© Joe Cicak | iStockphoto.com

Here's the skinny: Pennsylvania was the second state to ratify the Constitution, but it has yet to ratify an official state food. Well, PETA has a suggestion that the "Keystone State" can really sink its teeth into: tofu. Why bean curd? Because it was first promoted in the U.S. by Benjamin Franklin, Pennsylvania's most famous Founding Father.

We wrote to Gov. Tom Corbett and suggested that he could help to quell the state's obesity epidemic and honor his predecessor in the governor's seat by getting Pennsylvanians to eat more tofu and less meat. And in this tough economy, because legislative decisions have to be all about the Benjamins, tofu is the perfect choice: Not only is it cheaper than meat and therefore easier on constituents' wallets, making the switch can also lower rates of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, saving the state money on healthcare.  

You don't need bifocals to see that patriotic tofu should be first in the second state—and in the rest of the country.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

Do you like to listen to music, sing, and be affectionate? So do turkeys. Do you exercise, worry about your appearance, and sometimes play favorites with people? So do turkeys. If you have children, do you love them and fiercely protect them from danger? So do turkeys.
 

black_throated_green_warbler/cc by 2.0

 
But unlike us, turkeys raised for food will never get to do any of these things. These sensitive birds, whom Ben Franklin deemed "true American originals," will be crammed inside crowded, windowless sheds and bred to grow so fat that many become crippled or die of heart attacks. Most will have parts of their beaks or toes cut off without pain relief. At five or six months old, they will be thrown into a truck and driven through all weather extremes to the slaughterhouse. There, they will be slammed upside down into shackles and dragged through a "stunning" bath to immobilize them (but not necessarily render them unconscious) before their throats are cut. Some birds are still conscious when they are dunked in hot defeathering tanks and are scalded to death. 
 

 
Do you wish this wasn't the case? So do turkeys.  Let World Week for the Abolition of Meat inspire you to make every day "Turkey Day" by leaving these birds off your plate.
 

Written by Michelle Sherrow

But everybody had a good time in the end. Ben Franklin himself—who once suggested that the turkey should be America’s national bird instead of the bald eagle—tried some of the delicious faux turkey sandwiches distributed by PETA’s lettuce ladies at his birthday bash in Philadelphia, and commented that he was the person who first brought tofu to the U.S. Thanks for that, Ben. Seriously. Here are some pics: