Algae in the Human World: Beauty and Taste Come First

Resumen

Humans have interacted with algae for millennia. This paper describes the human journey in the company with algae from the earliest days of our species until todaywhere the need for a green transition and sustainable eating behaviour has putrenewed focus on algae as a material of many uses not least as foodstuff. The evolution of Homo has been shaped by our ancestors being seashore dwellers with plenty ofaccess to marine foodstuff that contains critical nutritional elements for the evolutionof the large human brain. Being at the bottom of the food web, algae are the source ofnutrients, e.g., the precious super-unsaturated fatty acids, that pile up through the foodchains, but it starts with the marine algae. Algae have during times been a rich sourcefor human activities as a material of unique composition and multiple uses. Algae arecurrently in focus as a green, sustainable food source because algae are at the baseof the trophic web, feeding directly off the sun. Macroalgae (seaweeds) in particularhave influenced human life conditions both on evolutionary timescales as well as inrecent centuries and all the way into the Anthropocene. No wonder that these organisms have entered human mythology, folklore, poetry, art, and gastronomy. This paperwill focus on two often overlooked facets of algae, which have been of key importancefor their interwoven relationship with humans: their beauty and their taste.