Faux Fish for Real "Seafood Experience"

First, we have meatless meat. Now, it's fishless fish!

Ocean Hugger Foods debuted their plant-based sushi products at the 2019 Hyper Japan Show in London, UK (July 12-14) – the largest festival dedicated to Japanese culture in the UK. 

Developed to match the taste and texture of fish through a patent-pending technique, the vegan alternatives are marketed as conveying a real “seafood experience” without further depleting wild stocks.

It was in Japan, at Tokyo’s famous Tsukiji fish market (above photo) that inspired vegan recipe ideas. 

When American chef James Corwell (left) saw two football-filled sized warehouses full of tuna sold in just one morning, it struck him how the global appetite for seafood was unsustainable. He wasn’t wrong. 

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization had already warned that fish consumption had reached a record high, even though a third of the planet’s oceans are already overtaxed. 

And so, Ocean Hugger Foods came into being. 

Their flagship product, Ahimi®, is a raw tuna alternative made from fresh Roma tomatoes, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil and filtered water. The product comes frozen, and once thawed, can be cut like real tuna for use in dishes like sashimi, nigiri, poke, tartare and ceviche. 

Other plant-based seafood alternatives: eggplant eel called Unami and carrot-based sashimi named Sakimi:

The audience for these products isn’t strictly vegan, though. This range has appeal for pregnant women who’ve been warned off raw seafood, people who want their sushi or poké-bowl fix without depleting the ocean’s fish supplies, and anyone who likes the taste of sea creatures (minus the disturbing amount of mercury levels and pollutants they ingest). 

Plant-based foods are gaining recognition as a potential solution to significantly mitigate environmental stress and stem the rapid onset of meat production-related climate change. 

This is adjunctly influencing new product development in companies seeking to green-up their portfolio. 

Innova Market Insights data shows that meat substitutes accounted for 11 percent of new meat product launches (meat, poultry and meat substitutes) reported in Europe in 2018, up from 9 percent in 2013. The global picture shows stronger growth, with 14 percent of meat launches in 2018 being meat alternatives, compared to 6 percent in 2013. 

According to FoodNavigator-USA, what sets this innovative company apart is that rather than using textured soy, pea or wheat protein with oils, gums, starches, and flavors – Ocean Hugger Foods begin with vegetables and keep their ingredient lists short and simple. That’s even better. 

I say, bring them on!