By Angela Weber, VRG Intern

In Search of the Wild Tofurky: How a Business Misfit Pioneered Plant-Based Foods Before They Were Cool by Seth Tibbott with Steve Richardson is truly a must-read. This is a tale for all of the entrepreneurs, the environmentalists, the foodies, the hippies at heart, the businessmen and women, and the people who love a great underdog story.

     Seth Tibbott chronicles his journey as he turns his passion into a worldwide phenomenon – the Tofurky. He begins each chapter of his story with unbelievable previews of anecdotes, such as studying graffiti, renting space to piano-tuning clowns, and turning four trees into a treehouse where he lived for seven years. He closes each chapter with heartfelt and honest words of advice to inspire his fellow “bootstrappers” engaging in their own journeys. Everything in between is a fascinating story about how a dream became a reality.

     Tibbott begins by warning readers that, “The Tofurky story is the opposite of smart money.” It is by no means a story about building a business to amass a fortune, but rather a story about how preserving authenticity, positivity, and passion can reap great rewards when you enjoy the work you are doing for your business.

     Tibbott had the insight to recognize a critical need amongst vegans. Thanksgiving meals tend to be meat-centric, leaving vegetarians and vegans to only be able to choose from the side dishes. The Tofurky deliciously addressed that need, and the brand has expanded to provide some ingenious plant-based alternatives to meat products. This is the story of how that all came to fruition.

     His successes were inspiring because they did not come from having a lot of money or resources, but rather, they came as a result of his hard work, determination, gut feelings, support system, and unwaveringly firm stance behind his mission and vision of “bringing vegan, low-on-the-food-chain protein to the world.”

     A sense of creativity and community and an enjoyment for life were instilled in him from a young age by his parents. When he went to college to become a teacher, he found the traditional classroom setting to be too restricting and unimaginative, and he could not be true to himself in this way. Although teaching elementary schools was ultimately not his destiny, it was during this time in college where he stumbled on to vegetarianism and the wonders it could do for human health and the planet, and it became one stepping stone on his path to revolutionizing the vegan food market with the Tofurky.

     As his perspective changes, he goes on to become a wandering naturalist, spending a lot of time in the great outdoors with very little income. His modest lifestyle allowed him to have freedom and create memorable experiences, one of which being his discovery of tempeh. Upon visiting a commune known as The Farm, he learned about the miraculous mold and soybean combination that made tempeh. Immediately becoming fascinated with tempeh, Tibbott purchased a starter culture and produced his first batch. The rest, as they say, is history.

     Tibbott’s passion for this process leads him to create his company, Turtle Island Soy Dairy, where he devotes his time to producing tempeh. He faces many trials and tribulations along the way. With a lack of fundamental business knowledge, a meager annual budget of $2,500, and a slew of individuals insisting that meat consumption would never change in America, what could possibly go wrong? He shares with his readers his many transitions, mistakes, insights, signs, and moments of growth, all of which eventually lead him to pivotal decisions and his aha moment of creating the Tofurky.

     He never gives in. He never gives up. He uses the resources he has to constantly grow, learn, and improve, while keeping Turtle Island Foods and Tofurky brands under family ownership for the past forty years. A lot can be learned from this humbling, often humorous, and engaging story of someone who wants to change the world for the better, one Tofurky at a time.

     I definitely recommend looking for the Tofurky brand on your next trip to the grocery store, and I absolutely recommend reading this book!

You can order the book on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/Tofurky-Story-Pioneered-Plant-Based-Dinner/dp/1635766532/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=