Wakame seaweed plays a significant role in Japanese food culture

Today I’ll talk about one of my favourite Japanese food- that is, Wakame seaweed.

Without wakame seaweed, Japanese food will never be the same. I always enjoy wakame seaweed in miso soup, and sometimes I eat it with vinegar.. oh it is hard to tell you how I like wakame seaweed, and how important it is for Japanese dish.

Wakame seaweed plays a significant role in Japanese food culture

Is wakame seaweed good for your health?

The answer is YES. It is SUPER.

Let’s first talk about how nutritious it is.

Today’s Japanese Word: 栄養素

Samurai

栄養素 means nutrients. Or you can just say 「栄養えいよう」

Aamazing, right?

But despite the fact it is good for your health, why not many people eat wakame seaweed across the globe?

I researched the reason and found out why.

Japanese have guts for digesting seaweed

Apparently, only Japanese and a few other Asian people have guts for digesting seaweed.

‘Japanese people harbor enzymes in their intestinal bacteria that help them digest seaweed–enzymes that North Americans lack. What’s more, Japanese may have first acquired these enzymes by eating bacteria that thrive on seaweed in the open ocean. ‘  – (science.org)

‘Gut Bacteria Give Super Seaweed-Digestion Power to Japanese
The old adage, “You are what you eat,” has a bacterial component. In a neat confluence of human history, stomach bacteria and food, researchers have found that the intestinal microbes of Japanese people may be souped up for eating seaweed. ‘ – (www.wired.com)

‘Bacteria in the guts of some Japanese people may have acquired the ability to digest seaweed because of the sushi their human hosts consume, researchers have reported. The evolved trait enables their human hosts to digest carbohydrates found in edible seaweed such as nori, whose tough cell walls the human body cannot process on its own.’ – (Los Angels times)

Japanese have guts bacteria to digest seaweed, because we’ve been eating it for a long time!

I think it is amazing how human body can adopt the environment.

わかめ食たべたい

Maybe you can’t eat as much wakame seaweed as Japanese do, but still, you can try eating some seaweed.

For those who want to try eating seaweed in Japan when you come, I’ll tell you how you can eat them.

How to eat wakame seaweed?

Miso soup

The most common way is to eat with miso soup.
It is simply delicious. Without wakame seaweed, miso soup would never be the same. (I think)

Sunomono (酢の物）

Sunomono, which is vinegared wakame seaweed, is my favourite too!
If you eat too much meat or so, then after you should eat sunomono. Your stomach feels much better, trust me😉

Different types of seaweed

There are not only wakame seaweed- there are many other seaweeds which are pretty common in Japan, so I’ll introduce you some.

Kombu (昆布)

Kombu seaweed is often used to make broth – to make ‘dashi’.
If you want to cook authentic Japanese dish, Kombu dashi is one of the most important thing.

Hijiki (ひじき)

Have you seen this black dish in Japan? – this is Hijiki.

When I was a student, Hijiki was often served with tuna at school. It was super delicious.. please try it when you come to Japan.

Aosa (あおさ)

Aosa seaweed is also often eaten in miso soup.
It tastes like ..the sea, really.

It is also super nutritious, rich in calcium, carotine, Vitamin B12, iron etc.

If you put aosa swaweed in hot water and add miso, then that’s it! You can make simple but nice miso soup!

In the end

I hope more people get to know how amazing seaweeds are.

Maybe you can try eating seaweed when you come to Japan.

Thank you for reading!

今いまからわかめのお味噌汁みそしるを飲のんできます😋