Vegan oysters, exciting and luxurious

A new startup called ‘Pearlita’ are on a mission to fill the tummies of seafood lovers with a plant-based alternative.

Using cell-culture and plant-based technology, they have created a prototype of an oyster that is supposedly a replica in taste and appearance, served in a beautifully designed shell. The plant-based ingredients that make up this new delicacy are mushrooms and seaweed. According to Veg News, they will also be making the shells biodegradable.

For those of us who watched ‘Seaspiracy’, the extensive abuse suffered by the ocean and its marine inhabitants, at the hands of global fishing industries, has haunted us ever since. From the dumping of such enormous loads of plastic, that our terrestrial efforts to stop using single-use plastic are reduced to futility; to the damage inflicted upon corals, ocean floors, the bycatching of endangered species and overfishing which is callously destroying oceanic ecosystems. Aquatic ecosystems are highly important in supporting all life on earth and overfishing should be a great concern to anyone who wants humans to survive.

For those who wish to argue that with changes in regulation and practice, the seafood industry could be made sustainable, think again. There are a multitude of sustainability issues with farmed fish (or animal aquaculture), which is often given as an example of how the oceans can be left to recover from over-fishing, whilst demand for fish is maintained. A recent study, in Science Advances, states that animal aquaculture has many “unchecked risks”, including “biodiversity loss, ecological damage, pollution, antibiotic overuse” as well as human rights violations. However, the focus of this paper is the sheer number of animals killed each year in aquaculture -‘likely greater than the approximately 70 billion individuals involved in terrestrial animal aquaculture’- met with a lack of research into the welfare of the animals involved and the risks of expanding this industry without such publications. The paper also mentions that fish farming has not actually “relieved fishing pressure on wild animal populations”. This is a massive cause for concern as overfishing has decimated marine life, with scientist predicting that current trends will cause the fishing industry to completely collapse, leaving a sea of the dead.

A non-vegan may also retort, but why would I care about the welfare of fish? The recent domestication of wild fish species can result in physical problems with mobility, birth defects, aggression and not to mention fish do feel pain. Fish are not as stupid or as basic in sentience as humans often label them to be.

Fish farming still results in plastic pollution of our oceans, as well as nutrient waste and chemical discharge. If the waste and overuse of antibiotics isn’t a big enough red flag, salmon farming is also presenting issues for sea lions who gain access to plots and consume the salmon that are being bred. Some of the control measures to prevent economic loss involve shooting sea lions, trapping them, and many other ugly methods. One such method is called ‘aversive conditioning’ which involves injecting salmon baits with emitics to make the sea lions sick. As an industry that is growing so vastly, research over disease transmission and pollution has not had a chance to catch up. Surely, expansion should be minimized until researchers have a better understanding of the potential… and quite likely… dangers! Birds, fish and other mammals are also being affected.

Animal aquaculture is set to be met with numerous challenges as the climate heats up and is not a safe bet for food security. So, should we really be piling so much money into trying to rectify it? Others who are hellbent on sustaining the industry might argue that we should eat a wider variety of fish to allow popular stocks to replenish. This doesn’t really address the enormous strain put on the ocean and has no guarantee of making a significant difference. It would be extremely hard to market the right number of different fish species to consumers and ensure that overfishing of newly popular fish wouldn’t become the next issue.  We could just… you know…  stop killing so many fish.

This startup shows promise in satiating the desire for seafood by more sustainable practices… but here at Living Vegan, we like to give you a full argument, and as such, let us play devil’s advocate for a moment. At the end of the day, the food system is not built in a way that allows all human life to access an adequate and nutritious diet. The luxurious palates of rich countries are driving the demand for creations like ‘vegan oysters’. Whilst the rise of trendy alternatives may be a necessary transition in a world where change takes time…there is something unsettling with the priorities of food research. So much money, creativity, innovation and research goes into appeasing and selling luxurious foods to the wealthy.

Nevertheless, the inherent flaws of our economies are not Pearlita’s fault and they are deserving of great credit for their invention and contribution to the art of culinary practice. Given the devastation caused by the fishing industry, such creations are truly a triumph.

Article written by Aisling Geraghty- Australia