Mayor Ed Murray took a decidedly vegan spin on the Thanksgiving tradition of pardoning a turkey: He pardoned a Tofurky.
Actually, Murray pardoned two of them. One, Braeburn, got the official pardon. The other, Honeycrisp, is described in a press release from the mayor’s office as an “understudy,” perhaps because one of the Tofurkeys, which come in a box and to be perfectly clear have never been nor ever will be alive, might have been camera-shy.
Actual line
from the press release: “‘I, Mayor Murray, pardon Braeburn the Tofurky,’ the mayor proclaimed in the atrium of Seattle City Hall.” Provocative and moving.
For the uninitiated, Tofurkey is a brand of vegetarian food made of wheat protein and tofu that’s supposed to taste like turkey. It looks like a meatloaf, but, well, it’s not.
The Tofurkeys will be donated to the Rainier Valley Food Bank, which doesn’t really sound like they’re getting pardoned at all. Murray’s office is challenging the city council to a food drive; the winner gets doughnuts.
