Monkeys by the Sea wins Agrifoodpluim

The young start-up 'Monkeys by the Sea' from Roosendaal makes fish substitutes with healthy ingredients from the neighbourhood. In doing so, it contributes to Brabant's protein transition goals, the transition to more plant-based protein consumption and production. The province of North Brabant is rewarding the innovative company with an Agrifoodpluim. 

Elies Lemkes-Straver, member of the Provincial Executive for Agriculture and Food: "The protein transition is an important pillar in our policy framework. Monkeys by the Sea certainly contributes to this with their tasty fish substitutes. An added bonus is that they have chosen to work with truly regional ingredients, such as oyster mushrooms from East Brabant, but are now also experimenting with sugar beet pulp from West Brabant. That is why I am happy to award them the Agrifoodpluim."

Monkeys and fish

Thijs Wullems and Taco Wijbenga see the Agrifoodpluim as an encouragement to continue on their chosen path towards a more plant-based food supply. Fishing causes so much environmental damage worldwide that the Brabant-based food-tech startup came up with the alternative 'Monkeys by the Sea'. Their company name derives from a discovery made by Leiden University: monkeys living close to the sea have a significantly greater brain capacity than other monkeys. They get much more protein as they eat seaweed and shells. For the founders, this was the inspiration for ingredients from land and sea.

Innovative

Since then, Monkeys by the Sea has developed some 15 products. These include vegetable tuna, shrimp and crab salads, crispy fish fingers, fillets and crispy seaweed bites. Key ingredients include purified seawater, rice, wheat, oyster mushrooms, microalgae and pea protein. Even the healthy omega 3 fats are included.

Ingredients from Brabant

All basic ingredients come from close by as much as possible, as this involves much less transport. To look as local as possible, they work with oyster mushrooms from East Brabant in addition to Zeeland sea water, and they experiment with fermentation proteins and sugar beet pulp from West Brabant. 

In the Netherlands, the products are now on sale at Albert Heijn XL and Jumbo (especially in the Randstad area), in Germany at Edeka and Globus, among others.

Landbouwenvoedselbrabant.nl