Not many people eat seaweed in Europe or the US. Even thinking about eating it on a daily basis might give some people pause. But Amanda Stiles and Beth Zotter want to see seaweed replace soy as the dominant source of alt-protein, especially that of plant-based protein, in the global market. "Our goal is to develop the most sustainable supply of protein on Earth," says Zotter, who founded a seaweed start-up business in 2018 with Stiles, a biochemist. Here's an interview with Zotter and Stiles.
Interviewer: What are you doing with seaweed?
Zotter: We are using seaweed as an ingredient that can make fake meat look and taste more like real meat.
Stiles: Our goal is to make a product that is not only high in protein, but also has all the essential amino acids and natural vitamin B12, with good color, texture, and a nice "umami" flavor. Seaweed is up to 45% protein, which is higher than soy. It also contains a lot of carbohydrates called seaweed hydrocolloids. These are used as thickening agents and give a jelly-like texture to food products. In our project, we separate the seaweed hydrocolloids from the proteins, so that we can mix flexible amounts of them for the ingredients we are creating to make alt-protein.
Interviewer: [ A ]?
Zotter: It's because it provides innovative, healthy, and delicious new protein. Seaweed can compete with soy for cost, volume, and nutrition. We are especially interested in its similarity to real meat right now ― this can help us succeed in the field of plant-based foods. Because of seaweed's unique gel texture, it is great at binding things. This enables the kind of three-dimensional structure that you need to simulate real meat. Making food like a juicy steak or hamburger with plant-based food products is difficult, because they lose a lot of oil and moisture when cooked. [ B ], our ingredients have good water-holding capacity, so we think they will do a better job of maintaining moisture and fat. Also, their color turns brown when cooked ― (1)a pain point for other plant-based food products. For example, one product called Beyond Burger even has a warning label on the instructions not to overcook the burgers because, unlike real meat, they will not turn brown on the inside. This is because the Beyond Burger uses vegetable juice to add color.
Stiles: That was a big surprise to us, and one reason we are focusing on red seaweeds. Their natural red color turns brown nicely when cooked, in addition to the fact that they also tend to be the highest in protein. However, we are not (2)discounting other seaweeds, and are interested in trying green and brown seaweeds in the future.
Interviewer: OK, so what are you going to do with seaweed?
Zotter: We are still evaluating what the best product might be, but our goal is to expand seaweed production as fast as possible. For that to happen, though, seaweed farming needs to modernize. That's why we're working on the technology for growing seaweed off the coast. For example, we are developing robots with groups of other researchers. Right now, seaweed farming is mostly done by individual fishers with small boats and (3)manual harvesting tools. We need to introduce more use of machines and make it efficient.
Interviewer: How does seaweed farming help with the climate crisis?
Zotter: First, seaweed grows quickly and absorbs carbon at a rate much faster than a forest on land. Also, it turns nitrogen (N₂), plentiful in the ocean, into protein. Unlike conventional crops or cattle, which consume a large amount of water, it does not need fertilizer or even freshwater in the process. And seaweed (4)thrives in harsh, salty climates.
When you make a seaweed farm in the ocean, you are essentially building an underwater forest. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that you could farm seaweed on a large scale, and then sink it deep in the ocean as an efficient way of taking carbon out of the atmosphere. That is not something we are working on, but it is certainly an interesting idea, and one that has a good potential because the ocean covers 71% of the Earth's surface.
Seaweed farming is becoming popular. For example, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com, provided a large amount of funding to develop new markets for seaweed and to expand seaweed farming. We are hoping (C)to have Bezos eat tuna sashimi made from seaweed protein.