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Flemish Chef Nicolas Decloedt has mastered the vegan mussel. Good news for anyone following a vegan diet and looking to enjoy moules frites vegan style, or, simply for anyone seeking to avoid re-living a dodgy mussel nightmare.
We've already seen a few examples of vegan seafood coming to market, like vegan tuna, vegan salmon and even vegan caviar, but re-creating the beloved bivalve mollusc is a new one to us.
Decloedt, from Michelin-star restaurant Humus Hortense, voted Best Vegan Chef in Brussels by Gault & Millau in 2019, teamed up with PETA to take on the unusual challenge of creating vegan moules frites in celebration of Belgium National Day.
How to Make Vegan Mussels
The chef shapes black-coloured mashed potato into an edible vegan shell to capture the 'frites' flavour, which he then bakes and then stuffs with shiitake mushrooms coated with seaweed powder, after cooking them in a seaweed broth made with kombu. Naturally, they come served with thick Belgian fries.
Watch as Decloedt explains how to make his 'fun' vegan mussels here:
The recipe should soon be available through the Belgian Embassy as well as Belgian-American clubs and associations in the U.S., PETA reports.
But, in what appears to be a growing market, 78% of consumers have been shown as keen to try vegan seafood (according to a study by sustainability platform abillion) so they might just be on to something. What's next?
Check out everything there is to know about mussels in our A-Z guide.
