Imitation of Life
Not that I have a bucket list, but if I did, i could now cross this one off of it: eat fake meat.
Ever since I found out such a thing exists, I’ve been slightly curious as to what a “tofurkey” tastes like. The last time I was home, around Thanksgiving, when shopping at Trader Joe’s with my mom, we passed the larger-than-usual selection of tofurkeys and picked one up. I was joking that we should get one–my mom was adventurous enough to go along with it (and they were only $10 for the entire kit that includes the tofurkey with stuffing and gravy). We didn’t get a chance to make it until Monday. It was an interesting process, to say the least.
Cooking a tofurkey is similar to cooking a regular turkey breast. You put it, along with some potatoes/onion/carrots (for aromatics/flavor) and a baste made from olive oil, sage, and soy sauce into a casserole/roaster and cook it the required length of time. The box shows it sliced thick with sections of stuffing the middle of each piece, but they actually suggest you carve it like a typical turkey, thin shavings on the sides with the stuffing removed later.
I’m not sure what I was initially expecting, but I was prepared for the worst. I’m not a fan of tofu as it usually comes–there’s something creepy about its sterile whiteness and texture that generally doesn’t appeal to me. The tofurkey is actually a mixture of tofu and wheat gluten (seitan) that’s closer to a loaf of bread than the gross assumptions I normally have with tofu. On the other hand, the company’s been in business for a number of years–if the product sucks, no one’s going to buy it.
I think the thing that surprised me most was the fact that the flavor of the tofurkey wasn’t all that bad. I’m not saying it’s good–it’s a little dry and nothing to write home about, really, but had I not known beforehand that what I was eating wasn’t meat, I could’ve easily believed it was (especially with the provided gravy covering the pieces). The other off part is the color–it’s a little too tan/yellow to be truly believed as turkey. Would I get it again? maybe, maybe not. If nothing else, should we encounter some sort of meat-apocalypse where only fake meat products remain, I wouldn’t hesitate to go for the tofurkey.