{"id":15785,"date":"2020-07-15T09:00:52","date_gmt":"2020-07-15T13:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=15785"},"modified":"2020-07-01T10:17:59","modified_gmt":"2020-07-01T14:17:59","slug":"in-search-of-the-wild-tofurky-by-seth-tibbott","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2020\/07\/15\/in-search-of-the-wild-tofurky-by-seth-tibbott\/","title":{"rendered":"In Search of the Wild Tofurky by Seth Tibbott"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Book Review by Clare Broud, VRG Intern<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his new book In\nSearch of the Wild Tofurky, <\/em>Seth Tibbott chronicles his journey from\nnomadic outdoor environmental educator to clueless tempeh entrepreneur to\npioneering alternative protein figurehead. The founder and chairman of the\nTofurky (Turtle Island Foods) company details the story of how he began a\ntempeh shop with an initial $2,500 of savings and grew the business into a\nglobal alternative protein company worth over $100 million dollars. This\njourney took decades, and Tibbott does not sugarcoat the difficulties of\nbuilding his business. However, throughout the life of the Tofurky Company,\nTibbott continuously holds his original mission and values intact, a large\nreason he believes Tofurky is successful, despite his self-admitted initial\ncomplete lack of business intuition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     While today when\nwe think of Tofurky, we think holiday roasts, sausages, and deli slices, Seth\nTibbott\u2019s original vision for the company was tempeh, which he believed was the\nnext granola. His ability to pivot into other forms of alternative proteins allowed\nhis business to  expand. This book is a\ngreat read not only for vegans or vegetarians, but also for anyone interested\nin entrepreneurship or business. Tibbott emphasizes the importance of having\nbusiness values and a mission, and that it is possible to both build a\nprofitable business and improve the world. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Tibbott\u2019s life\nand work philosophy emphasizes lightheartedness in the face of obstacles. He\nbelieves that part of the reason Tofurky was able to grow past its initial\nstruggles is the lightheartedness of the company and its approach to business.\nAt first, people did not buy Tofurky because it was better for their health or\nthe environment, but they bought Tofurky because it tasted good and was a\nconvenient alternative, and that is how it was marketed. This philosophy can be\nutilized in an everyday vegan\u2019s life. Demonstrate lighthearted and positive\nveganism, and then your mission of animal rights or environmental preservation\nwill follow. Hook people on veganism with taste, and inadvertently the rest\nwill follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

     Tibbott sees the\nexplosive growth of Tofurky in the past fifteen years as a reflection of a\nlarger trend in plant-based foods. The market is exploding with demand, and\nthose with a passion to bring change through food have a place to succeed in a\nlarge part thanks to the decades of work Tibbott spent on Tofurky. Vegan and\nnonvegan alike can enjoy and appreciate Tofurky\u2019s business journey chronicled\nin In Search of the Wild Tofurky<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To order In Search of\nthe Wild Tofurky<\/em>, go to https:\/\/tofurky.com\/book\/<\/a>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Book Review by Clare Broud, VRG Intern In his new book In Search of the Wild Tofurky, Seth Tibbott chronicles his journey from nomadic outdoor environmental educator to clueless tempeh entrepreneur to pioneering alternative protein figurehead. The founder and chairman of the Tofurky (Turtle Island Foods) company details the story of how he began a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15785"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15785\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15787,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15785\/revisions\/15787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}