Vegan Hacks

My Seitan Video Went Viral, Here's What 5,000+ Comments Taught Me

Jason Kartalian Season 1 Episode 272

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 21:45

My seitan (aka "homemade meat") video just crossed 2.7 million views on TikTok and gained me over 25,000 new followers but it also brought in over 5,000 comments, and a solid 60-70% of them were... not kind.

In this episode, I'm reading through some of the funniest, most confused, most surprisingly thoughtful, and most unhinged comments I got — from people convinced I invented bread, to a self-proclaimed chemistry professor explaining gluten formation, to meat-eaters defending seitan harder than some vegans. I talk about why seitan (a 1500+ year-old Buddhist monk creation) is having a viral moment again, the flour-wash method vs. vital wheat gluten debate, and what it's like watching your food go in front of an audience that has zero context for what they're looking at.

Also: why I think the haters might actually be part of the movement.

Send us Fan Mail