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Early Europeans ate seaweed for thousands of years

smithsonianmag.com

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Re: Early Europeans ate seaweed for thousands of years

#111

Post by riedel »

AlecSchueler wrote: post #78
HeckFeck wrote: post #17

Some of us still do! In Northern Ireland, we have a lesser-known seaweed dish called Dulce. https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20180522-the-renaissance-... It's tricky to find it fresh, you usually only get it in small greengrocers or at the Auld Lammas fair. Used to be quite cheap for a bag. Very salty but quite edible and said to be nutrient-dense.

Haha, I clicked on comment to be the token Northern Irishman bringing this up, but you beat me to it! I didn't know seaweed wasn't a common food until I moved to the Netherlands and started enquiring about the local seaweed, only to be met with blank looks or people pointing me to the sushi nori at Albert Heijn. I've been here for years and I still don't understand how such a seafaring nation with such an intimate co…

Typically you get Salicornia in the Netherlands which is not strictly seaweed but I guess somewhat comparible (aquatic plants is I guess what they call it in the article)

Re: Early Europeans ate seaweed for thousands of years

#113

Post by pvaldes »

dr_dshiv wrote: post #50
vjk800 wrote: post #43

I've thought about harvesting and eating seaweed which is basically everywhere near my home village. I've never heard of anyone eating it and I've been wondering why. How would I go about figuring out if a particular species of seaweed is edible or not (Google doesn't seem to help me in this)?

Are there any “domesticated” marine plants? Seems like an opportunity.

> Are there any “domesticated” marine plants?

A few. Marine upper plants are very rare, but red algae are harvested. There are several cultured marine Protists (I wouldn't say domesticated, but this is debatable) and also aquatic Cyanobacteria.

China grows most of them. Japan or Korea also.

Re: Early Europeans ate seaweed for thousands of years

#114

Post by TeMPOraL »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #109
AlecSchueler wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haha, I clicked on comment to be the token Northern Irishman bringing this up, but you beat me to it! I didn't know seaweed wasn't a common food until I moved to the Netherlands and started enquiring about the local seaweed, only to be met with blank looks or people pointing me to the sushi nori at Albert Heijn. I've been here for years and I still don't understand how such a seafaring nation with such an intimate co…

Cheese and milk products in general are popular because it keeps well in winter, and large swathes of the country would get flooded on occasion; only grass would survive, which cows eat, and cows produce milk. Hard to build underground cold storage as well in case of flooding or just a high water table. Cheese will save us all.

> Cheese will save us all.

Except vegans, of course.

Re: Early Europeans ate seaweed for thousands of years

#115

Post by AlecSchueler »

JAlexoid wrote: post #89
AlecSchueler wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haha, I clicked on comment to be the token Northern Irishman bringing this up, but you beat me to it! I didn't know seaweed wasn't a common food until I moved to the Netherlands and started enquiring about the local seaweed, only to be met with blank looks or people pointing me to the sushi nori at Albert Heijn. I've been here for years and I still don't understand how such a seafaring nation with such an intimate co…

>Have heard the theory that it's part of Calvinistic protestantism to avoid strong flavours That's very believable. Puritan protestants banned all kinds of things that produce "pleasure". How do you think westerners got so prudish about intercourse? > but then I'd expect to see more seaweed etc in the South. Warmer waters carry less oxygen(I think that's the gist of it), so less seaweed grows. Just think about a perf…

I meant the South of the Netherlands, sorry, which doesn't have a drastically warmer climate than the North of the country.

Re: Early Europeans ate seaweed for thousands of years

#116

Post by AlecSchueler »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #109
AlecSchueler wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haha, I clicked on comment to be the token Northern Irishman bringing this up, but you beat me to it! I didn't know seaweed wasn't a common food until I moved to the Netherlands and started enquiring about the local seaweed, only to be met with blank looks or people pointing me to the sushi nori at Albert Heijn. I've been here for years and I still don't understand how such a seafaring nation with such an intimate co…

Cheese and milk products in general are popular because it keeps well in winter, and large swathes of the country would get flooded on occasion; only grass would survive, which cows eat, and cows produce milk. Hard to build underground cold storage as well in case of flooding or just a high water table. Cheese will save us all.

That makes a lot of sense actually, thanks for the insight! I guess that kind of chimes with the Dutch passion for preservation as well, with the salted herring etc. Anything you can preserve you can sell further afield as well!

You also reminded me of something I heard on the great History of the Netherlands podcast from the University of Amsterdam. Apparently back in the day in Friesland they would tether their cows to something and let them float when the regular flooding came.

But speaking of the flooding: I can see how that would be bad for other kinds of crops, but surely seaweed would actually be pretty notable for dealing well water? Sounds like even more reason why I'd expect to see it as part of the culinary traditions here.

Re: Early Europeans ate seaweed for thousands of years

#117

Post by AlecSchueler »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #114
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cheese and milk products in general are popular because it keeps well in winter, and large swathes of the country would get flooded on occasion; only grass would survive, which cows eat, and cows produce milk. Hard to build underground cold storage as well in case of flooding or just a high water table. Cheese will save us all.

> Cheese will save us all. Except vegans, of course.

Interestingly the Netherlands is actually one of the biggest markets for vegan cheese altnernatives. Many people here, even if they aren't vegan, try to limit their reliance on animal products for health, climate related or other moral reasons.

Re: Early Europeans ate seaweed for thousands of years

#118

Post by pvaldes »

Is a fact that early Europeans ate sea urchins. We still do the same.

Therefore, early Europeans ate also the many different red, brown, and green algae that came in each urchin stomach. This predigested small pieces is what gives the urchins its special flavor. You can't ate one, and not the other.

This does not mean that they would eat directly the same algae raw. They are a cocktail of chemicals. not easy to eat in any significant amount without processing.

I can buy the idea of people eating the water lily starchy but acrid rhizomes as an emergency food in winter. Everything else is poisonous if I'm not wrong. They have narcotic properties, so another possibility is that they would chew is as a primitive painkiller for tooth decay. Red algae have a lot of chemicals also that could act as primitive cures.

Modern research techniques are wonderful, but if the humans lack of the ability to include instinct, observation, logical thinking and link facts; their results will try to run wild into full gallop. They can be more a trap than a solution if not filtered by common sense.

Re: Early Europeans ate seaweed for thousands of years

#119

Post by deaddodo »

HeckFeck wrote: post #17

Some of us still do! In Northern Ireland, we have a lesser-known seaweed dish called Dulce. https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20180522-the-renaissance-... It's tricky to find it fresh, you usually only get it in small greengrocers or at the Auld Lammas fair. Used to be quite cheap for a bag. Very salty but quite edible and said to be nutrient-dense.

In the Republic, they have carrageen; which is a seaweed in the Irish Sea. It's used as a natural thickener and ingredient in foodstuffs like Carrageen Moss Pudding:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/foods/carrageen-moss-pudding

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