Edible Seaweeds of China and Their Place in the Chinese Diet

Coastal peoples of China are consumers of seaweeds, which rank as favored “vegetables” and are introduced into several kinds of cooking methods in the same way that westerners might use onions (raw, fried, steamed, boiled, used alone, or mixed with other vegetables). Descriptions for preparation of 24 species are provided; a table gives the names of all species known to be used as food in China at this time. Although thousands of workers are involved in growing the seaweed crops of the brown alga Laminaria and the red alga Porphyra, many thousands more become part of the total activity of gathering the 74 species in 36 genera that form an important part of the Chinese diet. These numbers of species of edible algae are larger than those reported for any ethnic group in the world. This report is the first comprehensive one to appear in the west on seaweeds as food in China.