetarian creation will be just as welcome Thursday at his sister's place.

Lee is confident at least some of the meat-eating guests at the Thanksgiving dinner will at least taste his recipe, nod and smile.

"There's no greater joy than seeing a burly, red-faced, slightly pot-bellied white guy take a bite of one of my grain meats and say, 'Not bad,' " Lee said.

Celebration Roasts, Lee's concoction of spices and organic wheat flour, with a stuffing made from apples, butternut squash and other ingredients, come from an unlikely place - a small building by the salvage yards and auto repair shops in Seattle's Georgetown area.

Lee is a Buddhist, and so is every member of his all-Vietnamese staff. There is a shrine at the business where workers pray every morning before putting on their hairnets, reports the Seattle Post-Intelligencer,

Since Sept.1, Lee said his company has churned out more than 300,000 pounds of the roast, headed for the Thanksgiving dinner tables of about 28,000 vegetarian homes around the country.

"We are a meat culture," Lee said. But he asks why should vegetarians have to separate themselves from special events like Thanksgiving dinner?