Our History
The idea for Ocean Hugger Foods® began to take shape at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, where Founder James Corwell saw two football-field sized warehouses full of tuna sold in one morning. Chef Corwell - one of only 60 Certified Master Chefs in the U.S. - saw the incredible volume of tuna sold every single day, and asked himself: “How can the oceans ever keep up?”
The answer is “they can’t.” According to the FAO, 90% of fish stocks are either fully fished or overfished, meaning that we’re already taking as much as we can from the oceans (and in some cases, more) while demand for seafood continues to increase.
Environmental Issues with Seafood Production
BYCATCH:
Bycatch is the unintended, unreported, and often unused catch of non-target fish, mammals, & other sea lift, and it is a major issue. Discarded and unreported fish may total 40% of the entire global legal harvest.
OVERFISHING:
Many populations of high-demand wild-caught fish for sushi, including tuna, salmon, and eel, have been fished to the point of collapse.
INEFFICIENT USE OF RESOURCES:
Producing feed for fish in aquaculture systems uses more land than eating vegetables and other plant-based foods.
OUR SOLUTION
We use sustainable, renewable resources like fruits and vegetables to create seafood alternatives that are as easy on the oceans as they are delicious.
Driven by the need for sustainable options, Chef Corwell decided to create a plant-based alternative that would offer people the experience of eating their seafood favorites, without adding pressure on the oceans. Thus our flagship product – Ahimi®, a plant-based alternative to raw tuna – was born. We’ve since launched Unami™ - a plant-based alternative to freshwater eel.
OUR PROCESS
So, how do we do it? We start with whole fruits and vegetables. Then, we remove the characteristic flavor from the fruit or vegetable. Finally, we enhance the texture of the produce to mimic that of your seafood favorites and add a simple, flavorful marinade. That’s it.
Thanks to our proprietary process, we’re able to keep our ingredient lists exactly how we like them: short and simple.
We also play to the natural attributes of the produce we use. For example, we make Ahimi (our raw tuna alternative) from tomato. Tomatoes contain high levels of naturally-occurring glutamic acids, which are responsible for the savory flavor of meaty foods. Our process enhances thisnatural savory quality. (An ideal al-tuna-tive, if you will.)
MEET CHEF JAMES CORWELL, CMC
CERTIFIED MASTER CHEF, FOUNDER
Chef James Corwell is the creative force behind Ocean Hugger Foods. An Atlanta native, Corwell carries the rare professional designation of ACF Certified Master Chef. He was previously the chef at the Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant - Napa Valley, The Culinary Institute of America (St. Helena), Cherokee Town & Country Club (Atlanta) and Le Foret (New Orleans). He was voted best new chef by New Orleans Magazine in 2010.