Protein Sources Beyond Meat: A Local Guide

Seattleites are eating less meat. Sales of plant-based and alternative proteins at PCC Community Markets — the Puget Sound cooperative with 15 locations across the region — climbed roughly 18 percent between 2023 and 2025, according to the co-op's own purchasing data. That shift is showing up on plates from Capitol Hill to Ballard, and the city's food infrastructure has quietly reorganized itself around it.

The reasons are layered. Grocery inflation hit protein-heavy animal products hardest over the past three years, with USDA figures showing beef retail prices up more than 22 percent since 2022. At the same time, a generation of younger Seattle residents who came of age during pandemic-era cooking experiments never fully returned to traditional meat-centric meal planning. Dietitians at UW Medicine's outpatient nutrition clinics have reported a marked increase in patients asking specifically about protein adequacy on reduced-meat or flexitarian diets — a question that deserves a practical answer, not just a general reassurance to eat more beans.

Where to Shop and What to Buy

Start at the University District Farmers Market, open Saturdays year-round on University Way NE. Vendors like Alvarez Organic Farms, based in Mabton, regularly bring dried Rancho Gordo-style heirloom beans — varieties including black calypso and Good Mother Stallard — that run about $6 to $8 per pound and deliver 15 grams of protein per cooked cup. The market also hosts several tempeh producers; a 8-ounce block from a Eastside small-batch operation typically retails at $6.50 and packs around 30 grams of complete protein.

PCC's Fremont location on N 34th Street stocks an unusually deep selection of shelf-stable protein staples: canned lentils from Westbrae Natural, multiple grades of nutritional yeast (two tablespoons gives you roughly 8 grams of protein plus a full B-vitamin profile), and house-brand hemp hearts at $12.99 for 16 ounces — one of the better protein-per-dollar ratios on the shelf at about 10 grams per three-tablespoon serving. Staff there can pull up the co-op's own "Protein Without Meat" shelf guide, a printed card the buying team updated in March 2026.

For those willing to go further, Uwajimaya on 5th Avenue S in the International District remains the single best source in the city for tofu variety. The store carries silken, firm, extra-firm, and vacuum-packed Japanese-style blocks from both local producer Ota Tofu — operating out of Portland since 1911 and distributing widely into Washington — and imported brands. Firm tofu runs $2.49 to $3.99 per 14-ounce block and delivers about 20 grams of protein. Dried edamame and shelf-stable natto are also reliably stocked, which most standard grocers don't carry at all.

Getting the Numbers Right

The standard protein target for moderately active adults is 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight daily, per the National Academy of Medicine — though sports dietitians working with Seattle's recreational athletic community, which is dense given the city's trail running and cycling culture, typically push that closer to 1.2 to 1.6 grams per kilogram for people training more than four days a week. A 150-pound runner aiming for the higher end needs roughly 109 grams daily. That's achievable without a single ounce of chicken: a breakfast with two eggs and a cup of cottage cheese (about 38 grams), a lunch built around a lentil and farro bowl (roughly 25 grams), an afternoon snack of Greek yogurt (17 grams), and a dinner of stir-fried tempeh with edamame (close to 40 grams) gets there with room to spare.

Seitan — wheat gluten — is the outlier worth mentioning. It's the highest-protein plant food by weight at roughly 25 grams per 3.5 ounces, and it's the one product that trips people up: it's completely off the table for anyone with celiac disease or non-celiac gluten sensitivity, a population that UW Medicine estimates at 6 to 7 percent of its patient base. Anyone managing a diagnosed condition should loop in a registered dietitian before restructuring their protein intake. Bastyr University's teaching clinic in Kenmore offers sliding-scale nutrition consultations and tends to have shorter wait times than hospital-based practices — worth knowing as demand for this kind of guidance keeps rising across the region.