The Subtle Vegetarian

I was just watching the pseudo-educational television documentary series, Modern Marvels, an episode of which focused on the production of cold cuts. And wouldn’t you know, they covered the production of tofurky, too!

Let’s start at the beginning. I must say, bologna production is the most vile thing I’ve seen in a long time. It’s basically ultra-processed emulsified pork, beef, and especially chicken, which makes up 70% of the total. It was so processed that the ingredients, recognizable at first, became a kind of paste or goo before cooking.

They also covered salami, olive loaf (which is basically bologna with olives), and even head cheese. This last was another of the more vile things I’ve seen – what’s worse, the pig snout cuttings or the gel? The production of turkey breast was amazing – one breast is actually two to four turkey breasts processed and melded together! I could not believe just how processed basic items like turkey and pastrami are…

They finished with a visit to Turtle Island Foods, to show the production of tofurky. Looking very much like raw bologna goo, tofurky seemed somewhat more wholesome to my eyes. Perhaps it’s just the knowledge that it is made of happy beans instead of sad pigs and chickens is coloring my perception, though.

One thing I did like seeing was the Turtle Island manager enjoying a bite of tofurky. He seemed to genuinely like the product, just like the artisan salami maker and quite unlike the bologna and turkey factory workers.

Salami photo by André Karwath, used under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 License.