A heart attack three years ago was a wake-up call for Bernard David, founder, and CEO of the ISH Company. After being told that he would only eat plants for the rest of his life, he found that this diet eventually made him “long for those old animals that I used to eat.”
Instead of caving in to those urges, David went looking for a plant-based company to invest in. Not finding exactly what he wanted, he founded the ISH Company around a central pillar of sustainability and health. ISH stands for Innovative, Sustainable and Healthy.
ISH started with plant-based seafood because two-thirds of seafood is consumed away from home, according to David. Plus, the carbon footprint of shrimp production was found to cause four times more greenhouse gas emissions than beef.
The B Corp–certified company is doing something unique with its products, what David calls a “whole system approach,” by going through every ingredient that goes into ISH’s food against peer-reviewed scientific literature to ensure that it is nutritionally sound.
And, to make its product come as close as it can to traditional seafood, the company’s R&D identified over 25 different textures. Its products are also made from natural ingredients, like coconut and algae, to mimic the flavor of shrimp and other seafood products, which remains a challenge for plant-based and cultivated meat brands to successfully accomplish.
** Click here to read the full-text **
