One thing that plant-based meat, poultry, and seafood analogs all have in common is the importance of the protein used and its source. The protein aspect is the key not just for the replication of the nutrition value of the product but also to provide the full organoleptic experience of the animal version of the product it is meant to sit in for.

For a plant-based analog to be successful in the marketplace, it must come as close as possible to meeting the texture, flavor, and mouthfeel of the original version yet at the same time fulfill a number of other consumer demands. These include such aspects as clean-label, minimal ingredients, and such social ingredients as sustainability and the insistence that product makers take greater responsibility for the negative effect animal protein production has on livestock and marine life.

Read more about how Konscious Foods is expanding frozen plant-based sushi into foodservice channels.

The latter is especially important due to the pressure on the already severely stressed oceans and rivers being fished out on a global scale. Above all this, the product must be able to compete in price, without bankrupting the manufacturer.

Yves Potvin, one of the leading pioneers in the development of meat, poultry, and seafood analogs is also the founder and CEO of Konscious Foods Canada, Inc., makers of some 10 different forms of sushi, onigiri, and poke. Potvin, who created the first commercially successful soy hotdog in the 1980s, founded Garden Protein International—a.k.a. Gardein—in 2003, where he expanded to other sources of protein, such as from fungi and peas, to craft impeccable analogs of beef, chicken, sausage, crab, and fish.

At Konscious, he again chose to deviate from the most common source of plant protein—soy—opting instead to use protein predominantly from peas, with supporting protein from chickpeas, seaweed, and koji from Aspergillus oryzae fungi spores. “The market used to focus on wheat and soy protein,” he confirms, “but we’ve shifted to pea protein because it's more allergy-friendly.”

One of the aspects of sushi and similar raw seafood products that attracts consumers is that it is a highly bioavailable form of protein. While plant proteins are not always as bioavailable as animal proteins, the average healthy adult only needs about 45-55g protein per day total. “We’re only about 25% less protein than traditional fish, but with a goal of getting to the same protein level,” notes Potvin referring to Konscious’ line of products.

Listen to part 1 of this interview.

Potvin’s impressive recreations of raw seafood require minimal, natural ingredients, and the combination of simple ingredients and artful culinary technology allows him to offer these creations at a retail price point at or lower than the animal-based versions of the products.