A Tofurky roast, with dumplings, serves three to four people. The creator of the Tofurky expects to sell 270,000 Tofurkys by the end of the holiday season.

Washington ? Seth Tibbott was just an ordinary hippie living in a treehouse when inspiration struck.

The year was 1986, and Tibbott had spent the past six years hoping that his small business selling vegetarian meat alternatives in rural Washington state would catch on. Success proved elusive – the treehouse was the only place he could afford to live – until he developed a soy-based version of the traditional Thanksgiving turkey. He called it Tofurky.

“It’s a name that resonates with consumers,” said Tibbott, who grew up in Chevy Chase, Md. “We’re fine with the fact they think it’s funny or they get a smile out of it. You remember jokes.”

Tofurky hit store shelves in 1995, and the meatless bird has become a cultural phenomenon, even showing up on the TV shows “Jeopardy” and “The O.C.” Tibbott’s company, Turtle Island Foods of Hood, Ore., has annual revenue of $11 million. Tofurky sales have grown 37 percent this year, compared with 2006. He expects to sell 270,000 Tofurkys by the end of the holiday season, or 438,000 pounds of tofu, wheat protein, canola oil and spices.

The concept was born of Tibbott’s vegetarian frustrations. He left for college in Ohio in 1969 and returned home having sworn off meat. Thanksgiving was particularly tough, he said, recalling a nasty bout with a stuffed pumpkin and a rock-hard gluten roast.

A 2006 poll conducted by Harris Interactive for the nonprofit Vegetarian Resource Group found that about 2 percent of adults are vegetarian, meaning they do not eat meat, poultry or seafood. The market has had increased interest by omnivores who seek alternatives to meat for health reasons. They helped turn the vegetarian foods into a $1.2 billion industry last year, up 44 percent from 2001, the consumer research firm Mintel said. The report found 23 percent of nonvegetarians eat meat alternatives, though consumers say the products cannot match the real thing.

John Cunningham, consumer research manager at the Vegetarian Resource Group, which has received donations from Tibbott’s company, acknowledged that Tofurky does not taste like turkey. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t taste good, with a firm texture and a salty, savory flavor. It just tastes different.

Tibbott started Turtle Island Foods in 1980 with $2,500 in savings and later with investments of $5,000 from his mother and $17,000 from his older brother, Bob.

Two years later, he moved the shoestring operation to an abandoned elementary school in a small logging town in the Cascade Mountains of Washington state. The building had no heat, but it was near a scenic river and about a mile from Tibbott’s treehouse. It was cheaper than renting an apartment, and he could not afford much else. The treehouse was not quite as primitive as it sounds – there was electricity and phone service.

Tibbott lived there for seven years before marrying and moving in with his wife, Suzanne, who lived in an apartment. When Tofurky hit, the treehouse days were gone for good.

Despite the industry’s rapid growth, mainstream appeal may be limited. Harry Balzer, vice president at consumer behavior research firm NPD Group, said that less than 1 percent of households will be putting a meat alternative on their table this Thanksgiving. The National Turkey Federation estimates that 88 percent of Americans will eat turkey Thursday, adding up to 46 million gobblers, the most of any holiday.