Brave New World, Next food frontier: Fish made from plants, or in a lab

New York

“Its flavour is light and bland and the texture, like grouper, is a bit tougher,” Tsang said, referring to the alternative fish varieties he has been testing at Ming Court, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Hong Kong. To boost the flavour, he adds ingredients like dates and goji berries. “This may give our customers a new experience or surprise, and that will help our business,” he said.

Plant-based products have been breaking into the foodie mainstream in the United States, after years in which vegan burgers and milk alternatives hovered on the market’s periphery. That is partly because more companies are targeting omnivores who seek to reduce the amount of meat they eat, rather than forswear it altogether. Now, as sophisticated fish alternatives begin to attract investment and land at restaurants in the United States and beyond, people who track the fishless fish sector say that it could be on the cusp of significant growth.