Scientists Develop Nutritious Seaweed That Tastes Like Bacon 174
cold fjord writes: According to a New Zealand Herald report, "Researchers at Oregon State University have patented a new strain of succulent red marine algae that tastes like bacon when it's cooked. The protein-packed algae sea vegetable called dulse grows extraordinarily fast and is wild along the Pacific and Atlantic coastlines. It has been sold for centuries in a dried form around northern Europe, used in cooking and as a nutritional supplement. ... Chris Langdon has created a new strain of the weed which looks like a translucent red lettuce. An excellent source of minerals, vitamins and antioxidants, the "superfood" contains up to 16 per cent protein in dry weight. ... It has twice the nutritional value of kale." Langdon says, "When you fry it, which I have done, it tastes like bacon, not seaweed. And it's a pretty strong bacon flavor."
Shut up.. (Score:5, Funny)
..and take my money!
Re:Shut up.. (Score:5, Funny)
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Screw being a vegetarian. I would slap this stuff on every burger I ate if it were available.
Though if they could develop strains that tasted like beef and cheese I would gladly eat bacon burger salads.
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Screw being a vegetarian. I would slap this stuff on every burger I ate if it were available.
Though if they could develop strains that tasted like beef and cheese I would gladly eat bacon burger salads.
Wanna know what's good - Vegetarian burgers with thick sliced bacon on them.
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THIS!
Some of the "gardenburger" patties are quite good, but sometimes I still want bacon and cheese. Responses vary from "I'm sorry, we don't have veggie bacon" to **blink**
Same with a good bacon-cheese-fishburger. I get THE LOOK sometimes, as the impossibly young and anorexic waif behind the counter contemplates what a culinary pervert I am, for ordering bacon on fish. (And I, in turn, contemplate how best to administer the emergency cheeseburger she so desperately needs, without ending up in jail.)
And y
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THIS!
Some of the "gardenburger" patties are quite good, but sometimes I still want bacon and cheese. Responses vary from "I'm sorry, we don't have veggie bacon" to **blink**
Same with a good bacon-cheese-fishburger. I get THE LOOK sometimes, as the impossibly young and anorexic waif behind the counter contemplates what a culinary pervert I am, for ordering bacon on fish. (And I, in turn, contemplate how best to administer the emergency cheeseburger she so desperately needs, without ending up in jail.)
Pleased to meet ya! Hmm, never had a fish and bacon sandwich . It's on the bucket list now
re THE LOOK, yes yes indeed. People are so weird about food some times. I can mention liking veggie burgers in here, and some folk go nuts, like I'm a radical vegan. Good tasting food is good tasting food. I do avoid veal, fugu, and octopus. Then again, only veal among that trio tastes good.
And yet.... somehow I cannot abide the KFC Double-Down sandwich. Maybe it'd be ok without the gag-inducing mayo-cheez-spooge sauce they use as technical food glue?
There was a time, some years ago, when KFC chicken was actually pretty good. Then something happened. I think it was a combinat
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> People are so weird about food some times. I can
> mention liking veggie burgers in here, and some folk
> go nuts, like I'm a radical vegan.
This. I've never understood what it is with people obsessing over other peoples' dietary preferences and trying to impose their own or convince the other that they're wrong.
When I was vegetarian, I got grief from both meat eaters (Oh noes... how will I get all the right proteins?) and vegans (Don't you know that by eating cheese, you're still supporting the me
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It's a frikkin meal plan, not a religion. Stop preaching at me.
And how. I'm going to catch more go die in a fire comments here, but a long time ago, I was told by a wise man that he considered vegetarians to be high risk people as far as being suitable for sensitive jobs. :full disclaimer - I tried vegatarianism for a while.
While I don't hold his opinion that vegetarians and vegans are mentally ill, In many ways, the concept of not eating meat products enters the arena of "This is good, this is bad" applied to eating, and life.
Someone perhaps a little high strung
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There was this one pub with a fantastic veggie burger... if you got it with bacon. Other veggie burgers are much less fantastic, even with bacon on them.
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There was this one pub with a fantastic veggie burger... if you got it with bacon. Other veggie burgers are much less fantastic, even with bacon on them.
The ones I like taste and look and have texture rather like real burgers. Soya based. I think the ones you are referring to are a mishmash of a lot of veggies, and overspiced to hell in back in order to pretend the burgers have some flavor. Also the texture of the others are nothing like a burger.
I did hear a recipe for those other burgers though that makes them a lot better.
Take the veggie burger, and place it on a ceder shingle. Season as you like. Place it on the grill, and cook slowly for 5 hour
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I'm a vegetarian, and while I thought bacon was ok back when I ate meat, it wasn't all that exciting; it's not like it was a good steak or even a good breakfast sausage or country ham. Sorry if FARK and the pork marketers tell you differently :-) But yeah, dulse is good, and a more bacony dulse would be fun to try.
And most veggie burgers need all the help they can get. (Some are good - I got a vegan burger at a concert the other week, and either it was the best imitation cooked beef I've ever had, or th
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Eat this stuff too routinely, and screw up your thyroid function, which can be damaged by excess iodine intake.
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It's a case of some is good, more is not necessarily better. A few articles that came instantly to hand (tho the one I wanted, with hard data, managed to elude quick search):
http://www.medicinenet.com/scr... [medicinenet.com]
http://www.thyroid.org/ata-sta... [thyroid.org]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pm... [nih.gov]
http://www.sciencedirect.com/s... [sciencedirect.com]
http://www.thyroidresearchjour... [thyroidres...ournal.com]
To what degree it relies on underlying conditions...?? Fact is about 25% of the "healthy" population, and 80% of people over 50 years old, have some degree of thyroid dysfun
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Welcome. An additional thought re the Japanese study:
Most of what we call "diseases of aging" are actually hypothyroid symptoms (T4 to T3 conversion declines, and the effect is low thyroid at the tissue level even tho TSH and T4 will still test normal). If thyroid function can be boosted naturally as people reach that stage -- perhaps we can mitigate those symptoms more broadly, as it appears the Japanese diet does. But you don't want to do it too early (or overdo it) and damage function, either. Needs More
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They now have bacon patches?
Dubious (Score:4, Insightful)
Even Turkey "bacon" does not taste like Bacon, usually these things end up being pretty disappointing.
Re:Dubious (Score:5, Insightful)
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If eating salty, fatty, nitrate laden cured pork is wrong I don't want to be right.
Better not eat any fruit ever - that's where most of our nitrates come from.
Good luck with your botulism.
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While I agree it will probably taste less like bacon than even turkey bacon, if eating it is healthier than most green leafy vegetables then I will give it a lot of latitude. I don't eat turkey bacon primarily because it still isn't that good for you, and if I am being bad I might as well eat the real thing. But since I already force myself to eat things like broccoli and cauliflower because of the health benefits, a vegetable that tastes close to bacon would be very welcomed.
I will be surprised if science
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No, when they say it has "[multiple] the nutritional value of kale" your alarm bells should be going off, seriously. Nutritional value isn't a video game with a single score. Anybody who makes that claim, their whole spiel should be disregarded because it is just marketing crap-speak.
Dulce is higher in some things than kale, and lower than others. It has a substantially different nutrient profile.
They're not going to make healthy foods for you, because you don't really care very much. If you have to force y
Re:Dubious (Score:4, Funny)
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That bit is why it'll be a wild success with foodie hipsters. Expensive == special
That's going to be a tough one. This is clearly a GMO. Maybe they can override that if they put "Ethically Sourced" & "Cruelty Free" on the package.
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Well, it would presumably get a lot cheaper if it went into production.
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Keep in mind seaweed is mostly water and weighs virtually nothing when dried; a pound of it would probably fill a large carry-on bag.
Rehydrated and possibly mixed with a filler for texture, dulse would be competitive with other meat alternative products.
Re:Dubious (Score:5, Funny)
It's sooooo expensive.
How expensive is it?
You'd have to really bring home the bacon to afford it.
(Sorry, I couldn't kelp myself)
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As long as it isn't fishy bacon.
Re:Dubious (Score:4, Funny)
You sit on a throne of lies.
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These guys [jdfoods.net] would like to have a word with you.
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I've tried the bacon salt, it's pretty good.
It was a complete godsend for a friend of mine who was denied bacon and other tasty meats for medical reasons.
Beware the baconnaise though, it doesn't ship well.
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I don't really care if it does. I just want it to taste good. Lots of things that aren't bacon taste good.
But when you add bacon they taste awesome. Bacon makes everyhting better.
In the shadow of the valley of bacon (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't really care if it does. I just want it to taste good. Lots of things that aren't bacon taste good
While that is true, the Uncanny Valley effect apples here as it does in so many other things - the closer something tries to get to tasting like bacon without actually tasting like real bacon, the more disgusting it is because your mind knows what it's trying to taste like, but rejects it wholly.
It would be better if it just tasted delicious in its own way, without any claims to placement in the royal court of the Kingdom of Bacon.
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There's a mindset problem with the vegetarian foods that taste "like" non-vegetarian foods. They're never going to be an identical "enough" product to truly replace the meat products. They can still taste good, of course, but chasing meat flavor in vegetarian food is foolish IMHO. There are vegetarian/vegan foods out there that are delicious on their own, despite not having a meat product analog. By attempting to attract non-vegetarians with these replacements, they actually do the opposite; they just r
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I very-much agree. I eat garden burgers because they taste like grains and vegetables mixed together and pan fried. Which is exactly what they are. They taste great. I hear people complain they don't taste like beef. If you don't want to eat beef, just "let go" of the flavor. You won't replace it. There are other good flavors available. There are other brands of vegetarian burger that try to mimic the meat flavor, but they don't taste nearly as good.
Generally people who miss the meat flavor just miss umami
It needs the right marketing. (Score:3)
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"As long as they call it Spacon it will be a hit in Hawaii and annoy people everywhere."
I know you're trying for a play on "Spam" here, but because a lot of people will read "Space" in the name, it will remind Hawaiians of astronomy. They will reject it.
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Re:It needs the right marketing. (Score:5, Funny)
How does one "activate" an almond?
Nutlear reactors.
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Just click on it.
Ssssh! (Score:2)
New Zealand Herald? (Score:5, Informative)
Do stories from the US have to be routed through the New Zealand media now?
Time, Huffingtonpost, even the Daily Mail are running this story, and the original press release is here:
http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/... [oregonstate.edu]
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But bacon-wrapped kiwi is soooooo delicious...
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Do stories from the US have to be routed through the New Zealand media now?
Well, stories from everywhere else have to be routed through the US, so it seems fair.
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Fried in what? (Score:4, Interesting)
When I fry things in delicious bacon fat, they also taste of bacon.
SUATMM (Score:2)
Has dulse always tasted like bacon? (Score:2)
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Meanwhile. . . (Score:5, Funny)
Ridiculous (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm all for these kind of foods, but this is NOT what patents were intended to do, and the economic result is negative for society as a whole, not positive. By granting and enforcing this patent, government is setting a precedent where eventually all crops will be patented -- because all crops are the result of selective breeding, and have been since human beings first settled down and became farmers thousands of years ago. Granting a patent on the results of selective breeding is every bit as corrupt and absurd as granting a patent on human DNA.
My grandfather first gave me dulse to try (Score:3)
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It's still better than frying the real thing. So long as you use a light oil (peanut, canola) frying is OK in smaller doses.
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As if... (Score:2)
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I'd try this (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd definitely try this. The first application should be bacon sushi. Wrap some of the bacon-seaweed around some sticky rice and tempura-bacon-seaweed and serve with wasabi and ginger.
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Add a stick and you probably could have a new MN State Fair million dollar food idea.
Would need a side of Coke syrup to dip it in.
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I'd definitely try this. The first application should be bacon sushi. Wrap some of the bacon-seaweed around some sticky rice and tempura-bacon-seaweed and serve with wasabi and ginger.
... and bacon.
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As someone who is kosher/vegetarian, this would ruin the dish for me. Don't worry, though, I'll just have them serve my bacon on a different plate and pass it to you. Sometimes there are benefits to dining with people who don't eat bacon!
Expensive (Score:3)
I guarantee that it will be sold for more than Bacon, even if it costs less to produce. Sometimes the healthy food tax is frustrating.
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I guarantee that it will be sold for more than Bacon, even if it costs less to produce. Sometimes the healthy food tax is frustrating.
yeah it's too bad that we live in a society where you can't compete and undercut someone who is charging too much....
oh wait
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Does your "oh wait" mean waiting several years until the patents expire, so that competitors can make it too?
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If it's not _real_ bacon? (Score:2)
Re:If it's not _real_ bacon? (Score:5, Interesting)
As this is just a plant (seaweed), it would be automatically Kosher. I'm assuming that there's no "we inserted X genes from pigs into the seaweed" trickery involved to make Orthodox Jews think twice. From what I've read, this is something that's been in use for awhile outside of America and might be introduced here because they realized that it tastes like bacon when fried.
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Technically it's not a plant. Its a macroalgae and thus belongs to an entirely distinct taxonomic kingdom from plants and animals. Of course halakhically it probably counts as a plant because Jewish law isn't based on modern scientific concepts.
Many years ago some of my wife's friends inhabited a kosher apartment near her engineering school that had been passed down through generations of orthodox students. A dispute arose over whether a particular bowl was glass or pottery. Finally they called in their bud
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This guy is entitled to use the word "plant" as he will, but it doesn't agree with modern systematics. For example he calls "kelp" a plant, but it is taxonomically closer to the parasite that causes malaria than it is to land plants.
"Macroalgae" is a multi-phyletic category, including eukaryotes of the Archaeplastida group that includes red algae and green algae and the land plants that evolved from green algae, and of the super-group Chromalveolata that includes red tides, brown algae (such as kelp or Pl
Tastes like... (Score:2)
Bacon or "bacon flavor"? That's a big difference.
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the rich flavor of roasted human is what you really crave
You've gotta tell them! (Score:5, Funny)
It's people. Translucent Red is made out of people. They're making our food out of people. That's why it tastes like bacon - we taste like pork [huffingtonpost.com]. Next thing, they'll be breeding us like cattle for food. You've gotta tell them. You've gotta tell them! You tell everybody. Listen to me. Hatcher. You've gotta tell 'em! TRANSLUCENT RED IS PEOPLE! We gotta stop them! Somehow! Listen! Listen to me... PLEASE!!!
Everything's better with seaweed? (Score:2)
GMO seaweed growing off the coast.... (Score:2)
Dulse... (Score:2)
Used to eat it all the time growing up in New Brunswick. Never knew it was considered a "super food", whatever that really means...
Who knew that it could be genetically altered to taste like bacon when fried...
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This is how veganism will become mainstream (Score:2)
1. As droughts become more common and severe, the price of meat (which takes a lot more water per calorie than veg) will rise. Alternatively, the animal rights folks will make strides that make factory farming illegal and thus forces all meat to be produced at small, organic/free range farms. Supply goes down, price goes up.
2. Meat substitutes will get tastier and tastier, and as demand increases, production will scale and prices will go down.
I'm a carnivore (and bacon-lover, especially), but I see this as
obligatory /. joke (Score:2)
As Homer Simpson would say... (Score:2)
"Uummm, seaweed...."
Texture, smell? (Score:2, Insightful)
yes please. (Score:2)
fuck particle physics, fuck cancer.
this is what all science everywhere should be doing.
making more things taste like bacon.
the only worthy goal in life.
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Summary also says "a new strain". So two things, one that is new and developed, and one that is naturally occurring and centuries old.
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The summary says Langdon has patented a 'new strain' he has been growing for the past 15 years. The strains aren't new in the plant breeding sense, they are existing natural strains of the seaweed grown in isolation, here is the patent [google.com]. I fail to see what is patentable here; just a description of various naturally occurring strains of dulse and their comparative growth rates. So, if I were to collect the seaweed from the Pacific coast and 'isolate' the same strains, I'd be infringing a patent? What a joke.
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What they mean is that dulse has been eaten for centuries. Sea Bacon is a new variety of dulse.
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Re:Tastes Like Bacon. I can see it now ... (Score:5, Funny)
This Soylent Green tastes funny... Oh look, the box says "May contain clowns".
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This Soylent Green tastes funny... Oh look, the box says "May contain clowns".
So should people with peanut allergies avoid Soylent Green produced in facilities located near mental institutions?
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This is being promoted by Chuck Toombs who is a marketing manager at OSU's college of business.
This stuff tastes like salt.
Just as good. Sell it in a powdered or grained form and subsitute it for salt in recipes or as seasoning. Could add a lot more nutritional value.
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people like bacon because it tastes like human
people who like bacon are really craving for roasted human
You know what else tastes like human? (Score:2)
bacon is inferior to the real thing
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yeah you can tell it's loaded with seawater because it's so crunchy