Tofurky Day?

HOOD RIVER, Ore., Nov. 21, 2006 — -- There may be no American holiday more closely associated with eating than Thanksgiving. So what to do if you love the holiday and the feast but absolutely refuse to eat the turkey?

Say hello to the Tofurky -- a Thanksgiving "turkey" made entirely of tofu. While the meat-eating portion of society may want to issue a collective yuck, hundreds of thousands of American vegetarians sit down to a Tofurky feast every year, and they couldn't be happier. Not only that, but their numbers are growing.

"We've never had a year where we haven't shown growth in the Tofurky roast," said Seth Tibbott, president of Turtle Island Foods. "As a vegetarian, you're just wanting some great-tasting protein that has some of the fun and magic of turkey associated with it, because turkey is pretty fun to eat."

So ABC News visited his Tofurky headquarters, in Hood River, Ore., to find out exactly what this dish is -- and more important -- why anyone would want to eat a simulated turkey.

Amid the conveyer belts, ovens and vats of tofu at this production plant, Thanksgiving begins with a plop of goo that will be transformed into thousands of turkeylike tofu loaves for a holiday feast that would leave the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock scratching their heads.

The bird itself (at least they call it a bird) is made of organic soybeans and comes out looking like an edible Nerf ball injected with stuffing in the middle.

They pump out 1,000 Tofurkys an hour to meet the growing appetite of American consumers looking for a meal that doesn't require a presidential pardon each Thanksgiving.

The day we visited, supply trucks were on the verge of shipping the one-millionth Tofurky, as they are now carried by most major grocery chains and natural foods stores coast to coast.

The Tofurky made at Turtle Island has become a cult favorite, turning up as an answer on "Jeopardy!" and even getting a mention as part of a one-liner joke in the middle of an old "X-Files" episode.