The sushi counter at Complete Meals Market is a go-to for a fast meal however vegan choices right here have principally been restricted to edamame and avocado rolls. Nevertheless, for some consumers, that’s about to vary with new vegan tuna and salmon rolls by Kikka Sushi.
Kikka has been a accomplice of Complete Meals for greater than 30 years and presents plant-based sushi options, akin to vegetable and salad rolls, at 200 places of the grocery chain. Nevertheless, Kikka not too long ago expanded its sushi choice to incorporate its personal plant-based fish options, which are actually hitting Complete Meals sushi counters at 17 flagship places in six areas.
“We have now at all times had a robust emphasis on accountable environmental stewardship, and use merchandise which can be licensed sustainable, pure, and accountable,” Grant Kimura, Director of Advertising and marketing and Enterprise Growth at Kikka Sushi, tells VegNews.
Kikka Sushi
“As meals science and plant-based options grow to be extra accessible, we now have been in a position to develop a product in partnership with one in all our distributors in Japan to create one thing that not solely seems good but additionally tastes good,” he says. “Earlier makes an attempt at vegan fish substitutes had one or the opposite, however that is the primary product we now have tasted that does each.”
Vegan tuna and salmon at Complete Meals
To make lifelike vegan tuna and salmon, Kikka makes use of a proprietary mix of crimson algae and konjac. Sometimes called “konnyaku,” konjac is a root vegetable that has been common as a noodle base in Japanese delicacies for hundreds of years. Now, its pliable texture is being explored in different functions, together with as a plant-based different to fish.
Kikka’s plant-based sushi was developed by the corporate’s vendor in Japan along with Kikka founder Tonny Soesanto, who holds a grasp’s diploma in chemical engineering from acclaimed college California Institute of Know-how (CalTech).
Kikka Sushi
Knowledgeable each by Japanese culinary traditions and a deep technical information of plant chemistry and engineering, this distinctive collaborative effort, Kimura says, is what differentiates Kikka’s plant-based fish from others. “I feel the distinction is obvious while you see and style the product,” Kimura says. “The feel and ‘mouthfeel’ are on level, and the product tastes good.”
Plant-based sushi for all
Kikka expanded past its vegetable-centric sushi choices with plant-based tuna and salmon options to draw a broader vary of shoppers who abstain from fish for myriad causes.
Whereas some keep away from consuming marine life for moral causes, ocean air pollution—within the type of plastics and chemical compounds—has led many to keep away from consuming fish, as properly. One study printed final yr discovered a hyperlink between fish consumption and an elevated threat of pores and skin most cancers, due more likely to publicity to mercury.
Attributable to its excessive ranges of mercury, america Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that people who find themselves pregnant keep away from sure fish to cut back possibilities of beginning defects—creating one other shopper base fish-free options.
Kikka Sushi
“One different demographic we additionally encounter is anticipating moms who miss fish and sushi, and we’re so glad we now have a product that they will eat,” Kimura says.
Kikka’s new plant-based sushi is just the start for the model’s exploration of fish-free improvements. Kikka additionally simply launched plant-based gyoza and is engaged on different vegan seafood objects akin to scorching bowls and poke. Kikka additionally transitioned to vegan sugar to make sure that all of its white rice merchandise are free from bone char.
Vegan seafood makes waves
Along with Kikka, quite a few corporations have developed lifelike options to sushi-grade fish, notably bluefin tuna as numbers of the apex predator have sharply declined within the final many years as a result of overfishing.
Present Meals is one other firm within the plant-based area making sushi-grade fish. Constituted of algae, koji, radish, bamboo, and potato, the corporate’s vegan tuna is so lifelike that it put the startup on TIME’s 100 Greatest Innovations of 2021 listing.
GTFO It’s Vegan
In 2021, vegan e-commerce platform GTFO It’s Vegan launched its personal line of konjac-based vegan tuna, salmon, sailfish, and calamari which can be utilized for chilly preparations of dishes that characteristic conventional sashimi.
Over in Chicago, Aqua Cultured Meals is doing one thing somewhat completely different. The startup makes use of the ability of microbial fermentation to develop vegan whole-cut fish products from mycoprotein. Earlier this month, the startup started the buildout of its new facility which can enable it to scale manufacturing of its ultra-realistic calamari, shrimp, scallops, and filets of tuna and whitefish.
“This transfer is the ultimate step on the street to commercialization of our alt-seafood, and it’s what we and our supporters have been ready for,” Anne Palermo, CEO of Aqua Cultured Meals CEO, mentioned in an announcement.
The startup plans to introduce its first merchandise to market within the second quarter of 2023.
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Anna Starostinetskaya is the Senior Information Editor at VegNews and is at all times maintaining a tally of all issues vegan in her residence metropolis of San Francisco, CA and in all places else.
