History of seaweeds as food

  1. Ole G. Mouritsen 4
  2. M. Lynn Cornish 1
  3. Alan T. Critchley 2
  4. José Lucas Pérez-Lloréns 3
  1. 1 SEADLING, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia
  2. 2 Verschuren Centre for Sustainability in Energy and Environment, Sydney, NS, Canada
  3. 3 Instituto Universitario de Investigación Marina (INMAR), Universidad de Cádiz, Cádiz, Spain
  4. 4 Department of Food Science, Taste for Life, Design and Consumer Behaviour, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Denmark
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Libro:
Application of Seaweeds in Food and Nutrition

Editorial: Elsevier

ISBN: 9780323918039,  9780323972079

Año de publicación: 2023

Páginas: 1-17

Tipo: Capítulo de Libro

DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-323-91803-9.00002-0 GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso abierto editor

Resumen

Seaweeds are multi-cellular macroalgae that, together with unicellular forms, all perform photosynthesis and are the foundation of the Earth's food web. Together, they are responsible for a major part of organic production on the planet. The algae produce essential macromolecules that are the constituents of our food, which are then funneled through various trophic levels of the food web and may end up as human food. Due to their abundance in all climatic zones, their diversity, and their availability along most coast lines, seaweeds have, since primordial times, been intertwined with human lives and development both as sustenance and as a material that has served a multitude of purposes for human activities. This chapter provides a brief sketch of the history of seaweeds as a food for humans and links their unique properties to the evolution of the human brain, to human health and wellbeing, to being a savior in times of famine, and to providing a possible means 41 of rescue in times of unprecedented climate change and food crises.