Save the Oceans, Eat the Salad: Vegan Tuna

Commercial fishing kills billions of fish, and overfishing depletes wild fishing populations, with massive nets causing by-catch of creatures like dolphins, sea turtles and sharks. Choosing plant-based alternatives releases demand for these practices, with no risk of mercury, which can affect your nervous system.

Vegan tuna is usually made from chickpeas, but there are a few other alternative ingredients, especially in grocery brands. All are delicious and high in protein.

Vegan tuna mayo (The Veg Space) is an easy recipe made with chickpeas, vegan mayo, celery and a little nori seaweed.

Bluefin tuna used for sushi is endangered. 

Avoid seaweed for thyroid and iodine issues.  And ensure any seaweed products are sustainable (hand-harvested by experts who just ‘give seaweed a haircut, not removing the roots, to avoid disturbing marine creatures).

Keep vegan tuna away from pets, due to salt and other unsafe ingredients. 

For tins, rinse/remove lids (or pop ring-pulls over holes) then step on the can to ‘pinch’ inner rims together, to stop wildlife getting trapped.

For recipes, unless you have a food waste bin (turned into biogas), just bin allium scraps (onion, leeks, garlic, shallot, chives), as acids could harm compost creatures.

A simple vegan tuna recipe

Mix a 400g can of drained rinsed chickpeas with 3 tablespoons of vegan mayo, 1 tablespoon of chopped celery and 1 crushed sheet (or flakes) of nori seaweed.

Chickpea of the sea salad sandwich

This chickpea salad sandwich (The Simple Veganista) is nice with bread, or top on crackers. Or just serve alone!

Where to buy vegan tuna

Most stores now sell cans of ‘vegan tuna’, and they aren’t half-bad. Funnily, supermarket-own brands (like Sainsbury’s vegan mayo tuna) are nicer (and likely taste more like the real thing) than John West (who offers plant-based curry versions, that don’t really taste like conventional tuna.

Loma Linda TUNO is sold in various flavours, made from soy protein and a little seaweed powder:

• Spring water (plain)
• Pesto and sun-dried tomato
• Lemon pepper
• Sweet chilli

Boldly Tuna bases its tuna on konjac root, and is ideal for sashimi, nigiri, poke and other tuna dishes. It’s thawed from frozen overnight and designed to be eaten chilled at room temperature (not cooked).

Just slice, dice or marinate and keep frozen until ready to consume. Once thawed, consume within 2 days. Contains a little seaweed and sorbitol.