World cuisine of seaweeds: Science meets gastronomy

Seaweeds are an integral and highly appreciated component of regional cuisines around the world, in particular in South East Asia and Polynesia where they have been part of the daily fare for millennia. In Europe and the Americas there are many coastal areas which have traditionally consumed seaweeds, and have in recent years witnessed an increased interest in reviving seaweed cuisine as well as introducing seaweeds in simple modern dishes as well as in both molecular and modernist cuisines. In the latter case, development was fuelled by fruitful interactions between chefs and scientists, not least with a focus on seaweeds' potential for umami taste and their particular mouthfeel (organoleptic texture). In the present review, we consider this development as a particular recent trend in the emerging field of phycogastronomy.