Seaweed is thought to have first come about approximately three and half billion years ago, and we realised seaweed benefits many thousands of years ago, as archaeological records show. In Japan, the past 2,000 years have seen many seaweed uses, and it is clear from the literature that the Japanese were well aware of the many seaweed benefits all that time ago. This is demonstrated in the at least six types of seaweeds in their daily diet. Furthermore, making and eating nori was a very common thing to do.
Seaweed Benefits Around The World
China is another ‘algae’ destination. It was discovered that in 600 BC seaweed supply was used for a king’s special guests only.
It is thought that the first author who wrote a book about sea vegetables, their uses and various ways to benefit from seaweed was also from China, and when seaweed was firstly imported from China, other countries started to experiment with it.
In Europe during the times of the Roman Empire sea vegetables were mainly used as an ingredient for medicine. Ancient Greeks fed their animals with seaweeds and also some types of this marine macro algae were used as a dying agent.
In the UK, seaweed harvesting became popular in 1200 AD and sea veggies were mainly harvestd in Scotland and Ireland. For example, Palmaira – a type of red algae that was actively harvested by the Irish at that time and was given various names: duileasc, dillisk, Creathnach and dulse.
Hawaii is another famous ‘seaweed’ spot on the world tour of seaweed. First of all, they harvested up to 60 kinds of sea plants and incorporated it to everyday meals, medicine and sometimes decorations.
Seaweed plays a big role in Hawaiian mythology. For instance, long time ago Hawaiians used to have a belief that algae are ashes of the shark-man who was killed.
People from the Kingdom of Tonga were strong seaweed lovers as they thought it eating the food of the ocean would give them longevity and health. And as we can see today they were absolutely right about seaweed benefits. Believe it or not, in 1777 when James Cook visited the islands, aborigines suggested him to eat some sea veggies to restore his energy.
These ancient wisdoms are where so many scientific discoveries and observations are coming from today.
As you can see in this brief blog, the history of seaweed supply and benefits is fascinating and different from one country to another.
For as long as people have used seaweed, they have known is many benefits, and significant value for our health.
Nowadays we are rediscovering this forgotten food in the West, and have an increasing range of choices that allow us to make seaweed part of our daily lives: supplements, dried, fresh, in soups, in breads, as spaghetti, as ice-cream …
The most important thing to remember is that all seaweed is good, it’s just some is really good!, and you must always be sure you know the source, supply and quality of your seaweed to ensure its safe, sustainable and gives you all the benefits it can.
Please contact Doctor Seaweed to discuss any aspects of seaweed that may be of interest.