Seitans

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A food product made from gluten, often used as a meat substitute in vegetarian and vegan diets due to its chewy texture and high protein content
2. A versatile plant-based protein derived from wheat gluten, commonly utilized in cooking as an alternative to animal-derived meat because of its fibrous and pliable nature
3. A wheat gluten preparation used primarily in meatless cuisine, prized for mimicking the texture of meat and providing a rich protein source for those avoiding animal products

Etymology: Seitan was coined in 1961 by the philosopher George Ohsawa, who promoted a macrobiotic diet. He created the Japanese term セイタン (seitan) as a name for wheat gluten prepared as a meat substitute. The word is built from 生 (sei, "fresh; raw") and 蛋 (tan), the first character of 蛋白 (tanpaku, "protein"), so the name literally points to protein made from raw wheat. Ohsawa also sometimes wrote it as 生蛋, combining those same two characters. In Japan, wheat gluten in general is called 麩 (fu, "wheat bran, gluten"), and the seitan version is usually written in katakana, sometimes alongside the label グルテンミート ("gluten meat"). The English word arrived by way of this Japanese coinage, and its plural, "seitans", is simply the regular form of the noun.

Synonyms: wheat gluten, mock duck, vegetarian meat