It’s a beloved Thanksgiving tradition for vegetarians across the country — and draws the ire of meat lovers everywhere: the Tofurky roast.
The oval-shaped pale meal from the company whose name is a portmanteau of “turkey and tofu” has been a staple among many vegetarian Thanksgiving gatherings since the roast was created in 1995.
To date, Tofurky has sold 7.5 million holiday meat-free roasts — which now are described on its box as “plant-based” instead of “vegan” for more consumer-friendly language, according to a report.
Despite its name, CEO Jaime Athos said his company is not trying to perfectly mimic the taste of a Thanksgiving turkey, but rather create something new and unique.
“I think there’s a little risk in getting too close to the exact eating experience of meat,” Althos told the Washington Post. “There’s that notion of the uncanny valley: When something’s close, but not quite, it’s worse than being noticeably away from the goal.
“For us, it’s more about, ‘Does it eat well? Is it a satisfying and flavorful eating experience?’ That’s so much more on our minds than, ‘Is it exactly the same as meat?’”
When Thanksgiving approaches, the company churns out about 6,000 of its tofu and wheat-based roasts in 10-hour shifts for four days before returning to its other plant-based products, according to the Washington Post, which recently visited the Tofurky facility.
The paper got a first-hand glimpse into how the holiday “sausage” is made at its main Fort Hood facility, where about 50 of Tofurky’s 175 employees work.
The tofu and wheat “masa,” consisting of 130 pounds of wheat gluten, 56 pounds of tofu puree, 23 pounds of canola oil, water and spices is kneaded into a beige goopy mass inside of an industrial-sized vat for 15 minutes.
Throughout the process, workers test the gluten as it’s heated up and combined with the rest of the ingredients until it reaches the desired smooth texture, according to the Washington Post.
Four workers mix the masa while one makes the wild rice stuffing and another lone worker puts the seasoning mix together before the product is sent to the packaging room.
The masa is placed into a hopper and the wild rice stuffing in another — akin to how Fig Newtons were originally produced more than 100 years ago, according to the paper.
The stuffing is a mix of wild rice celery, onions, carrots, leeks and seasoning as well as bread crumbs — despite calls to make the dish gluten-free.
While the machines make the roasts, employees watch to make sure the ratio of masa to stuffing is right before they’re placed in an oven and cooked for four hours just below 300 degrees. The roasts are then placed in a freezer for eight hours before they’re ready to be shipped out to grocery stores across the country, WaPo reported.
In a final step, an X-ray machine scans each roast to look for anything dangerous that may have gotten into the food to avoid recalls, although no law requires this step.
In the packing room, a gravy packet is wrapped up with each roast before they’re boxed — some with a vegan brownie to round out the meal.
The tofu- and wheat-based turkey roast with gravy runs about $13.50 and feeds about five people.
Tofurky dates back to 1980, when Athos’ stepfather started Turtle Island Soy Dairy. Since Athos took the reins of the company, there has been a nationwide boom in vegetarian-based “meat” products, such as “burgers” and “chicken.”