Sketching Out Blog: Sketches of art, watercolor, photos, recipes, books, interviews, Jewish topics, and Highland Park, New Jersey

Sea Vegetables

Mekabu: Tiny Sea Vegetable to Sprinkle in Your Food, watercolor by Leora
Mekabu: Tiny Sea Vegetable to Sprinkle in Your Food, watercolor by Leora

Have you ever eaten a sea vegetable? If you’ve had sushi, then you have. The nori wrapper on the outside of the sushi is seaweed; it comes from the sea. Recently, I’ve been working at adding some seaweed into my diet. I bought some Eden© Mekabu, a wakame sea vegetable sporophyll, and every now and then I sprinkle it into soup or rice or noodles. Seaweed takes a while to get used to, but I am beginning to enjoy its distinct flavor.

Because I ask Klara so many questions about macrobiotics, she suggested I subscribe to the Macrobiotic Guide. Here’s how they answered a question of mine:

•   •   •

Q: Why is it so important to add sea vegetables to one’s diet? Leora

A: Sea vegetables are nutrient-rich, unlike any other food I have discovered. They provide essential vitamins and minerals I cannot find in other foods I choose to incorporate into my diet. I think of them as the nerve center for my body. Without them, I feel lacking. I can fill my belly with volumes of food but without incorporating sea vegetables into my diet, my hunger will continue unabated until I provide it with those essential nutrients found in sea vegetables. (That is the purpose of “hunger.” It is the natural impulse that drives us; when rightly understood, it guides us toward the right foods, in the right quantity, at the right time.)

Without sea vegetables, I grope for foods that fill but do not satisfy. Organic foods are wonderful and vitally important – for many reasons – but even organic foods might be grown in deficient soil, yielding deficient plants.

Denudation is the natural process where minerals are carried off by wind and water from land into the sea. As a result, over millions of years of this geological process, we find a rich depository of nutrients in our oceans. For this reason, sea vegetables have become nutrient-rich unlike all other foods.

This is how sea vegetables affect me personally. This is not to say people cannot live well without them. Historically, traditional diets around the globe have provided healthful foods without the incorporation of sea vegetables. But looking around me today, traditional diets have all but vanished, and soil quality has become impoverished through poor soil/farming practices, making sea vegetables all the more important. There are medicinal values to them as well. Jeffrey Reel

Find out more about sea vegetables at http://macrobiotics.co.uk/seavegetables.htm.

•   •   •

So, do you think you might try some sea vegetables? More on seaweed soon.

Batya says

I want to start adding it to my diet, too. Kelp/seaweed lots of iodine.

Reply
Ilana-Davita says

I like maki-zushi, the sushi rolls, but I don't think I am quite ready to sprinkle seaweed on my food (or just on soup).

Reply
ramblingwoods says

I would be open to it..I don't eat sushi..but I would try a vegetable...

Reply
magiceye says

this is so interesting. never eaten sushi nor sea vegetables. must try some!

Reply
Leora says

Just wait until you see my next post (hopefully next week) on the many ailments it can treat, including cancer. I guess those little plants just gobble up nutrients down there in the sea.

Reply
Klara Le Vine says

There's a whole world down there under the sea!!! Some of those sea vegetables are stronger and yes, harder to get used to (but like spinach in the old days, you can sometimes hide them in the food) But some are quite delicate, and you can barely tell they're there.

Yesterday we had a potluck and someone brought an unbelievable arame streudel - she'd soaked the arame in apple juice - and the pastry had lemon peel in it - it's a definite for my Purim shlach manos - this year, no junk!!!! I'll pass on the recipe when I get it.

You're lucky in the States to have stuff we don't, I even wouldn't know what to do with mekabu. But I do love nori, even just to eat it by itself.

Reply
Leora says

mekabu: it's so cute and tiny. I just sprinkle it in my soup before eating the soup. I was trying to illustrate its character by doing the little watercolor. Was mostly an excuse to take out the paints again this week. In general, I'm seeking painting inspirations.

The book I just got via Amazon: Seaweed:Natures Secret to Balancing Your Metabolism, Fighting Disease, and Revitalizing Body and Soul
has recipes, so I hope to try them out and post as I go.

Reply
Jew Wishes says

I love the delicate look of the sea vegetables in your water color.

I sometimes use seaweed in my chicken soup! Yes, just put a bit in there near the end of cooking, and it adds calcium and magnesium to the soup.

Reply
Leora says

Jew Wishes, that's great that you put seaweed in your chicken soup. I was joking with my kids today that I was going to put seaweed in chocolate chip pie (the dessert my son made yesterday). They all made faces. For now, in my family, seaweed just goes in the dishes for the adults.

Reply

Please leave a comment! I love to hear from you.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.