From KCRW, I'm Evan Klyman and you're listening to Good Food.

Let's talk about seaweed.

If you've walked along a California beach, you're probably familiar with the smell.

The salty, slightly fishy odor that makes even the most acclimated of noses scrunch. From tangled piles of

bull kelp to blankets of bright green sea lettuce, California's coast is home to nearly 700

different kinds of seaweed, nearly all of which are edible. But when you walk into the average

grocery store, it's most often one variety,

imported nory, that you find on the shelf. Seawweed is a crucial ingredient in coastal ecosystems.

It provides food and habitat for marine species. It purifies ocean water, and it absorbs more carbon

than land forests.

It can even promote gut health.

And it's pretty delicious.

So why aren't we eating more of it and better yet?

Why aren't we cultivating a seaweed industry on our coastline?

According to a 2019 study, Asia accounts for over 97% of the world seaweed production.

KCRW reporting fellow Gabriella Glick wanted to find out why this important and abundant local

resource is taking so long to catch on.

She traveled to this year's California Seweed Festival in Eureka, where she found a group of determined entrepreneurs who are struggling with funding and confusing regulations.

Eureka's waterfront was packed with people.

There were workshops, panel discussions, and cooking demos inside, and vendor set up in the parking lot.

Seweed farmers talked business, kids splashed around in buckets, hands full of kelp, artists sold ocean-inspired pottery,

and festival goers walked around nibbling on a huge variety of seaweed food products.

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