Seaweed: Food & Medicine from the Sea
Amanda Swinimer will share her passion for seaweed among the beautiful backdrop of Bilston Creek Lavender Farm located at 4185 Metchosin Road in Metchosin. She will provide identification information, ecologically sound harvesting techniques, traditional medicinal application and evidence-based health information for a variety of seaweeds commonly found here. She will also discuss the global ecological importance of seaweed and some seaweed-based innovations to combat global issues as well as the importance of a precautionary approach. Seaweeds have been prized as a nutrient-dense and medicinal food source for millennia and here in the Pacific Northwest there are an estimated 650 species, many of which are edible. Participants will have a chance to taste some local, wild-harvested, dried seaweed.
This presentation will give an overview and introduction to seaweed and is a great prerequisite to the spring seaweed workshop where participants will get to see and identify seaweeds growing in the intertidal zone, collect some for drying and tasting, learn about sustainable harvest techniques, drying and processing techniques, how to cook with seaweed and different ways to incorporate seaweed into one’s daily life.
