Who We Are

 

My name is Linda and by my calculation I’ve made over a million blocks of tempeh over the years and I’ve been proud of every one of them.

I’ve always been interested in vegetarianism and nutrition, and when I came across tempeh in the 1980s, I thought it was the best thing I’d ever seen. So in 1989, I started Impulse Foods, making small batch tempeh in a tiny workshop in Bristol and supplying a handful of customers.

Thirty years ago, if you said ‘tempeh’ to people, generally what you got in return was a quizzical look.  And for thirty years, I have continued, making and promoting tempeh, growing a little every year,  eventually employing fellow tempeh makers and moving the business to our current premises in Somerset.  Now we supply the whole UK with our tempeh through national wholesalers.

At last, tempeh has moved into the mainstream, but wherever there’s a market people will see an opportunity for profit.  There are new brands on the block (and with a couple of honourable exceptions) they are not tempeh makers at all, but companies launched to import and ‘brand’ mass-produced European product.  Their focus is marketing, not product quality, and if you’ve tasted both, you’ll know the difference. 

We are now an eight-strong team and continue to make our tempeh in the time honoured, traditional, hand crafted way, using a natural pre-fermentation process that uses the whole bean. This makes our tempeh VERY different to those you see on the shelves of supermarkets. If you’ve tasted both, you’ll know the difference. Plus all our tempeh is 100% organic, 100% vegan, 100% GMO free and 100% naturally gluten free. Which is why we think that Impulse is the best tasting tempeh you can buy!