Dishes can be as lavish as the tony updated grazing, sampler menus new to the posh Norwegian Cruise Lines this season: a small designer plate of mini-soba noodle and seaweed salad plus spring rolls with their own three dipping sauces. The dish is part of the cruise line kitchen’s answer to guest preferences for more high of a variety of quality raw and ethnic dishes; lighter, smaller portions, and more visual presentations. Royal Caribbean chefs already mirrored the national trend toward Asian Fusion in their 2005 menu.

Ironically, passengers on the luxury liners are probably sailing over beds of the economically and ecologically important marine algae found throughout the world. Long considered a great delicacy in Asia, it is the main food species grown by aquaculture in China, Korea and Japan (Nori, Kombu and Wakame) with Japanese Nori production worth $2 billion annually. The friendliness of seaweed to humans is legendary with no known poisonous species. There’s even a “gourmet” seaweed salad designed for that favorite pet fish.
Though usually thought of as an Asian food ingredient, seaweed has already been gaining popularity around the world in rustic circles. In the British Isles, laver, a purplish-black, wild North Atlantic cousin to nori, is mixed with fat and rolled oats and fried into a breakfast bread.

Caution is advised, however, in what form of seaweed is being eaten since its origin from the ocean naturally means “salty.” Certain forms of the “edible sea vegetable” may be in the “greens” category but lay claim to high sodium content and added ingredients that counter its health benefits.

For example, unlike the lower sodium kelp and laver, high sodium Wakame is basic to the goma wakame based seaweed salad commonly served in sushi restaurants. An additional taste-enhancing list of ingredients further dilutes the salad's nutritional profile, beginning with agar, distilled vinegar, sugar, salt, yellow and blue food coloring, and high-frustrose corn syrup. A three ounce-100 calorie serving can boast of 1 gram of protein and a scanty 70 milligrams of calcium but also must own up to 5 grams of fat, 11 grams of sugar, and a monstrous 1,200 mg of sodium.

Health-conscious cooks learned long ago that small amounts of the undiluted sea vegetable, especially readily available fresh and dried Wakame, remain packed with nutrients including vitamins A, C, E, B complex and B12, as well as calcium, potassium, iron, protein, fiber and some omega-3 fatty acids and work best to spark the taste soups, simmered dishes salads, sandwiches and stir-fries. For example, diet guru, Dr. Andrew Weill, created his “DLT” vegan alternative to the American standard, BLT (bacon, lettuce, tomato). Instead of bacon, “Chef” Weill substitutes dulse briefly sautéed in olive oil or purchases a smoked version.

Dried seaweed can be purchased in health food stores, fish markets, Asian markets and online from a number of sources. But it’s much easier-- and more fun to order a seaweed salad at a restaurant. Their pantries can accommodate large amounts of fresh seaweed salad ingredients and the chefs own specialty tools necessary to prepare them. Asian restaurant chefs long understood the value of seaweed as the earth’s natural bounty, incorporating it as an integral part of both salads and sushi wrappings.

Seaweed salads can also be as simple as an on-the-go Asian Market lunch comprised of a package of dried or marinated with soy sauce, black vinegar, sesame oil and sesame seeds. The Gyu-Kaku Japanese restaurant chain features three inexpensive seaweed dishes. Seasonings in the soothing, kelp soup balanced out the saltiness. Seaweed played a relatively minor but key role in the Seaweed Salad. The salad consisted of a refreshing, pleasant mix of dried wakame and laver seaweed and mushrooms on a bed of greens with citrus flavored Japanese ponzu vinaigrette and garnished with two baby tomatoes. Yet the “cute” Cream Cheese rolled in Seaweed turned out to be the most appealing because of the combination of textures and the sesame oil coating on the seaweed. This along with their solo Crispy Seaweed are best sellers.

Zip Fusion owner Jason Ha tasted seaweed for the first time after his mother enticed him by pointing out how smooth the skin of the fish that ate it! Seaweed has always held a place of honor on all of his Zip menus because, as he explained it, “as a child in Korea, my mother taught me that the sea is nature’s storehouse of beauty products, and seaweed is the best.” “Chef Sean An and I designed a ZIP Seaweed Salad to feed all of the senses and has a crunchy texture that makes it fun to eat. The salad became not only a signature dish, but won the downtown community #1 salad award,” said Ha.

Added Notes

Seaweed and Cancer
The anti-carcinogenic properties of brown seaweeds (kelp) are well noted but not yet understood. Documentations are numerous in traditional Chinese medicine, ancient Ayurvedic texts and even in a mention in the Ebers Papyrus of the ancient Egyptians using seaweed to treat breast cancer. In the last century, limited research was encouraging but not yet definitive. Laboratories in Japan, France, Australia and the U.S. indicated that the most effective are pure Kombu and Wakame seaweeds richest in Focoidan, which appear to induce anti-tumor activity to treat cancer effectively.The most popular theory proposed is that pure seaweed provokes stimulation of the immune system as part of a combination of factors. This does not include seaweed supplements sold as “energy boosters” that are heated at very high temperatures, and then ground into a powder before being mixed with binders to make tablets. However, they may boost energy in those who are iodine deficient and have under active thyroids. Which brings up another concern, that of kelp containing high amounts of iodine, which for most people is safe if eaten in amounts of about 0.25 ounce/day.

GLOSSARY
All of the following seaweeds are rich in iron, protein, calcium, zinc and iodine. Hijiki is also a good source of lignans, a substance which helps fight cancer.

Arame
Arame is a good introduction to seaweed because of its mild taste and rich source of iron. Capable of blending well with other flavors, and can be steamed, sautéed, added to soup, or eaten in salads.

Hijiki
Hijiki is similar to arame. Hijiki is a black, slightly bitter tasting seaweed and is sold dried in short course strips. Best used in dishes that require slow cooking. Okinawans simmer hijiki with soybeans (after soaking them overnight) and vegetables.

Kombu

Kombu is a kelp, a brown seaweed cultivated in Japan and eaten both raw and cooked. Kombu is sweet tasting and in the West is used mainly to flavor broths, soups and sauces. Kombu or kelp comes packaged in dried strips. To prepare: cut into smaller strips, add to water and boil for 10 minutes. Use the water as a base for soups or other dishes. Kombu can also be soaked in water and used to wrap around flavored fish and vegetables.

Nori

Nori is normally sold in convenient dried sheets. Nori is best used to wrap around small rice balls, which are then dipped in shoyu. After soaking, Nori can be added to soup or used as a salad ingredient.

Wakame

Wakame kelp looks and tastes like spinach lasagna. Wakame is similar to Kombu and it can be used in many of the same ways, particularly in soup. Best used in salads, added to soup or broth or used as a topping for other dishes. Soaked dry wakame in water expands to about ten times in size. Wakame should have the central vein cut out after soaking. It can then be either simmered for 10 minutes or cut into small pieces and served as a salad.

*Gerry Furth-Sides writes the “Front of the House” column for Great-Taste magazine and is working on a book about immigrants who became successful restaurateurs in the United States.