The rice of the sea: how a tiny grain could change the way humanity eats • Hacker News Board

Re: The rice of the sea: how a tiny grain could change the way humanity eats

#41

Post by raverbashing » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 12:30 PM UTC

aex wrote: post #15

Nutritional facts are misrepresented by the Guardian in this article and in the primary source of the research: https://www.cerealmarino.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/APON... 50% more protein “per grain” is a comparison I’ve heard here first. The intro of the paper claims “13% protein” but its comparison table states “10.1% protein”. In comparison, regular wheat has around 12.6% protein, while Einkorn wheat contains…

> All plant foods contain all 20 amino-acids, essential and non-essential

Yes but there's a catch, and you can see it in p 24 of the reference you linked.

Legumes are low on Methionine. Grains are low on Lysine. Ideally a consumption of both is needed to balance things out. (Hence why these "protein $thing" stuff on the supermarket is 100% marketing gimmick since they use the cheapest sources available - soy usually)

(Also of course this is the overall proportion, it says nothing about protein/gram. Yes, broccoli is high protein, but how much broccoli do you need to eat to match the content a steak? - answered on p.27 actually)

Edit: "oh look Gorillas and Cows are vegetarian" Cows actually have their intestinal flora make the proteins for them ;)

Re: The rice of the sea: how a tiny grain could change the way humanity eats

#42

Post by smt88 » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 12:44 PM UTC

kenneth wrote: post #2

My immediate question when I hear about how plants can capture carbon is: yes, but how will you ensure that it doesn't get released as part of the natural carbon cycle when the plant dies. You need to bury it all before it decomposes or it'll end up right back where it started. Sidenote: I wonder what this tastes like.

The article answers both of your questions.

The byproducts of the eelgrass can be used in ways (e.g. building materials) where it won't return to the ecosystem.

Re: The rice of the sea: how a tiny grain could change the way humanity eats

#43

Post by imtringued » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 12:55 PM UTC

otabdeveloper4 wrote: post #7

soldehierro wrote: post #3

I'm skeptical about this "miracle" grain's commerical viability - at least for human consumption, the barrier to entry is not simply edibility, but palatibility. It was only after trying millet - a grain with a long history of consumption and intriguing agronomic properties - that I realized just how agreeable rice, wheat, quinoa and nixtamalized maize really are. They might seem bland, but the moment you "go against…

Eh. White rice must be the blandest food in human history.

There are so many rice varieties I honestly don't know how you can say this. It's like saying root vegetables are the blandest food or grains are the blandest food in human history.

Re: The rice of the sea: how a tiny grain could change the way humanity eats

#44

Post by nith3n » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 1:58 PM UTC

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokkali_Rice

There are some rice varieties which can tolerate salinity , but not upto sea water levels.

Re: The rice of the sea: how a tiny grain could change the way humanity eats

#45

Post by frosted-flakes » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 4:04 PM UTC

Synaesthesia wrote: post #36

elihu wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not an expert in this area, but I was under the impression that any form of decomposition causes most of the carbon in the plant to re-enter the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Thus using plants to sequester carbon isn't just a matter of planting more trees; you actually have to pay attention to what happens when the tree dies.

Some of it does, but a lot becomes part of the soil. (Source: https://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2018/11/27/carbon-dioxide-remo... ) Coal and Oil were once plants and organisms, examples of such carbon sequestration.

I was under the understanding that the plants and trees that became coal and oil didn't decompose because at the the time, nothing had evolved yet that could consume it. So it just collected on the ground with new stuff growing on top of it, forming this compressed mass of underground carbon fuel that we were able to exploit millions of years later. It could never happen today because all of that plant matter would rot before that could happen, because of the presence of bacteria that can break down plant matter.

Re: The rice of the sea: how a tiny grain could change the way humanity eats

#46

Post by bmn__ » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 4:21 PM UTC

orwin wrote: post #33

elihu wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not an expert in this area, but I was under the impression that any form of decomposition causes most of the carbon in the plant to re-enter the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Thus using plants to sequester carbon isn't just a matter of planting more trees; you actually have to pay attention to what happens when the tree dies.

Now, if we could somehow remove ligogen from wood, we would have pure carbon, ignifuge building material. This would do a lot for the planet.

Re: The rice of the sea: how a tiny grain could change the way humanity eats

#47

Post by otabdeveloper4 » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 4:26 PM UTC

imtringued wrote: post #43

otabdeveloper4 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh. White rice must be the blandest food in human history.

There are so many rice varieties I honestly don't know how you can say this. It's like saying root vegetables are the blandest food or grains are the blandest food in human history.

That's why I said "white rice", and not just "rice".

Re: The rice of the sea: how a tiny grain could change the way humanity eats

#48

Post by aaron695 » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 7:30 PM UTC

spicybright wrote: post #34

aaron695 wrote: post #24

If we move any agriculture to the ocean which is 70% of the earth and mostly unused or used in a fungible way then we would continue rehabilitation of much more of the earth's forests. Which the environmental movement will fight tooth and nail. They are about daily penitence not solutions. Obviously 'waste' in the ocean sinks and stores carbon forever in deep water, and if done properly it also could strengthen fish…

How do you move any agriculture to the ocean at the scale we consume it currently? Do you mean just switching crops like corn for crops that grow in the ocean like sea weed?

Yes. Why not?

Or cattle food. Which will move to lab grown meat and other product nutrients.

You basically turn the ocean into solar panels while collecting nutrients rather than using more valuable biodiverse land.

Start with a somewhat novelty product like this and keep moving.

Re: The rice of the sea: how a tiny grain could change the way humanity eats

#49

Post by smegger001 » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 8:08 PM UTC

kseistrup wrote: post #19

ipaddr wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Try basmati rice. It has a light bit of nutty flavour. You will never eat Uncle Ben again.

— and jasmin rice.

i perfer black rice or mix or brown and wild rice

Re: The rice of the sea: how a tiny grain could change the way humanity eats

#50

Post by alfiedotwtf » Sat, Apr 10, 2021, 11:53 PM UTC

VBprogrammer wrote: post #39

alfiedotwtf wrote: post #38

How long would it take our usual white rice, to be slowly introduced to increased levels of salt, to slowly selectively mutate it until it can grow in open salt water seas? It doesn’t sound impossible, as I know this has been done to algae

Halophytes is the key word you are looking for if you want to do more research into this. Generally sea water is a very high bar, however there are some interesting looking developments for places with high ground water salt levels, which is typically a big problem with respect to desertification.

Awesome, thanks for that!