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The Other “Wheat Meat”
In a nutshell, seitan is wheat meat. Wheat meat? Yes, people actually call it that! How can plant food be “meat”, you might ask? Let’s take an in-depth look at this immensely popular food ingredient with the groovy name.
So, what is this stuff? Seitan goes by many names that are all essentially the same thing:
- wheat meat
- vital wheat protein
- textured wheat protein
- wheat gluten
- vital gluten
- vital wheat gluten
… and more!
It seems food manufacturers are springboarding off the immense success of hiding MSG in processed foods using dozens of aliases to confuse the consumer.
Seitan: Masterful Marketing of a NonFood
You can see why branding gluten as seitan makes sense. It sounds rather hip, cool, whole, and healthy.
If you say “vital wheat protein” as you serve dinner, your guests may flee.
But if you say, “oh, this is just a little dish of seitan,” well, you are going to be the star! This is especially slick marketing since gluten-containing grains aren’t all that in demand these days. Especially with the well-deserved reputation of toxic conventional wheat.
But seitan is anything but hip, cool, whole, or healthy. Unfortunately, this ingredient is becoming more popular, especially among vegans and vegetarians who have to search high and low for sufficient dietary protein. This is especially true for plant-based diet fans who are allergic to soy. (1)
Those who espouse traditional diets are also eating it, mostly unknowingly. More on this below.
The Origins of Seitan
The Japanese word seitan is pronounced “say-tan”. Mmmm. Sounds a lot like the Western word “satan”. Freudian slip on the part of manufacturers? You be the judge after reading this exposé.
The word was coined in 1961 by George Ohsawa, an advocate of the macrobiotic diet (a diet associated with extreme Vitamin D deficiency). In 1962, wheat gluten sold as “seitan” began in Japan pioneered by Marushima Shoyu K.K. It was introduced to the West in 1969 by the American company Erewhon.
History of Using Wheat Gluten as a Protein Source
Where and when did this stuff start? Interestingly, a rather long time ago, as early as the 6th century in China. What was the main motivation? Religious groups, especially Buddhists, seeking to avoid meat were searching for a protein option to put on the table that was in line with their beliefs.
Besides being a non-meat source of protein, seitan’s other main attraction is its texture. Most meat substitutes don’t’ have a “meaty” texture at all. But seitan does. Tofu, tempeh, textured vegetable (soy) protein all make at best acceptable or endurable meat substitutes.
But seitan is different from these. It makes a rather good meat substitute, and thus, makes it all the more appealing to the unsuspecting masses.
Seitan is currently the most favored form for “mock meats.” It is so good at being fake meat that when you look at pictures of foods made from good quality seitan, you may be hard pressed to tell which are made from wheat and which are made from real meat. (2)
5 BIG Reasons to Avoid Wheat Seitan
So, we now know what it is, but is it good? First, seitan is basically pure wheat gluten. So for anyone with gluten/wheat issues, seitan is the satan of all foods. It represents the purest and most potent form of gluten for those who are sensitive.
I wonder if its growing popularity at certain restaurants (especially vegan, vegetarian, and Asian) raises significant issues or problems with possible cross-contamination for those who are sensitive or allergic to gluten?
Second, this stuff is highly processed with a capital “P”. You can’t just isolate the gluten fraction of wheat with ease. This processing also means many brands of seitan contain lots of other stuff, like very large amounts of added sodium, MSG and other food additives.
Third, while it is high in protein, it is an incomplete and unbalanced source of this important macronutrient. It is very low in lysine, and ultimately considered a source of low-quality protein even by the most forgiving of critics. Being low in this amino acid is especially problematic and concerning if you are eating seitan as your primary source of protein with little other protein-rich foods in your diet. (3)
Fourth, if it is made from conventional wheat, it thus has been exposed to all the pesticides, herbicides, and other Big Ag chemicals that modern wheat production depends on. Organic seitan would be better in this regard, but that doesn’t undo the issues listed above.
Finally, seitan made Shape magazine’s list of the top seven foods even nutritionists won’t eat. (4)
Wow, if nutritionists won’t eat this stuff most who still think a frankenfood like margarine is healthy, that is saying something!
No wonder food manufacturers are so desperate to hide its presence on the label using a myriad of other names!
Vital Wheat Gluten: Where it is Inconspicuously Hiding in Your Food
In closing, let’s consider who is consuming this low-quality wheat by-product whether consciously or unwittingly.
A lot of bread makers use seitan even health food store brands. Many modern breads add additional “vital gluten” to improve the rise, texture, and elasticity of the bread. It also gives the loaf integrity while shipping long distances and for stacking in warehouses.
Watch out for Sprouted Breads!
This is especially true, and maddeningly so, for expensive sprouted bread. The popular brand Ezekiel is guilty of this as are MOST that The Healthy Home Economist examined.
These companies are making their bread healthier by using sprouted flour (which breaks down gluten to make it more digestible), charging an arm and a leg for a loaf, and then turning around and adding back vital wheat gluten? Seriously? Talk about one step forward and three steps back!
Watch out for this ingredient in your “healthy” bread choices from Whole Foods or local health food establishments. This is where most consumers are getting duped about this cheap, low-quality ingredient that is ultimately more harmful than just making bread with unsprouted flour in the first place. The scam is reminiscent of the fake sourdough bread that seems to be everywhere too.
Ultimately, wheat gluten should have no appeal, organic or not, to consumers educated about the issue. Reading food labels very closely is necessary to avoid it as it is increasingly appearing in pseudo-traditional foods that those in the health food community think are the real thing and are bringing into their homes.
Can Peanut Allergies Be Cured? Scientists Say YES using Probiotics
Any suggestions for an alternative bread source? I know that ultimately, a homemade sprouted–or even better, sourdough, would be best. With five kids 6 and younger, I’m a little pressed for time to bake my own.
The best sprouted bread I’ve seen that is widely available at most health food stores around the USA is Berlin Bakery Sprouted Spelt. It does contain honey, which I don’t like. Cooking or baking with honey isn’t ideal, but at least it does not contain any vital wheat gluten. I’m sure there are other decent sprouted breads out there, but they are likely locally available only from small bakeries.
This bit about vegans and vegetarians having to “search high and low for sufficient dietary protein”, is utter garbage. As long as one is consuming adequate calories, then protein deficiency is not a thing. The daily minimum recommendation for protein (about 45 grams per day for women, and about 55 grams per day for men) can be achieved by eating nothing more than broccoli and brown rice – again provided sufficient calories of said broccoli and rice are consumed in a day. Let’s not forget that all protein originates from plants. If you think that chickens, cattle, and pigs are magical protein manufacturers then just ask yourself where your protein gets its protein. Nice little opinion piece, but that’s all it is – just an opinion. And not a very well formulated one.
Considering that no vegan source of protein is complete meaning that it contains all the amino acids that are essential to human health in the necessary proportions, then I would not consider that statement to be “garbage” at all 🙂
I hope you are perfect at plant protein combining 24/7/365, else your health is in serious trouble over the long haul! Eating meat simplifies things considerably and stacks the odds for health in your favor as ALL meat is complete protein. Every single bite.
lol dude, come on. It’s way more nutritional than you’re giving it credit- especially if you use a little soy sauce, liquid aminos, or hemp hearts in it… In fact, all of that makes it a complete protein with TWICE the protein of beef by weight. Your article neglects to mention that wheat gluten in a dish is different than seitan, in the point that seitan is actually cooked wheat gluten. To be honest, you’re attacking a food that provides a lot of good quality nutrition at a much lower price than most meats- and don’t even get me started on how much worse meat is for you than seitan. If you like, I can post the nutritional information 🙂
How do you counter the fact that seitan is virtually indigestible as it is concentrated gluten … perhaps the most difficult to digest plant protein on the planet? You can eat all the perfectly combined plant proteins you want, but if you don’t digest it, the meal is worthless.
You aren’t what you eat; You ARE what you digest.
Gluten is not practically indigestible. That’s only true for people with celiac disease. People with gluten sensitivity are most likely actually reacting to FODMAPs in the food. Vital wheat gluten likely has less FODMAPs seeing as they’re carbohydrates.
Highly processed? I can make it by running water over a ball of dough. Scare mongering nonsense
Making it yourself is certainly a better option than the factory produced seitan which is indeed very highly processed. BUT, making it yourself does not eliminate the huge problem that seitan is a very low quality protein, virtually devoid of the amino acid lysine and indigestible to boot given that it is concentrated gluten.
Unless you have a wheat gluten allergy wheat meat is an excellent option for vegetarians. If you are concerned about pesticides buy organic, same as everything else. This expose rings hollow. ::Shrugs::
Not sure how you can consider eating pure gluten (virtually indigestible) that contains almost none of the important amino acid lysine a “good source of protein”.
Seitan is low quality protein at best that the educated consumer would only consider if starvation was the only other option.
Vital wheat Gluten is made from rinsing off the starch from flour…. It is a healthy whole food, “it is so processed” BS….
As mentioned in an earlier comment, making seitan yourself at home from rinsing the wheat flour is certainly better, but the factory produced seitan is heavily processed and loaded with additives, MSG and heavy on the sodium. And, all that starch is concentrated gluten and nearly impossible to digest for most people. This is why ancestral societies that ate wheat carefully sprouted, sour leavened or soaked their wheat before cooking thoroughly to break down the gluten to make it more digestible.
It’s a myth that no plant proteins are compete, so the statement is kind of garbage. As long as vegans eat a diverse diet, they probably won’t need to worry about protien. Also, don’t know anyone who eats seitan alone, like you seem to think. This article does not seem researched.
Bluff called. Name a single plant protein that is complete meaning it contains all the essential amino acids in adequate amounts consumed in a normal diet to support human health? THERE ARE NONE. Soy does have all the amino acids, but not in adequate amounts to support health. And no, simply eating a “diverse vegan diet” does not remedy the problem. This is why the vast majority of vegans are forced from ill health (usually rampant dental issues) to return to eating animal foods like eggs and dairy and even meat within on average 2-5 years. Very few can remain vegan for long periods of time. Those who do are the very rare exception rather than the rule and are probably very adept at figuring out the intricacies of perfect plant protein combining along with plenty of supplementation to keep their health from going into the tank. The vast majority of vegans are simply not going to be able to pull that off and will suffer the consequences of a poor quality protein diet over the long haul.
So I literally have sprouted find corn wheat in my bread machine right now that I added a vital wheat gluten too so it would raise better. The last loaf I made turned out horrible so I figured the vital wheat gluten would help .
A lot of fake news in this article, was it written by someone in the meat, dairy industry. Meat and dairy are the real bad stuff you should avoid……
Interesting that the most common comeback from vegans who don’t like factual data that points out that their diet is nutrient poor and is highly likely to make them very sick over time is that the author is “someone funded by the meat and dairy industry”. LOL Sorry, that’s not an argument that supports the basic and very flawed tenets of plant based eating and if you read any other articles on this blog, you would know that the accusation isn’t accurate anyway! 🙂
It’s also interesting how plant based diet fans lump ALL dairy and meat into one “bad” category. Not all meat and dairy is conventionally produced. What about grassfed meats and pastured dairy from ethical, environmentally sustainable small family farms? This is the type of meat and dairy which are healthy ancestral foods that supported humans even BEFORE agriculture and cultivation of plants started. This is what so many vegans are realizing as they get sick on a plant based diet after a few years and make their way back to ethically produced animal foods to regain their health.
Thank you for the info! It feels like there are no good choices when it comes to buying bread. 🙁 I am so confused. I thought I was in the right direction buying sprouted bread only to discover it’s not really good. Is there anything ok to buy bread-wise which I can feed my children and not fear they are eating junk? Any recommendations for a truly healthy, affordable bread to buy?? Thanks!
Berlin Bakery has an excellent sourdough and a pretty good sprouted loaf too. This brand is widely available across North America. Also, numerous artisanal bakeries have wonderful sprouted loaves, but they are available only locally. They aren’t shipped because sprouted bread w/o vital wheat gluten added is quite fragile and does not lend itself to industrialized production. Many cities and town have excellent small bread companies nowadays.
Sarah, I think you must be an experienced debater in addition to home economist! Did you enjoy it in school? Thanks for your FACTUAL comebacks to detractors!
Actually, no, I never took debate 😉 BUT, I do have four brothers. That will teach you to mind your p’s and q’s in a hurry 🙂
The comebacks aren’t actually factual at all, but okay. For nutritional information about vegan diets, I use go to a site called vegan health. It’s a dot org. It’s run by registered dietitians, and they actually cite their sources, and their sources aren’t other blog articles they wrote.
You mean the registered dieticians that have McDonald’s as a sponsor of their conferences? LOLOL
I am in the “meat and dairy industry,” do tell me what position of such power and influence I hold!
I don’t care much for the Ezekiel breads–the flavors are too “off” for me. I’ve been sprouting my own locally-grown wheat, dehydrating it, grinding it, & making sourdough bread with it.
Our local co-op makes sourdough bread which I occasionally buy but am suspicious of it because it molds in just a few days on the counter. MY bread does not do that.
I made seitan with my then-husband every couple of months, oh about 20 or so years ago. We ground organic flour and rinsed it repeatedly until nothing was left but the seitan/gluten. It was dense and “meaty.” We didn’t eat it often but it was good every once in a while and I still think it was healthy given the way we made it and the small amount we ate. We called it “dog brains.” Don’t ask.
I stopped eating meat as a child because I don’t like it and I love animals. I cannot make myself eat it. I have been vegan at two points in my life remember being quite dogmatic about it, until I began to become really sick at age 26. I discovered on my own that I was gluten intolerant. I have long suspected companies pad products with gluten since it’s a cheap byproduct, and since I ate so much bread and pasta in my youth, I ended up intolerant.
I have also had lifelong sleep issues. I believe it is due to a deficit of taurine since taurine is primarily found in meat.
I do eat eggs and in recent years, a fair amount of dairy. I only buy organic and pasture raised. Also, I believe in butter, grass fed and organic if you can get it. I won’t eat canola oil under any circumstances.
My iron has been chronically low, about as low as iron levels can get. I warn vegetarians and vegan all the time but they don’t listen. Years ago in an ethics class a professor had us read An Animal’s Place by Michael Pollan. That changed my outlook completely and I decided it was a much better use of my energy to argue for the humane treatment of farm animals, and small, sustainable farms, rather than to try to convince people who are never going to be convinced not to eat meat. The planet cannot sustain an all vegetarian population, some countries’ topographies only support animals such as goats, and animals die in the production of grains.
I think this is an excellent article and supports my theory that I am now gluten intolerant due to eating excessive gluten for so long. Thank you, Sarah, I love your blog!
I never had seitan with GMO. I made it myself a few times, to make a wok with vegetables, soy sauce (tamari), ginger, rice malt and roasted sesame oil. We had to use conventional flour as it was the only one with more protein. We washed the wheatdough in cold and warm water and then cooked it in water with some tamari and mushrooms. I cannot think this would be harmful to eat. I have no issues with gluten. Those issues are new and come from wheat getting lots of Roundup/chemicals when growing it. I lived then in Sweden and there is no seitan there with GMO; we don’t have so much toxic foods as in the USA, I think.
Marianne Karlsson. This is one of the best health blogs on the internet and it does not contain biased information and she is not an agent from any industry. You can get a lot of good information here and she is only trying to help. She should be paid for it but I think she is not.
Thank you Sarah for this article. I guess we need to make our own that way we know what we are getting.
Seitan is not used in bread or baking. It is a meat substitute made from gluten, the old-fashioned way by rinsing a whole wheat dough in alternate cold and hot water ‘baths’, to extract the gluten and to rinse off the bran. More ‘modern’ recipes use vital wheat gluten. I have made it by both methods, and have been making it almost 40 years.
Vital wheat gluten is what you meant as the ‘bad guy’ here. It is often used as a dough enhancer in yeast raised doughs.
I am disappointed with the glaring error in this article.
Here’s a definition for seitan: thebuddhistchef.com/recipe/seitan/
&
vegetariantimes.com/recipes/homemade-seitan
I’m not sure you understand that vital wheat gluten is just concentrated gluten isolated from the bran just as you describe. It is nearly indigestible for most people and extremely poor quality protein. Making it at home changes nothing except that you will avoid all the sodium, MSG and other additives that food manufacturers add to it.
Thanks for this article! I have been going back and forth for a while now on the organic sprouted breads at the store because I suspected that the added gluten was bad yet they seem “healthy”. Thanks for clearing that up for me- I’ll make the extra effort to get the delicious sourdough einkorn bread at the farmers market!
The farmer’s market sourdough einkorn sounds perfect! Many people have this type of wonderful local option available instead of the industrialized “traditional” breads like Ezekiel which should be avoided.