Tofurky is the brand name of an American vegan turkey replacement (also known as a meat analogue, or, more specifically, tofurkey) made from a blend of wheat protein and organic tofu. Tofurky brand was officially introduced in 1995.
Tofurky® is a trademark of Turtle Island Foods, a company based in Hood River, Oregon, United States. Turtle Island has come to also use the brand name for most of its meatless products, such as deli slices, sausages, jerky, tempeh (its first product), burgers, and franks. All of the Tofurky products are fully vegan and approved by the Vegan Society,[ citation needed ] and most are kosher-certified by the Kosher Supervision of America. [1] The product name is a portmanteau of "tofu" and "turkey" into a single word which sounds like a spoonerism of "faux turkey".
Seth Tibbott, having become a vegetarian while in college founded Turtle Island Foods in 1980. [2] The original Tofurky roast was created in collaboration with a local Portland, Oregon natural foods company called The Higher Taste, owned by Hans and Rhonda Wrobel and the Tofurky brand was officially introduced in 1995. [3] [4]
The Tofurky roast is found in health food grocery stores; however, availability is limited in some areas. Inside the box, it comes in the form of a small but dense roast, wrapped tightly in a disposable casing, and is something of a rounded loaf in shape. It comes stuffed with mushrooms, herbs, and wild rice. Though the roast can be purchased separately, it is also offered as part of a meal with cranberry-apple-potato dumplings, gravy, and "wishstix" [4] made from Tofurky Jurky, a meatless jerky product. The Whole Foods store chain is a major seller of Tofurky products.
Tofurky is a popular meat alternative [5] amongst many vegetarians, who avoid turkey for ethical and/or personal reasons. The product is free from turkey and other meat products. The Green Stars Project awarded Tofurky 5/5 green stars for overall social and environmental impact. [6]
Nutritional information for equal servings of Tofurky and equivalent meat products is available online, allowing interested people to compare sodium, fat, cholesterol, and protein. [7] The company does not use trans fat and the product has no cholesterol since it is 100% vegan.
Turtle Foods has indicated that it no longer uses certain controversial soy products [8] and only uses non-GMO soybeans. [1] The roast is vegan, which also means it is suitable for those with egg or milk allergies; but for those who suffer from allergies to the soy and/or wheat gluten used in most meat alternatives, Tofurky is not an option.
The Tofurky is pre-stuffed and sealed at the ends to enclose the stuffing. It cooks in one hour and fifteen minutes if thawed or three hours and fifteen minutes if frozen. Because the product has a uniform texture, it slices easily. Tofurky is seitan and soy based and was created to have a texture similar to that of meat products; the vegetable-based turkey-like flavorings are intended to make it comparable to traditional Thanksgiving fare. In order to make the product as similar to flesh as they intended, its creators designed the roast so that it tears off at a 45-degree angle with the grain. [9]
Vegetarian cuisine is based on food that meets vegetarian standards by not including meat and animal tissue products.
Seitan is a food made from gluten, the main protein of wheat. It is also known as miànjīn, fu, milgogi, wheat meat, gluten meat, or simply gluten. It is made from vital wheat gluten, a flour-like substance primarily consisting of gluten extracted from wheat flour.
Textured or texturized vegetable protein (TVP), also known as textured soy protein (TSP), soy meat, or soya chunks, is a defatted soy flour product, a by-product of extracting soybean oil. It is often used as a meat analogue or meat extender. It is quick to cook, with a protein content comparable to some meats.
A meat alternative or meat substitute, is a food product made from vegetarian or vegan ingredients, eaten as a replacement for meat. Meat alternatives typically approximate qualities of specific types of meat, such as mouthfeel, flavor, appearance, or chemical characteristics. Plant- and fungus-based substitutes are frequently made with soy, but may also be made from wheat gluten as in seitan, pea protein as in the Beyond Burger, or mycoprotein as in Quorn. Alternative protein foods can also be made by precision fermentation, where single cell organisms such as yeast produce specific proteins using a carbon source; as well as cultivated or laboratory grown, based on tissue engineering techniques.
A veggie burger is a hamburger made with a patty that does not contain meat, or the patty of such a hamburger. The patty may be made from ingredients like beans, nuts, grains, seeds, or fungi such as mushrooms or mycoprotein.
Boca Burger is a veggie burger produced by Kraft Heinz in Chicago, Illinois. Like all of Boca Foods' products, Boca Burgers serve as a meat alternative.
In kashrut, the dietary laws of Judaism, pareve or parve is a classification of edible substances that contain neither dairy nor meat ingredients. Food in this category includes all items that grow from the ground, fish, eggs, and non-biological edible items.
Tofu skin, yuba, beancurd skin, beancurd sheet, or beancurd robes is a food item made from soybeans. During the boiling of soy milk, in an open shallow pan, a film or skin composed primarily of a soy protein-lipid complex forms on the liquid surface. The films are collected and dried into yellowish sheets known as tofu skin. Since tofu skin is not produced using a coagulant, it is not technically a proper tofu; however, it does have a similar texture and flavor to some tofu products.
Tofurkey is a plant-based meat substitute patterned after turkey, in the form of a loaf of vegetarian protein, usually made from tofu or seitan with a stuffing made from grains or bread, flavored with a broth and seasoned with herbs and spices. It is often served at a vegetarian or vegan Thanksgiving meal.
Morningstar Farms is a division of the Kellogg Company that produces vegan and vegetarian food. Many of their offerings are plant-based variations of traditionally meat products. Their products include meatless chicken nuggets, popcorn chicken, corn dogs, breakfast sausage, burgers, hot dogs, bacon, and pizza snack rolls with vegan cheese. Originally, Morningstar offered some, but not all vegan products. In 2019, Morningstar Farms announced all products would be vegan by 2021, but had not yet done so as of May 2024.
Tofutti Brands Inc. is a U.S. company based in Cranford, New Jersey, that makes a range of soy-based, dairy-free foods under the "Tofutti" brand that was founded by David Mintz. Tofutti sells an ice cream substitute for the lactose-intolerant, kosher parve, food allergy sensitive, vegetarian, and vegan markets.
Turtle Island Foods is an American company founded in 1980 in Forest Grove, Oregon and headquartered in Hood River, which produces Tofurky, a popular vegetarian and vegan alternative to turkey, as well other meatless products. All of the company's products are vegan, and most are kosher-certified by the Kosher Services of America. Turtle Island Foods is also the first company in the United States to have their products approved by The Vegan Society in the United Kingdom.
A vegetarian hot dog is a hot dog produced completely from non-meat products. Unlike traditional home-made meat sausages, the casing is not made of intestine, but of cellulose or other plant-based ingredients. The filling is usually based on some sort of soy protein, wheat gluten, or pea protein. Some may contain egg whites, which would make them unsuitable for a lacto-vegetarian or vegan diet.
A nut roast or roasted nut loaf is a vegetarian dish consisting of nuts, grains, vegetable oils, broth or butter, and seasonings formed into a firm loaf shape or long casserole dish before roasting and often eaten as an alternative to a traditional British style roast dinner. It is popular with vegetarians at Christmas, as well as part of a traditional Sunday roast. Nut roasts are also made by Canadian and American vegetarians and vegans as the main dish for Thanksgiving or other harvest festival meals.
Vegetarian bacon, also referred to as veggie bacon, vegan bacon, vegan rashers, vacon, or facon, is a plant-based imitation of bacon.
Vegan cheese is a category of non-dairy, plant-based cheese analogues. Vegan cheeses range from soft fresh cheeses to aged and cultured hard grateable cheeses like plant-based Parmesan. The defining characteristic of vegan cheese is the exclusion of all animal products.
The Impossible Whopper is a veggie burger sold by Burger King. It is a variant of the Whopper, with a burger patty made from a meat alternative provided by Impossible Foods. First introduced in the United States in 2019, it was made available in Canada in 2021.