If you’re a proper veggie and shun seafood as well as meat (or if you have a fish or shellfish allergy) the chances are that you will at some time or other have longed for someone to invent a fish substitute. If you have stopped eating seafood, do you still miss shellfish with its unique texture and flavour combos? Have you ever looked for fish free meal ideas for when those around you are talking about succulent pieces of deep fried cod or baked salmon steaks that they’ve eaten the night before?

In the special veggies’ sections of food stores there are endless meat substitutes, but I have often bemoaned the lack of any real fish substitutes. I was intrigued to see if Linda McCartney’s fish free prawns had managed to re-create that unique prawn taste and texture. Sadly a quick scan of the nutrition labelling showed that they may be fish free, but include whey powder so they are not for me (or anyone with a dairy allergy) or indeed for vegans. They also fail to tick the gluten free or wheat free boxes.

All in the Awkward Eater’s kitchen were intrigued and so we fried half in olive oil alone and the other half with crushed fresh garlic and half a teaspoon of fiery chilli flakes. The result from our small panel of tasters was far from the disappointment that I had honestly expected, but on the other hand no-one was blown away either. The consensus was that they would stand up well to being marinated and cooked in a spicy sauce or skewered with tomatoes and peppers and barbequed. Our experiments will continue, but we’ll also look forward to your views, recommendations and recipe suggestions.

Overall, we gave eight out of ten to those at Linda McCartney foods who have taken over her hugely successful kitchen. We’d like to add a plea to keep it up, and bring us more, but also listen to our verdict of ‘room for improvement’. Vegan fish alternatives including vegan scallop balls and vegan grass prawns are available online to order and we’ll be testing these out over the next few weeks.

Let us know what your top five fish (and meat) substitutes would be if you could wave a magic wand over Linda McC’s food development team.

By Gilly Weaver | 11th December 2012