Seaweed Eating Archive
The ‘seaweed eating archive’ (SEA) is a collaboration between us (Kerry Holbrook and Ruth Klückers from The Seaweed Institute) and Giulia Nicolini (University of Exeter). The collaboration stems from a shared interest in understanding how people in Cornwall may have eaten seaweed in the past, how seaweed is being consumed today, and how this might be changing. The project is fully funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation, via a Dissertation Fieldwork Grant, until 31st December 2025.
The archive aims to make visible the many different ways in which people in Cornwall may relate to seaweeds as food. The use of seaweed as a food appears to be largely absent from archives in Cornwall, even though its other uses - for example, as a fertilizer - are comparatively well documented. This contradicts a widespread belief that seaweed would have been eaten by coastal populations throughout history, including in Cornwall. The process of building the archive is designed as a ‘conversation starter’ about seaweed, food and the foreshore. In this way, we engage with the idea of the ‘living archive’ as a way of creating and sharing experiences that contribute to the collective imagination of new kinds of realities.
To produce the archive itself, we will gather recipes, stories, memories and reflections about seaweed eating from around Cornwall. We will collect these via written postcards and the submission form at the bottom of this webpage for a limited period between May and December 2025. People will have the chance to contribute at various public events around Cornwall, such as food festivals, agricultural shows, and community events. We will also invite selected individuals to contribute entries to the archive, such as local chefs, foragers and historians.
How you can contribute
Whether you regularly cook with shop-bought seaweed, forage for dulse and sea lettuce at low tide, ate laver as a child, or just tried sushi once - we want to hear from you.
The archive aims to capture the many different ways that people in Cornwall eat seaweed, now and in the past. We would love to hear from people who have memories of eating seaweed or using it in the kitchen in Cornwall in the past. We would also love to hear about how people are eating seaweed today, where they get it from and what they do with it. Anyone with a connection to Cornwall is invited to contribute to the archive.
You can also help us by spreading the word about the project.
Help us to create an archive of seaweed eating practices, and inspire the future of sea weed in Cornwall.
