Eating fish for the same price as fish, but… without eating fish. Well yes, what has already happened for some time with the meat (the American startup Beyond Meat was the case in 2019 on Wall Street) it is also happening with fish: replace it with alternative, strictly vegetable products, giving the same sensation (or so) to the palate and saving the fish, the real ones, which are having a bad time in seas increasingly polluted by plastic and wild hunting (according to FAO, one marine species out of three is at risk of extinction) . If the fake meat market is already worth billions of dollars worldwide (in the USA even VIPs have taken the field to act as testimonials and the veg burger has conquered even fast food restaurants and supermarkets), the fake fish market has yet to take off but it is not therefore less attractive. On the contrary.
It is enough to browse here and there on the websites of the companies that have given themselves over to this virtuous and profitable business to find real masterpieces of imagination and originality. For example Ocean Hugger Foods, whose slogan is simple but incisive (“Save oceans, eat plants”), offers a tuna sushi which is actually tomato processed with sugar, soy sauce and sesame oil. The little gem is called Ahimi (registered trademark) and is a triumph of health: only 15 calories, 100% vegan, gluten free but also GMO free and when in doubt, even kosher. The same company also offers Unami, again a sushi but this time with fake eel, i.e. aubergine with soy sauce, mirin (a sort of sweet Japanese cooking sake), sugar, rice oil, seaweed oil and even powder from Asian konjac plant (highly beneficial).
Another “plant made” seafood site is Good catch: sells, with delivery also through Amazon, canned tuna which is actually nothing more than a mix of pea, soy, lentil, broad bean, chickpea and bean protein seasoned with seaweed. 100% vegetable ingredients also for the fish burger, sold in packs of two and seasoned with green onion, celery, sea salt and pepper: the product is kept in the freezer and cooked quickly in a pan. Calories are 160 per burger, with 21 grams of protein and 0% cholesterol. Again: Plant Based Foods has invented a caviar without fish eggs, but in this case the product is not exactly a champion of freshness as it uses thickeners and preservatives.
As far as prices are concerned, so far those of fake fish are in line with those of real fish, between 20 and 30 dollars a kilo depending on the product, but as happened with fake beef, they are destined to go down. In short, in the not too distant future we're about to eat better, spend less and do the environment a favor. "The challenge now - said Jen Lamy, who deals with sustainable fish for the Good Food Institute, a US NGO that promotes animal-based food substitutes - will be to replicate the texture of fish, as it was for meat: because it's one thing to create a fish croquette or sushi, another a salmon fillet”.
