The Post took a team to Oregon to find out exactly how Tofurky, a kneaded paste of wheat gluten, silken tofu and flavorings, becomes an enduring holiday favorite. https://t.co/0GlEG3lbPr
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) November 23, 2023
Fifty years ago, I remember our Midwestern college dining hall introducing its first official vegetarian option — chunks of slightly rubbery ham-flavored TVP, added to mac’n’cheese. (Very good mac’n’cheese, actually, since we had an excellent dairy science department.) Now, we’re told, Tofurky has become a nostalgic holiday favorite…
From the Washington Post, “See inside the Tofurky factory, where a Thanksgiving icon is made” [unpaywalled gift link]:
… Tofurky’s holiday roast, which is now more than a quarter of a century old, is a nostalgia food, hearkening for vegetarians and vegans an era when holiday main dishes were often expected to be meat-based. The roast is their rebuttal to Norman Rockwell’s iconic Thanksgiving turkey, with its own cachet and fame.
Tofurky was the trailblazer, setting the standard for a plant-based offering that still captured the festivity of the holiday season. These roasts, with their bouncy exterior and squidgy wild rice stuffing, some accompanied by a packet of gravy and even a vegan brownie for dessert, haven’t changed much over time, and that’s just the way devotees want it. Like the green bean casserole with canned mushroom soup — could you make it more “gourmet” and contemporary? Yes, but holiday diners want it just the way they remember it.
The finished roast is not jiggly and bland like tofu. It’s savory, with good chew and something Thanksgiving-ish and autumnal imparted by the stuffing…
Interesting Read: Where the Tofurkys Come FromPost + Comments (29)