Vegan Seafood Is About To Become Big Business--And Not A Moment Too Soon

[mucifer]

Overfishing has become catastrophic. A report by Nature Communications in 2016 found that far more fish have been caught globally between 1950 and 2010 than was admitted, leading to a sharp decline in the number of fish in the sea. Industrial fisheries using large commercial machinery to trawl the ocean bed result in millions of other sea animals, including whales, dolphins and turtles, getting trapped and killed in nets – known as ‘bycatch’. Aquaculture – essentially the factory farming of fish – poses a host of health and environmental hazards.


Meanwhile, slave labor, which is particularly rife in the shrimp industry, poses ethical problems, as does the issue of animal cruelty, something often overlooked when it comes to sea creatures. Scientific evidence has found that fish are sentient and feel both physical and emotional pain, as do crabs, lobsters and other crustaceans.

Fortunately there are a group of entrepreneurs stepping up to provide a practical, sustainable and cruelty-free solution to these problems: Plant-based alternatives to popular seafood products.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/katrinafox/2018/08/06/vegan-seafood-is-about-to-become-big-business-and-not-a-moment-too-soon/#262fea3a645d

[Nitram]

1. Can someone explain to me why vegans want to eat food that is modeled on seafood?

Is it the aesthetic look of the food? Does it actually taste like shrimp or fish?

[mucifer]

2. For vegans it's about animal cruelty. So if a product that can mimic the taste and texture

can fool people we are happy. If meat eaters eat that and not real seafood it means they also for that meal are not eating real chicken cows or other animals.

The other thing about the vegan foods are they tend to be sustainable for the environment and as far as shrimp there is no human slavery involved which does happen with lots of shrimp.

One more great thing about the fake seafood is that lots of people want to eat seafood but because of allergies they can't. They usually can have vegan substitutes.

[Harker]

5. Yep.

A close encounter with a very friendly cow ended with me vowing never to eat meat again. A year or so later I came to see the cruelty involved in producing animal products more broadly.

It's a very personal thing for me, and I am more than happy to discuss it with interested people. I'm not a preacher, though.

A couple of days ago I had pasta salad with in-laws who were eating Chuck, whose company I had only recently enjoyed.

There are challenges involved.

[Harker]

3. I've eaten a vegan diet

for very nearly 40 years. I don't actively seek alternatives that mimic animal products, and I can barely remember what animals taste like.

Sometimes, though, a savory, tubular product (for example) with a lot of protein in it can add some nutritive value, and good flavor and texture to a dish. Other times a vegetable patty might be enjoyable between halves of a bun.

It's not about mimicry for me.

[mucifer]

4. wow that's so impressive!I've only been vegan for 5 years and went vegetarian

in 1982. I prefer a tofu burger to a beyond or impossible burger. That said, for me it's about choices and animal cruelty. So the more people eating the fake meat the better.

[Harker]

6. I salute your decisions.

It's becoming better known all the time because of people like you.

I still get a lot of incredulous inquiries about what it is that I DO eat, and how boring it must be.

I cook a lot of Asian food, and have gone years at a whack without touching a fork or metal spoon. Haven't been bored by food yet!

[mucifer]

9. I think you and I have some similarities. I named my dog Harpo

Good to know you Harker!

[Harker]

10. I'll bet we do!

It's very much a pleasure to know you, and I'll look out for you going forward!

Best to you and Harpo!

[byronius]

8. I've tried the new Beyond burger stuff -- too much like actual meat for me.

I support the effort, though. I think long-term vegans don't need mimicry, you're absolutely right. Still, I do love the Gardein beef tips and the stringy/chewy texture of them.

I also support the vat-grown meat movement, but not for personal consumption.

[Nitram]

11. I understand that being vegan is about not wanting to harm animals.

I just don't understand why a vegan would want to associate the taste of their food with an animal.

[athena]

19. Because it's not about the taste.

You're making the mistake all non-vegans make. Whenever I go to a party, the meat-eaters either apologize for the meat on the table, or they wave their meat in front of my face, thinking it will upset me. They seem to think that a vegan cannot stand the sight or smell of meat. It's very interesting, because they're really saying something about themselves: that they like the taste of animal flesh so much that they're afraid they could never give it up, that if they ever tried avoiding meat, just seeing or smelling it would cause them to have a melt-down.

What's disturbing is not the sight or smell of meat or fish. It is the sight of the desperation in the eyes of a cow peering through a tiny circular air hole in the giant truck shipping her to slaughter. It is the sight of cows grazing in a field. I am disturbed because I can't save the poor animals, because I can't stop the horror that awaits them. I am disturbed that so many people mindlessly contribute to this senseless violence.

Most vegans grew up eating animals. Most vegans decided to stop eating animals in order to stop contributing to animal cruelty. Before going vegan, I liked meat. I liked fish. I liked cheese. I liked milk. I liked eggs. I didn't stop eating them because I didn't like the taste. I stopped eating them because I don't want to support the factory-farm industry with my dollars. I don't want to have anything to do with the torture that is inflicted daily on chickens, pigs, and cows. I don't want to contribute to the destruction of the oceans by eating seafood. Eating vegan versions of these foods harms no one. Am I supposed to avoid them just so that meat-eaters can continue to tell themselves that liking the taste of meat is a good reason to contribute to torture and suffering?

What is objectionable about meat is not the way it looks and tastes. It's the violence and suffering that produced it. (It's also what it does to your body, but that's another topic.)

[Nitram]

20. Well, that was a long put down of omnivores, and a whole string of straw dog arguments, but not

a single answer to the question, "Why do vegans go to such lengths to create food to looks or has the texture of meat." Are ya'll nostalgic for the feel of meat? It certainly doesn't taste like meat. I love vegetarian food, and often when to excellent vegetarian restaurants when I lived in Tokyo. But I never cared much for the fake meat dishes. They really don't taste as good as a tasty vegetarian dish.

[athena]

21. Thanks for demonstrating that you weren't asking an honest question.

If the taste of meat is so important to you that you would support the torture and killing of animals, go right ahead. It's still legal. It will have consequences for your health and for your ability to sleep at night, but who cares about that when you can go around insulting vegans, eh?

[Nitram]

22. On the contrary, I was responding to a very dishonest answer to a serious question.

First, "You're making the mistake ALL non-vegans make." Pray tell what's that? Quite a generalization.

"Whenever I go to a party, the meat-eaters...wave their meat in front of my face, thinking it will upset me."

- Now that's a very rude crack, and a straw dog argument, because it certainly doesn't apply to any omnivore I've ever met. You've clearly got a big chip on your shoulder against the people you slander with the term "meat-eater." I don't know anyone who only eats meat, and I've never met one who "waved meat in front of a vegan's face." Now that's nasty.

"They seem to think that a vegan cannot stand the sight or smell of meat."

- Some of my vegan friends have told me they don't like to talk about eating meat, and they are disgusted on seeing or smelling cooked meat. Many are indifferent. But I do try not to offend people I know are vegan, and don't go on at length about how delicious the stake I had for dinner the night before. If I'm having vegan friends for dinner, I don't serve meat. That's just me.

"they like the taste of animal flesh so much that they're afraid they could never give it up."
- Straw dog argument, and another nasty crack. You really put a lot of words and thoughts into omnivores' heads.

"Eating vegan versions of these foods harms no one. Am I supposed to avoid them just so that meat-eaters can continue to tell themselves that liking the taste of meat is a good reason to contribute to torture and suffering?"

- Who suggested that eating fake meat harms anyone? Straw dog argument. I fail to see what your fondness for artificial meat has to do with "meat-eaters can continue to tell themselves that liking the taste of meat is a good reason to contribute to torture and suffering?" You really are an angry person, aren't you!

I respect your reasons for eating vegan. I just don't appreciate your passive aggressive response when asked a harmless question about fake meat.

[athena]

23. Thanks for all the insults.

I started replying, but frankly, I don't have time to try to have a discussion with someone who is clearly here to pick a fight. You seem to be very bothered by the discrepancy between your beliefs and your actions. Attacking vegans is not going to help with that. I wish you luck in your journey toward sorting it all out.

[Harker]

13. I can't presume to answer your question

but I can mention that practically every Asian market I've ever visited has at least a couple of soy or grain based imitations of sea creatures labeled as "mock turtle", "mock scallops", or something like that. They've been around for a very long time in cans and in jars. I suppose there's a demand for them.

As with other imitative products, I'd bet that something which is similar to what one has been eating, maybe for many decades, would make for a softer transition.

I went cold turkey. So to speak.

Sorry to digress, and to interrupt without addressing your question.

[Nitram]

14. I lived in Aisa for 20 years, and my impression was that the mock food is popular because it is so

much cheaper than the real thing. In Japan, for example, you'll find mock crab and mock squid made out of ground fish, a far cheaper product. Which does not really taste like the original, but it sure looks like it and feels the same in the mouth.

[Harker]

16. Ah.

I should've thought about relative cost, but instead assumed it was aimed at vegetarian Buddhists (as in Buddha's Delight as the veg dish on many domestic Chinese restaurant menus.)

Thanks for the insight! I hope to travel to Japan some day, if I last long enough, and I hope to learn more of your time there.

[Nitram]

17. Japan is an outlier on the Buddhist spectrum when it comes to diet.

Even Japanese Buddhist priests eat meat, and vegetarians are few and far between in the country. Monks, however, are strictly vegetarian. In Tokyo we knew of only two vegetarian restaurants, and my vegetarian friends found restaurant eating quite challenging. Even in Thailand, only 3% of the population is vegetarian "at least some of the time," but they appear to be much more serious about their Buddhism. Most young men both serve a stint in the military, and are ordained and spend a year or two as monks in a temple for Buddhist training.

[Harker]

18. I love this place. Thanks! n/t

[byronius]

7. Gardein's Fish Sticks are, so far, the finest vegan seafood I've ever tasted.

I fry them up in an oiled pan and eat them with broccoli or sprouts, and HOLY COW.

Didn't think it was possible, but it is.

Actually -- the best vegan seafood I ever ate was from an Ethiopian food truck that has long since left the area. They made a spicy shrimp and rice dish that was too good to explain. They were pressured to leave by local brick-and-mortar restaraunts that didn't like seeing the lines for a food truck along their sidewalks.

I did some advertising art for them, and they paid in food. I always got an incredible lift from eating there.

[deek]

15. Oh yes!

lovely crunchy sandwich when baked in toaster oven with cheese.....

I don't seek foods that taste like animals, but the presentation of the protein is familiar.

As stated earlier, the protein in a tofu hot dog is satisfying, although I never ate meat hot dogs before I became a vegetarian at an early age.

It's convenient and familiar.

[eppur_se_muova]

12. Careful -- those are the gateway drugs to veganism !

(Or, I hope, at least vegetarianism.)

[Croney]

24. I am naive enough to think I might have an answer

to the question, "Why do non-meat dishes need to look like meat?" I don't eat much meat, mostly fish and chicken, but I'd like to be vegetarian and I'm striving toward it. I don't eat beef or pork.

I think having non-meat versions of hot dogs, shrimp, burgers, etc. is a legitimate proselytizing initiative when proffered in a micro-setting like a family. For example, my husband grew up on a farm and for our first 15 years, he had to have red meat every day. At some point, I started experimenting with imitation ground beef.

I hate to call it imitation anything, because it was real soy protein, but to him, it was imitation hamburger. I found a brand we like, and now we love our "faux-meat spaghetti sauce."

If kids will try non-meat hot dogs and start liking the taste, they might be receptive to eliminating other meats and maybe all meats.

Just my two cents, and I'm no expert on anyone's relationship with food but my own.