Reeling in the Future: Vegan Tuna Makes Waves in Irvine
Will vegan tuna catch on in restaurants? Irvine-based Pokeworks is giving it a shot. Image credit: The Vine
According to United Nations Statistics Division, global demand for fish has increased by 122% since 1990. At the same time, overfishing, ocean acidification, eutrophication (aka runoff), pollution, and warming waters have collectively decimated global fish stocks. It does not take a fortune teller to see where shrinking supply and skyrocketing demand will ultimately lead.
Impact Food and Irvine-based Pokeworks are joining together to find a deliciously sustainable solution to the looming threat of a lifeless ocean. The Vine connected over Zoom with Impact Food CEO and Co-Founder Kelly Pan and Pokeworks President and Co-Founder Michael Chen to discuss the future of fish.
In 2020, food science startup Impact Food created a plant-based protein that mimics the flavor and texture of raw tuna. The product is made with just nine ingredients: water, canola oil, pea protein, konjac gum, vegetable juice, carrageenan, algae oil, yeast extract, and ascorbic acid. Packed with protein, fiber, and Omega-3 fatty acids, but devoid of mercury, Impact Food considers its vegan tuna an improvement over the original.
This poke bowl from Pokeworks is entirely vegan thanks to the addition of Impact Food’s vegan tuna. Photo credit: Pokeworks
“It’s an uncompromising product in terms of both the nutritional profile and not having any mercury, and still being a great tasting product,” said Pan. “The flavor is pretty similar [to tuna] because we use algae as a primary flavor source. We’re essentially taking out the middle man of the fish and getting flavors right from the source.”
While Impact Food was hard at work creating the perfect vegan version of raw fish, Pokeworks was on the hunt for precisely the same thing. Pokeworks longed for a vegan product that met their exacting culinary standards.
“We will not compromise on flavor and food and taste and deliciousness,” said Chen. “We’ve been looking for a vegan tuna option for many years. We’ve tried so many different options and Impacts’ has been the first one that actually met our criteria for deliciousness.”
Pan describes the flavoring as delicate to avoid giving the tuna an overly fishy taste.
“It’s relatively subtle and still has that ocean aroma to it,” Pan says. “We take plant ingredients and combine them in novel ways so that they can replicate the muscle fibers and textures of conventional seafood.”
With 65 locations across 22 states and Washington, D.C., Pokeworks could have tested out Impact Food’s vegan tuna anywhere. They chose to test it out in their own backyard.
“Irvine is our test kitchen,” said Chen. “We run all of our new products through Irvine. Our corporate headquarters are in Irvine so we have a lot more control over our Irvine location.”
While Impact Food’s vegan tuna is not exclusively available to Pokeworks (it’s currently available in four Bay Area sushi restaurants), Chen doesn’t mind sharing.
“If we were a very selfish company, we’d want it to be exclusive to us,” said Chen, “but our goal here is to push this new sustainable product and we realize that in order to do that and to make it available to everybody, exclusivity will hurt the market. We want Impact tuna to be served everywhere so that we can push that sustainability not just for us, but for the entire community.”
Pokeworks is currently serving vegan tuna only at its Irvine location. The vegan tuna will be available for a limited time while supplies last. Customers can ask for a sample at the counter.