Seitan is a word of Japanese origin coined in 1961 by George Ohsawa, a supporter of the macrobiotic diet.
The name was attributed to a product formulated by a student of Oshawa, or Kiyoshi Mokutani; in Japanese, seitan literally means "is protein".
In 1962, the seitan was sold in Japan under this name by Marushima Shoyu KK, while it was imported to the West only in 1969 by the American company Erewhon.
The first book that mentions the seitan is "Cooking Good Food", a 1969 recipe book.
