I have very publicly acknowledged that I am not a gluten-free vegan. And thank goodness because I am a huge fan of seitan.
What is seitan?
Pronounced “say-tan”, seitan is a traditional Japanese food made by rinsing the starch away from wheat and retaining the protein. With an impressively meat-like texture and robust flavor, seitan is both high in protein and low in fat without the cholesterol associated with meat.
SOURCE: Upton’s Naturals
I buy it.
My hand’s down favorite brand is Upton’s Naturals.
If you haven’t tried it, keep reading, because I’m giving away two coupons for FREE seitan!
I recently interviewed Dan Staackmann & Nicole Sopko, the owners and operators of Upton’s Naturals and am delighted to share that interview with you here today.
JL: How did you get started in the seitan business?
Dan: As a vegan of (now) over 20 years, I knew that I wanted to do something with food and seitan was always one of my favorites. I realized that no one was making it in Chicago and there were few national brands so I decided to give it a try. I began working in a shared space with a friend and after some trial and error, we came up with a product we were happy with and presented it to some local restaurants. Once it proved a success on menus around town we got our own facility and launched a retail line. First starting with just a few stores, then slowly expanding to a whole region, then another, etc.
Nicole: I started working for Upton’s Naturals in 2010 about six months after being laid off from my previous job in publishing. Dan needed help and I needed something to keep me busy (I had already remodeled my bathroom and done other assorted home improvement tasks, so it was time). The rest is history!
JL: It’s not a very gluten-friendly world right now – especially in the vegan and healthy living communities. I love it and I eat it. Tell us why you think gluten and wheat are a-okay.
Dan: While I believe that some people have serious medical problems with wheat I feel that the majority of the gluten-free diets at the moment are just a fad. I’m not an expert, but from what I’ve read, there is nothing wrong with consuming wheat for most people.
Nicole: As far as I understand from the experts on nutrition, gluten is a healthy food for most people and avoidance of gluten without medical reason can actually lead to other nutritional deficiencies. Of course there are people who do have a medical reason to avoid gluten, but there is definitely a greater trend in “gluten free” eating that may or may not stick around.
JL: Some folks in the vegan community (some call them the vegan police) suggest vegans shouldn’t want or need to eat “mock meat.” You say?
Dan: Seitan isn’t “mock” anything, it’s real seitan that’s been made for thousands of years. However, when marketing seitan, it’s easier for people considering the transition to a plant-based diet to be presented with familiar names/tastes/textures. The other point I like to make is that there is no part of a cow that you slice off that tastes like Italian sausage. If you like the taste of garlic, fennel, and red pepper, what’s wrong with adding them to seitan and enjoying it?
Nicole: We definitely believe that what we are making is real food. Who says bacon or sausage has to be made from pigs? We’re making all of those same foods traditionally, but with a different protein source and without the cruelty.
JL: You are based in Chicago and recently opened a new space, which includes a café. Tell us all about it.
Dan: We hired the architectural firm UrbanLab (Martin Felsen, Sarah Dunn) www.urbanlab.com to design a Modern building that would house our production facility, a small café (Upton’s Breakroom), offices, a by-donation yoga space (Maha Dharma Center) and a small private residence for Nicole & I. We also brought in the street artist Gabriel Specter www.specterart.com to paint the North wall of the building.
SOURCE: © Michelle Klosinski, Groupon
We’ve loved the neighborhood (West Town) for years and knew that we wanted to be here. It’s nice that it’s easily accessible by public transit (most of our employees, walk, bike, or take the trains/buses to get here), and it’s the first vegan establishment in the area.
Nicole: Our new space is amazing! We are still adjusting things and getting settled, but we love this place and hope that others do, too. Upton’s Breakroom is also a delicious addition to our family that we hope will be an asset to our new neighborhood.
JL: Okay, this is a “no fair” question, I know. When you’re sitting down for your favorite seitan meal, what are you eating?
Dan: Currently, it’s our Italian Sandwich at the Breakroom. It’s got our Italian seitan thinly sliced and simmered in broth, then covered with giardinera on Italian bread.
Nicole: Oh, that Italian Sandwich is so good, but I’m going to go with a taco made with our Chorizo Seitan
on a corn tortilla with a little lime, cilantro, and avocado. Perfection!
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That was fun! I absolutely adore Dan’s response to mock meat – don’t you? I’m going to borrow that for future “debates” on the topic. And I’m going to be trying Nicole’s Chorizo Seitan taco very soon!
And you can, too! I have two ways that you can get Upton’s Naturals seitan into your belly (including a GIVEAWAY).
1. How about some seitan activism? You can encourage your store to carry Upton’s Naturals seitan – just download the request card!
2. Enter this giveaway! I am giving away a coupon for ONE FREE PACKAGE of Upton’s Naturals Seitan! And I’m selecting TWO lucky winners. In the comments below simply share your favorite seitan dish and you are entered to win! (U.S. only; contest closes Friday, October 25, 5pm EST).
Come back tomorrow for a recipe that my omnivore husband and I whipped up this weekend using Upton’s Naturals seitan…
…it’s a wonderful meal for blended, “multivore” families and I think you’re going to love it!
50 thoughts on “Upton’s Naturals Seitan: Meet the Geniuses Behind the Biz + GIVEAWAY”
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My favorite seitan dish would have to be a sort of “chicken” fajita — saute some seitan strips and whatever veggies along with some chili powder and other spices, then put it over rice, chips, lettuce, whatever. Really easy and really good.
My favorite dish using seitan is tamales with red sauce. It is so good!!
I can’t name a favorite dish, because I have never tried it! I am new to the vegan community, and just haven’t bought any yet. I’d love to try it out!
Seitan is pretty amazing if you’re trying to get used to life without meat. I generally make my own- including a Seitan “Turkey” roast on thanksgiving. It’s really yummy and it’s so versatile. You can make anything with it, you just need the wheat gluten, spices, and a vegetable broth or no-chicken or no-beef broth. You can make sandwiches, “fried chickn”, roasts, anything you can imagine.
Just be sure to have a big helping of veggies with it! 🙂
love me some seitan bacon blt sandwich with roasted potatoes. Yum!
My favoriate dish would be a version of pulled pork or chopped beef sandwich. Shreded with vengan mayo, bbq sauce and relish. The perfect flash back to a southern bbq dish for me.
I’ve only had seitan once and it was covered in melted vegan cheese, which ruined it for me. I’m anxious to try it again though, it looks so good.
I love using seitan in burritos. It goes great with avocado
I just tried some BBQ Seitan Ribs and they were AWESOME- it’s been over a year since I’ve had meat and I was never really a huge fan of ribs when I did eat meat, but they were close enough to what I remember of the real thing [the few things I did like about it] that I’ll be making them again!
Love Seitan as a greek style “Gyro” on pita bread with tzatziki sauce (vegan made of course) Veg New Magazine ran the recipe awhile back. Thanks for the interview. Living in Chicago I just have to get to the Breakroom soon. Shame on me!
Shredded for shepherds pie! YUM! =)
Their Italian style seitan is great in spaghetti sauce (or straight out of the package).
You can’t go wrong with a classic, an Upton’s “B” LT.
The Upton’s italian seitan is delicious in a vegan breakfast gravy to put over biscuits!
My favorite seitain dish would be the chorizo potato flautas that my husband makes with Upton’s Naturals Seitan Chorizo. So yummy served with freshly made salsa, guacamole, & vegan refried beans.
i adore seitan — the brands i can generally find in my local stores are westsoy, ray’s, and brooklyn’s own monk’s meats. i am 100% behind the idea that this isn’t mock anything; in fact, a recent meal at the all-vegetarian shojin cuisine restaurant kaijitsu showed me many different traditional and non-traditional preparations of fu, which is the old-school japanese seitan.
my favorite dish was the shojin lasagne — it was fu (seitan) puree mixed with a very umami tomato sauce (maybe there was miso in there)? a very unique twist on the italian flavor palette, so savory and delicious.
i’d love to get my hands on some upton’s to add it to my seitan repertoire, thanks for the opportunity to enter!
I’m a sucker for the cashew-crusted seitan at Candle Café in NYC. It played a substantial role in convincing my father that he should adopt a mainly vegan diet. 🙂
What an AWESOME giveaway!!! My favorite seitan dish is a braised seitan with lemon and capers. I serve it over mashed potatoes. Yum! Fingers crossed!
I like incorporating Upton’s Traditional Seitan in a Thanksgiving-like sandwich that includes a homemade cranberry sauce, sauteed kale, and a little vegan mayo. Sprouts and avocado also make the sandwich amazing.
My favorite recipe so far as been chocolate peanut butter “bacon” donut holes made with Upton’s bacon seitan. So freaking good!
I am new to seitan eating. I love it when others make it for me but I am not familiar with cooking with it yet. I imagine it would be so yummy! I would use it in some sort of BBQ dish. 🙂
I make a seitan “roast” every month or so and cut it into 4 cutlets, 4 packages of cubed and the leftovers I grind into mince. I keep it all in the freezer and it comes in really handy for a quick, hearty meal.
I’d love to try some that I didn’t make myself.
I love using seitan as a sub for boneless chicken in for seitan nuggets in wing or BBQ sauce.
My favorite is the Seitan Portobello Stroganoff from Vegan with a Vengeance!
I don’t use seitan much but I like seitan chorizo with cabbage as a stirfry
Melt Eclectic Deli, in the Northside neighborhood of Cincinnati, makes their own seitan. The vegan Philly Cheezesteak they make is one of the best sandwiches I’ve ever eaten!
My favorite seitan dish is “beef” with pecans, sweet potatoes in brown sauce.
Right now I’d say my favorite seitan dish is sausage-style seitan with raw, live sauerkraut and either roasted or mashed potatoes.
I love Upton’s!!!! My favorite dish was a vegan sausage, avocado, tomato, and ranch pizza I had at Dino’s Pizza in Chicago 🙂
I’ve never prepared seitan on my own, so I don’t have a favorite dish. The only thing I’ve tried was a seitan stroganoff in college, which was really delicious. I’d love the chance to try it again!
You won, @jordandunne:disqus, and you’ve got email!
I love a good chili with seitan. I’m currently experimenting with a sauerbraten made of seitan, to be served with a thick ginger gravy and potato pancakes.
I love seitan gyros!
The first seitan recipe I ever tried was for “Buffalo Seitan,” which has still been my most successful seitan cooking method (steaming then grilling). The recipe came from Vegan Epicurean’s blog.
Vegan Gumbo Stew is HEAVEN ON EARTH. Brown rice, hot sauce, okra, kale, bell peppers. Any style of Upton’s works well, but try it with the Sausage Style. Make sure to throw some anise seeds in.
Limited experience with seitan, but Cyclone Chili adaptation, from early “Marlboro Chili Recipes”, was a huge success.
I made a seitan “roast” with potatoes, carrots and gravy and it was divine, especially leftovers for lunch!
My love’s homemade jerky, of course! 🙂
I haven’t had the chance to cook with seitan yet, but I’m eager to try. Looking forward to making some type of fajitas or burritos.
ooh I would love to try their seitan! Was eyeing it in the coop last week but it didn’t quite fit my budget for the week so this would be a great opportunity! My favorite seitan dish… I have so many but most recently I love making snausages and eating them in everything I can think of. I also really enjoy making a big batch of seitan the old fashioned way and then grilling it with an ethiopian inspired bbq sauce.
We love seitan reuben sandwiches, seitan with pasta & marinara sauce, in vegan paella, and burritos. So far Upton’s Naturals isn’t available in our area, but I’m working on it!
My favorite is probably any type of seitan roast. Cooking with Gluten and Seitan by Dorothy Bates introduced me to seitan and I still use it a lot.
I’m a big fan of seitan, too. One of my favorite ways to eat it (when I have a lot of time to devote to food prep) is in red chile seitan tamales from Viva Vegan!
I’ve only tried Upton’s Bacon Seitan so far and it was love at first bite — I’d love the chance to try another variety!
I have never cooked with seitan but would like to try it!
I love the response to the mock meat question. On my blog, I say that I make bangers and mash. I had a prospective client ask me if they were real bangers, because “I thought you were vegan” I said, “They’re real vegan bangers!”
I love to make a meat pie with a flaky dough using seitan! 🙂
You won, @denisechumbleydelgado:disqus, and you’ve got email!
Thanks for playing! Denise and Jordan are the seitan winners!
I love making lasagna with seitan, its my weekends go to.