As the diversity of plant-based convenience foods grows, many brands still rely on mass-produced ingredients that typically lack hand-crafted taste and quality. Enter Blackbird Foods, an NYC plant-based foods company passionate about bringing the best NYC-style pizza and seitan to consumers everywhere.
The world’s “meatiest” seitan
Founded by chefs Mark Mebus and Craig Cochran, Blackbird originally produced seitan (a meat alternative made from wheat protein) for sale to local restaurants. Chef Mebus spent over a decade perfecting the art of transforming wheat into seitan, yielding a highly-flavored, meaty product that is low in fat and packed with protein. When more customers began to request Blackbird’s seitan for home cooking, the brand opened a production facility in NYC.
While there are plenty of wheat-based plant-based meats, Blackbird says its proprietary seitan is unlike any item on the market. Crafted to be the meatiest seitan in the world, it comes shredded and marinated in four flavors: Original, Texas BBQ, Chili Lime and Rosemary Garlic. Its clean-label products are made exclusively from wheat gluten flour, oils, herbs and spices.
According to the company, the proteins regularly win over consumers skeptical of seitan. “We often get messages from first-time customers that are shocked by how much they love our seitan products,” says Abby Thaine, Marketing Coordinator for Blackbird Foods. “They have spent years thinking they didn’t like seitan, when in reality, they had just hadn’t tried Blackbird yet!”
Driven by flavor
Blackbird also sells a line of frozen pizzas to offer an authentic, “fresh from the pizzeria” crust for pizza fans. Instead of pre-cooked dough, Blackbird’s dough rises overnight and is hand-tossed to provide a true NYC-style pizza experience. Blackbird’s products are available online and in over 1,000 US retailers, including select Whole Foods, Erewhon, Bristol Farms, and Gelson’s.
“We’re tired of all the low-quality products in freezer sets across the nation, looking like they came off a massive conveyor system,” says Emanuel Storch, CEO of Blackbird Foods. “Blackbird is bringing restaurant-quality products to all grocery shelves, starting with our hand-tossed pizzas and our meaty seitan.”
