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Scientists Develop Nutritious Seaweed That Tastes Like Bacon
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."
Even Turkey "bacon" does not taste like Bacon, usually these things end up being pretty disappointing.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
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.
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.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I like bacon, but I don't think I'd like it if it was green, soggy, and excessively chewy. Octopus tastes like chicken too, but it's like chewing a rubber eraser.