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Six years ago, Alberta Liao crafted a vegan tuna sandwich for her mother and grandmother’s Cupertino summer camp. That tuna spread is now available in stores nationwide, among an assortment of Liao’s other plant-based seafood products.
Along with her mother Miranda Tsao and grandmother Cheng Chan Ho, all Millbrae residents, Liao founded Jinka in 2020, inspired by their vegetarian diets and combined interest in sustainability. Crafting vegan versions of calamari, crab poppers, shrimp, sashimi and three flavors of tuna spread from their San Mateo commercial kitchen, the three generations of women aim to create seafood alternatives that are tasty, healthy and environmentally friendly.
“Our mission is really just to create a really nice alternative that doesn’t compromise our own health, as well as compromise the oceans and Earth,” Liao said.
Liao, who grew up in Cupertino, had been working in real estate development in Taiwan when she came back to the Bay Area in 2019 to help with Hui Gong Summer Camp. Tsao and Ho founded their camp a decade ago, and it aims to facilitate self-growth by teaching children different aspects of life. That summer’s topic was sustainability.
“When I was a kid, I used to love eating tuna sandwiches. But then you grow up (and) you learn about the unsustainable practices surrounding how they fish and all the bycatch products,” Liao said. “And so I was like, ‘Well, how can we make that into a more sustainable snack?’”
She and her grandma developed a plant-based tuna sandwich recipe and brought it to the campers. The kids loved it, and the parents were even asking for the recipe, Liao said.
At the time, Liao was looking to leave her job in Taiwan, so she decided to start a plant-based food business. Her mother had experience in electronic manufacturing, and her grandmother had previously owned a noodle factory in Taiwan.
“The three of us are like a triangle together,” Tsao said of their compatible skill sets. “So we have lots of fun.”
Jinka’s plant-based tuna ($8.99) was the first product to hit the market, stocked at Rainbow Grocery Cooperative in San Francisco. Made of olive-canola and soy oil, soy and wheat protein, soy and wheat flour, corn starch, algal oil and seasonings, a quarter cup of Jinka’s plant-based tuna has 14 grams of protein, 2 grams of fiber, omega-3s and omega-6s. Compared to regular tuna, Jinka’s has nearly the same amount of protein and omega-3s and -6s, Liao said.
“We use algal oil that we source organically, directly from the source, which is algae, which is where fish actually get their omega-3s and -6s,” she said.
Unlike traditional tuna, Jinka’s also has fiber, which comes from soy and wheat protein, and no cholesterol. Liao continued to experiment in the kitchen, expanding the tuna line to include a lemon-dill version and spicy varieties of plant-based tuna.
After hearing customer feedback asking for soy-free plant-based seafood options, Liao created plant-based calamari ($9.99), which is gluten-free, soy-free and nut-free and made with yam powder, modified tapioca starch, white chia seeds, pea protein and algal oil. The calamari makes great finger food at parties, Tsao said.
Besides the calamari, Tsao’s top Jinka pick is the sashimi.
“I’ve been vegetarian for 40 years so I never really had tasted sashimi, but I hear so many people say, ‘Oh, the sashimi is like real sashimi,’” she said. “Every time when I eat the sashimi, I feel clean, I feel happiness and energy.”
For Ho, who is 89 years old and has been vegetarian for more than 60 years, her favorite is the crabcake because of its nostalgia. Ho grew up in Taiwan with 11 siblings, and her mother was a chef who would make all kinds of food, including fish cakes. Every time Ho eats Jinka crabcakes, she thinks about her mother, she said.
The name Jinka is derived from the Mandarin word for healthy, jian kang. Health was one factor that contributed to Liao becoming vegetarian a year ago. She had always been allergic to crab, but over the years she developed allergies to other seafood, including shrimp, mussels and salmon.
“After becoming vegetarian, I felt a lot lighter and a lot healthier,” she said.
Tsao became vegetarian at 17, a decision that spurred from “a love and respect for animals,” she said.
“Staying vegetarian all these years is not about perfection, but about consistency and care,” she added. “It’s one small way we try to live with compassion and intention every day. And honestly, it’s been a joyful journey learning to cook, exploring new ingredients and thinking (about) how food can bring people together around the values that matter.”
Liao continues to experiment in the kitchen to develop new seafood products (“Our kitchen is like her laboratory,” Tsao said), and she hopes their products will be more common in restaurants and schools. Jinka products are currently served at vegan restaurant Twelvemonth in Burlingame and will soon be on the menu at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Liao said.
Jinka products can also be purchased online or at grocery stores nationwide, including locally at Piazza’s Fine Foods and Mollie Stone’s Markets. Liao hopes to expand Jinka internationally and will be attending the Enugu International Food Expo in Germany to showcase plant-based seafood for new markets.
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