New vegan brand hits Korean market, offers tuna, dumplings

Vegan products of Dongwon F&B's new vegan brand ″My Plant″ [DONGWON F&B]

A new vegan food brand called My Plant has hit the market, releasing products including vegan tuna and vegan dumplings, Dongwon F&B announced Tuesday.

Though it got off to a slower start compared to its local competitors, the company believes its close-to-real alternative food products will have competitive power.

The tuna and dumpling products are made entirely from plant sources such as soybean protein, are lower in calories than the original and have zero cholesterol.

The Dongwon Tuna My Plant Original has 31 percent fewer calories and is higher in dietary fiber, according to the food manufacturer.

Dongwon F&B began its research into vegan tuna in 2021, but had difficulty making substitute fish products because the existing manufacturing method for vegan food centered around vegan meat. It said it managed to create a tuna product that looks and tastes like the real thing after hundreds of trial recipes.

The food industry, like Dongwon F&B, is expecting “flexitarians,” or semi-vegetarians who occasionally include animal products in their diet, to support the increase of the vegan market. Last year, there were some 2 million vegetarians in Korea, 10 times more than a decade ago, according to the Korea Vegan Union.

“The local vegan market is not huge yet, but there is enough demand for alternative foods,” a spokesperson for Dongwon F&B said, adding that the company will expand its product portfolio with other types of protein as well.

The Korea Rural Economic Institute’s outlook on the size of the plant-based vegan food market in Korea was 280 billion won ($213 million) for 2026. Deloitte Korea’s outlook on the global alternative food market for 2025 was some 23 trillion won, double the 12 trillion won in 2017.

Other Korean food companies have also entered the niche food market in recent years.

CJ CheilJedang, the company with the largest share in the domestic instant food market, launched the plant-based food brand PlanTable in December 2021, selling vegan dumplings and meat patties.

Ottugi, another major food manufacturer, launched Hello Veggie in May last year to sell ready-to-eat vegan curry, ramyeon and deopbap, or rice bowls with various toppings.

Pulmuone also joined other food makers in August last year, offering plant-based tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) and bulgogi. Its U.S. subdiary Pulmuone Foods USA launched the vegan brand Plantspired back in 2020.

BY YOO JI-YOEN, SOHN DONG-JOO [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]