| 下個植物肉風潮:素海鮮 Right now, there’s no vegan alternative that accurately mimics fish and chips – but some are hoping to change that. Seafood is difficult to veganise well. Some companies are betting on new technologies and customers to overcome the challenges.
目前炸魚薯條這道菜沒有素食的替代品，但有些人希望能夠做到。素海鮮要做得好不太容易，有些公司已經瞄準新科技及顧客，想征服這項挑戰。 Faux seafood isn’t entirely new, but products are limited and many of those that have been available so far have been underwhelming and undermarketed. These range from bland tofish and chips served in pubs to rubbery faux shrimp sold in Chinese grocers’ freezer sections, part of the long tradition of imitation meats in Chinese Buddhist cuisine.
人造海鮮並不是一項全新的商品，但目前的人造海鮮種類多有限制之外，通常都不太好吃且沒什麼市場，像是酒吧裡索然無味的素魚薯條，或是中國超市冷凍區的素蝦仁，中國佛教素菜中常會有仿製真肉的素肉，素蝦仁就是其一。  One issue is the technical challenge of replicating flaky, fragile seafood. That means shelf-stable mock tuna has been easier to produce than fillets, and the great majority of plant-based seafood retail sales are of frozen products. The few companies in this space also tend to focus on perfecting a single faux seafood product rather than working on multiple products simultaneously.
製作素海鮮，首先在技術層面上遇到的挑戰是，如何重現海鮮脆弱的片狀組織。意思就是偽鮪魚罐頭比去骨魚片容易製作，而且目前多數的零售素海鮮都是冷凍食品。只有少數廠商會針對單一品項精進，大部分都是同時製作多種素海鮮產品。
Another thorny issue is nutrition. “People typically turn to conventional seafood for health benefits. And so being able to come really close to those benefits is extremely important on the plant-based seafood side,” says Jen Lamy, the sustainable seafood manager for the Good Food Institute (GFI).
另個麻煩的點就是「營養」，推廣肉類替代品的好食物協會（Good Food Institute）永續海鮮經理 Jen Lamy說：「大家會吃傳統海鮮攝取營養，所以素海鮮在營養上的優點就很重要。」 Overall, it’s taken consumers a while to begin clamouring for plant-based seafood. Nutrition aside, it’s also because animal welfare concerns about lobsters and farmed fish may not motivate vegetarians and vegans the way pigs and cows do. This is partly cultural and historical: fish aren’t considered meat under Catholicism, for instance, and so their consumption is acceptable on Fridays during Lent.
整體來說，要讓主流消費者掏錢購買素海鮮還需要一段時間。先不論營養成分，在動物福利議題上，龍蝦或養殖魚類可能不如豬、牛讓素食者有感。這一部分跟文化歷史有關：比方說，在天主教中「魚」不算肉，所以在大齋節時可以吃魚。 Some observers believe that the transition from conventional seafood to plant-based versions will happen more rapidly than the shift from dairy milk to dairy-free, because of the high demand for seafood and the dwindling wild supply (and as many large fish species can’t be easily farmed). And even if ethical eaters are less concerned about the welfare of marine animals, awareness of the human rights abuses in global fishing chains, and the potential depletion of certain marine species may be compelling.
有些觀察者認為，比起牛奶的議題，從傳統海鮮到植物版素海鮮的轉變會來地更加快速，因為海鮮的需求量高，但野生供應源急遽減少，且很多大型魚類在養殖上有困難。另外，儘管食用海鮮的道德問題較低，人類對全球魚類的濫捕、特定海洋物種減少等，都是改吃素海鮮很有說服力的原因。
繼續讀： 屋頂農場是糧食短缺的解方嗎？ 大家都宅在家後，雲端廚房成新商機？
參考資料：國家教育研究院雙語詞彙、學術名詞暨辭書資訊網，Cambridge Dictionary, Urban Dictionary, Merriam-Webster 編輯/馬婉娟 本文收錄於英語島English Island 2020年8月號
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