Seaweeds are some of the oldest living things on the planet, and one of the few truly wild plants left. They’re self-sufficient and a sustainable resource, and are chock-full of all the nutrients they need, which happen to be pretty much all the nutrients we need.
A 2001 study by the Universidad Complutense de Madrid found that seaweeds contain all the essential elements the human body requires. The roll-call of vitamins and minerals reads like a chemistry textbook: vitamins A, C, E and B12, iron, iodine, cobalt, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium and more calcium than even milk. Not content with containing all the essential amino acids, they also contain nine non-essential ones. No land-based vegetable can beat them on protein levels. They’re good for the immune system, cell reproduction and function and the metabolism. They help the intestines do their job and fight nasty free radicals.
It’s odd that, in a country with so much coastline and such a love for seafood, seaweeds are almost unseen on the table here in Spain. Galician Clemente Fernández Sáa and his brother Fermín thought it was odd too. Born and bred in one of the parts of Spain most intimately connected with the sea (“We always say our mother gave birth to us ‘amidst the seaweed’,” he joked), the brothers knew seaweed had traditionally been used as fertiliser, and that only sailors would eat it, which they did in the old days to stave off scurvy.
As ecologists and vegetarians, they were interested in including seaweed in their own diet, but the only examples they could find were imported from Japan. So in 1996 they started Algamar. With the help of experts from Spain and the rest of Europe, and the support of local universities, the brothers embarked on a study of the native seaweed species to discover which would be most suitable for commercialisation as food. Today they sell six different types of dried seaweed and more than a dozen food products made with these algae, including pastas, patés, soups and rice dishes. All are certified as ecological products by the Autoridad Oficial de Control de la Agricultura Ecológica in Spain.
Latest Comments