Turtle Island Foods
Turtle Island Foods was founded in 1980 by Seth Tibbott in Forest Grove, Oregon. Seth had been making Tempeh for family and friends for 3 years out of an incubator made from an old refrigerator heated by a string of Christmas tree lights! He felt that there was a future in America for this product and decided to quit his career as a teacher-naturalist and began working nights at the Hope Coop in Forest Grove.
In 1982, the company expanded with the help of loans from Seth's brother and mother and moved to an abandoned schoolhouse with a commercial kitchen in Husum, Washington, 75 miles east of Portland, Oregon. The company grew to become the 3rd largest Tempeh manufacturer in the United States which began to stress among other things the water supply of the tiny (population 50) town of Husum.
In 1992, Turtle Island moved across the Columbia River to Hood River, Oregon where it renovated an old cannery building where it is housed today. The 8,000 square feet of manufacturing space overlooks the Columbia, which is home in the summer to growing leagues of Wind Surfers. In 1995, the company introduced the Tofurky Vegetarian Feast to a very skeptical natural foods industry. The response was overwhelming and the rest is history!
A percentage of the sale from each Tofurky goes to Farm Sanctuary's Turkey Adoption Program. At this giving time of year we should remember how generous the earth has been to us and how our food choices make a difference and affect the delicate balance of our planet.
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