I remember the very first time I tried Seitan, it was while I was attending Berklee College of Music in Boston and a friend of mine took me to this health food store on Newbury Street. She picked up a nondescript plastic container and opened the lid. Inside was what looked like chunks of brown meat. I asked her what we were looking at and she simply said “Seitan.” Of course, I thought she said “Satan” and replied back with a “Wha?” and a strange look. She then explained how the word was spelled, that it was a ‘wheat-meat’ made from gluten with a high protein percentage and she also explained that the store made their own from scratch. We took it back to her apartment where we made a stir fry. That first bite was wonderful. It tasted like, and had the texture of, meat. But it wasn’t meat. I was hooked.
