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Scientists Develop Nutritious Seaweed That Tastes Like Bacon

Posted by Soulskill on from the diet-companies-everywhere-go-out-of-business dept.

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."

127 of 174 comments (clear)

  1. Shut up.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ..and take my money!

    1. Re:Shut up.. by Adriax · · Score: 4, Informative

      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.

      --
      I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!
    2. Re:Shut up.. by MagickalMyst · · Score: 4, Funny

      Warning: This 'seaweed bacon' article is clickbait. It actually tastes like chicken.

      --
      Political correctness is really just herd psychology pushed by insecure people who desperately seek social conformity.
    3. Re:Shut up.. by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 2

      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.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    4. Re:Shut up.. by xeno · · Score: 2

      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 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?

      --
      I think not...(*poof*)
    5. Re:Shut up.. by carnivore302 · · Score: 1

      Homer will be pleased

      --
      Please login to access my lawn
    6. Re:Shut up.. by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 2

      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 combination of cheaping out on the recipe, or reusing old auto lubricant oil in the fryers, or just keeping the chicken parts long past the period of proton decay. Now I can't eat a thing of theirs except coleslaw without getting indigestion. Grease covered grease.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    7. Re:Shut up.. by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      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.

    8. Re:Shut up.. by karnal · · Score: 1

      They now have bacon patches?

      --
      Karnal
    9. Re:Shut up.. by SvnLyrBrto · · Score: 1

      > 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 meat-industrial complex?). Plain old ova-lacto vegetarians are pretty chill now that I eat meat again. Vegans are still vegans. But now the "paleo" crowd attacks normal omnivorous people for not being level-20 prestige-class meat-eaters. And now there's the gluten-is-poison thing.

      It's a frikkin meal plan, not a religion. Stop preaching at me.

      --
      Imagine all the people...
    10. Re:Shut up.. by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      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 wants to be "good" The animal is cute or nice, therefore eating it is "bad'. Anything with a face is bad. And somehow the cow needs to give express written consent (just like the National Football league) for us to use her milk. Then trying to bring some consistency to their life, they start judging every single aspect of what they do, against some idealized goodness or badness. So some end up becoming full blown vegans, and imagine that their "goodness" makes them superior beings.

      Which might be related to how damn annoying they are, just like those people who knock at my door wanting to talk about their version of Jesus. They start evangelizing about their superiority. We had one who single handedly blew up our office socializing with her constant lectures, and impossible to ever find a eating establishment that would suit, and luchtime lectures and glares if you had the temerity to eat a meat product at lunch. When she left, we had a going away party the day after she left town. Hamburgers and cheese fries and milkshakes all around.

      Lest the paleo types feel too superior, they do much of the same.

      But the news is. My eating cute little bunny rabbits doesn't make me evil. If I felt the need to make their death as cruel and painful as I could - yeah, that would be evil. Which is why I eat all manner of meat, but not veal - that shit ain't right.

      All life is precious. Plant life is not all that far removed from animal life. Besides, it is a unchallengeable truth that the only life forms that do not kill or exploit other forms of life are chemoautotrophs. So we do what nature has meant for us to do.

      A vegan, ruthlessly slicing through their food, cutting and boiling grilling and sautéing, causing death to living things, is not immune to this. They also kill. And eating those living plant organisms raw is like biting into a living animal. The live cells go into their mouths only to be dissolved by their digestive system in a strong acid solution. The only way they can avoid the fate of all living beings is to become a breatharian. Then after the inevitable happens, they will destroy no more living things. They will have achieved their goal.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    11. Re:Shut up.. by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      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 hours, allowing the shingle to get charred down to roughly the burger shape.

      Remove from heat

      Walk over to the trashcan, and dump the burger in it

      Eat the shingle.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    12. Re:Shut up.. by KGIII · · Score: 1

      I love dead animal flesh. I really do. I will eat vegetarian for a while but I do not maintain it. I cannot. I will not. Such is not natural for humans, we are meant to eat meat. So, I hunt and fish for a lot of my food. I grow and preserve a lot of my food's food. It may not seem manly but I enjoy making preserves, pickling, canning, and dehydrating. I even wear an apron.

      If I am not growing or killing my food then I tend to buy it in bulk from a neighboring farm. I have the equipment to do the final butchering processes and have learned a number of cuts that I have managed to do well enough at. I have tried smoking but it does not have the zing I am hoping for so I do not tend to do so. That was a waste of money... Oh well...

      I must confess that I do not really like bacon. I do not like crispy foods much and soft bacon has a strange mouth-feel that I find disconcerting. I like the taste, in moderation, but hard bacon crunches and makes my ears hurt (strange, I know) and soft bacon makes me feel like I am chewing on a cow's tongue. Cow tongue is not good - if someone tries to feed it to you then you are legally obligated to punch them in the nuts. I do like Canadian bacon but, frankly, that is not really bacon. I have Canadian citizenship but even I do not stoop low enough to consider it bacon. I am pretty sure it is a sausage patty.

      Anyhow, if you like stuff with flavor (and your post indicates you do) then I suggest getting your hands on some moose. Even the burger is delightful - I actually prefer moose burger for cooking on a grill. Bear, if cooked right, is absolutely awesome but it needs to be eaten when it is still piping hot. Do not let it chill or it is a nasty mouth feel and the taste starts to deteriorate quickly. Finally, if you are up in the Maine area there is something called a Brook Trout. Stocked fish are not the same so going off into the woods, usually finding the tiniest of streams, and simply being smarter than a fish can catch you a fantastic little delicacy more commonly called the Native Brookie. It is called that to avoid confusion with the stocked fish which are pink(ish) inside because they have been fed a diet of pellets. The Natives, just barely legal length, are full of flavor and a little bit sweet. Cooked in cornmeal or breadcrumbs (leave the tail on - consider it a potato chip) is an excellent dish. If you can serve it with fresh fiddleheads then all the better.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    13. Re:Shut up.. by Reziac · · Score: 1

      Eat this stuff too routinely, and screw up your thyroid function, which can be damaged by excess iodine intake.

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
    14. Re:Shut up.. by Vastad · · Score: 1

      Really? I thought you just pissed out excess Iodine like you do Vitamin C unless you had a pre-existing thyroid condition?

      What about all that Iodine-enriched table salt?

    15. Re:Shut up.. by Reziac · · Score: 1

      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...
      http://www.thyroid.org/ata-sta...
      http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pm...
      http://www.sciencedirect.com/s...
      http://www.thyroidresearchjour...

      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 dysfunction (an adaptation against starvation especially in less-productive ie. older individuals). Suddenly that risk pool doesn't sound so small, does it??

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
    16. Re:Shut up.. by Vastad · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the reply with links. I skimmed most of it, but it was fascinating what i picked out.

    17. Re: Shut up.. by cthulhu11 · · Score: 1

      Been able to realize that for some time. Gardien fishy cutlets are awesome, pair with Lightlife or Sweet Earth bacon. FFS you can buy vegan *bacon grease*.

    18. Re:Shut up.. by Reziac · · Score: 1

      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 Study.

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
    19. Re:Shut up.. by billstewart · · Score: 1

      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 the person behind me was really disappointed to get my vegan burger instead of their meat burger.)

      --

      Bill Stewart
      New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
    20. Re:Shut up.. by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      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 :-)

      Probably the commercial stuff was boring. I started producing my own bacon, via dry rub, and no commercial shortcuts, and it spoils you for the commercial crap. Smoking seven pounds of it tomorrow in fact.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    21. Re:Shut up.. by gzuckier · · Score: 1

      > 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 meat-industrial complex?). Plain old ova-lacto vegetarians are pretty chill now that I eat meat again. Vegans are still vegans. But now the "paleo" crowd attacks normal omnivorous people for not being level-20 prestige-class meat-eaters. And now there's the gluten-is-poison thing.

      It's a frikkin meal plan, not a religion. Stop preaching at me.

      And now, gluten free has somehow become a moral crusade.

      --
      Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
    22. Re:Shut up.. by gzuckier · · Score: 1

      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 wants to be "good" The animal is cute or nice, therefore eating it is "bad'. Anything with a face is bad. And somehow the cow needs to give express written consent (just like the National Football league) for us to use her milk. Then trying to bring some consistency to their life, they start judging every single aspect of what they do, against some idealized goodness or badness. So some end up becoming full blown vegans, and imagine that their "goodness" makes them superior beings.

      Which might be related to how damn annoying they are, just like those people who knock at my door wanting to talk about their version of Jesus. They start evangelizing about their superiority. We had one who single handedly blew up our office socializing with her constant lectures, and impossible to ever find a eating establishment that would suit, and luchtime lectures and glares if you had the temerity to eat a meat product at lunch. When she left, we had a going away party the day after she left town. Hamburgers and cheese fries and milkshakes all around.

      Lest the paleo types feel too superior, they do much of the same.

      But the news is. My eating cute little bunny rabbits doesn't make me evil. If I felt the need to make their death as cruel and painful as I could - yeah, that would be evil. Which is why I eat all manner of meat, but not veal - that shit ain't right.

      All life is precious. Plant life is not all that far removed from animal life. Besides, it is a unchallengeable truth that the only life forms that do not kill or exploit other forms of life are chemoautotrophs. So we do what nature has meant for us to do.

      A vegan, ruthlessly slicing through their food, cutting and boiling grilling and sautéing, causing death to living things, is not immune to this. They also kill. And eating those living plant organisms raw is like biting into a living animal. The live cells go into their mouths only to be dissolved by their digestive system in a strong acid solution. The only way they can avoid the fate of all living beings is to become a breatharian. Then after the inevitable happens, they will destroy no more living things. They will have achieved their goal.

      Yes, people who refuse to eat birds and mammals and fish are a bit nuts, whereas people who refuse to eat cockroaches and earthworms and puppies are perfectly rational.

      --
      Star Trek transporters are just 3d printers.
    23. Re:Shut up.. by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      Yes, people who refuse to eat birds and mammals and fish are a bit nuts, whereas people who refuse to eat cockroaches and earthworms and puppies are perfectly rational.

      Huh? You know there are people who eat earthworms and dogs. In China they breed dogs specially for the purpose. I don't know about cockroaches, seems they might be a pathogen issue

      You can eat as you wish. But don't try to go all moral on us. The frank carnivore does not ask the only food it is designed to eat for it's permission to kill and eat it,. The animal that eats only grass is not on a higher plane of existence, and the human body is not designed for vegetable products only. So it's rather difficult to make one's achieving prey animal status some sort of moral plateau upon which to gaze disdainfully upon the rest of the world.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    24. Re:Shut up.. by billstewart · · Score: 1

      Sounds tasty (except for the "Oh, right, I don't eat it" part :-). I make up for it by fermenting stuff - mostly ciders, but also pickles and sauerkraut and such. I've made one batch of beer from a kit, and need to get around to making another batch from closer to scratch sometime soon, but meanwhile cider's easy and good, and mead was easy and I'll know if it's good after it ages another six months.

      --

      Bill Stewart
      New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
  2. Dubious by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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
    1. Re:Dubious by DougOtto · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If eating salty, fatty, nitrate laden cured pork is wrong I don't want to be right.

      --
      Solving Unix problems since 1989...
    2. Re:Dubious by TykeClone · · Score: 2

      $90/pound is not cheaper than bacon.

      --
      A fine is a tax you pay for doing wrong and a tax is a fine you pay for doing all right.
    3. Re:Dubious by Fire_Wraith · · Score: 1

      Even if it's only, say, 90% bacon-ish, that's still pretty awesome.

    4. Re:Dubious by DougOtto · · Score: 1

      That bit is why it'll be a wild success with foodie hipsters. Expensive == special

      --
      Solving Unix problems since 1989...
    5. Re:Dubious by 91degrees · · Score: 1

      I don't really care if it does. I just want it to taste good. Lots of things that aren't bacon taste good.

    6. Re:Dubious by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 2

      Well, it would presumably get a lot cheaper if it went into production.

    7. Re:Dubious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      You sit on a throne of lies.

    8. Re:Dubious by ArcadeMan · · Score: 1

      These guys would like to have a word with you.

      --
      Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
    9. Re:Dubious by Nidi62 · · Score: 2

      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.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    10. Re:Dubious by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
    11. Re:Dubious by Adriax · · Score: 2

      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.

      --
      I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!
    12. Re:Dubious by pushing-robot · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
    13. Re:Dubious by ranton · · Score: 1

      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 doesn't create a large variety of truly healthy foods that taste almost as good as fatty/salty/sugary alternatives within the next 20 years. And no health nuts, we don't have anything like this now. I can't wait until a healthy smoothie really does taste as good or better than a milk shake. Keep it up scientists.

      --
      -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
    14. Re:Dubious by Anonymous Coward · · 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)

    15. Re:Dubious by BVis · · Score: 2

      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 reinforce the bias that non-vegetarians have against vegetarian food.

      --
      Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
    16. Re:Dubious by RabidReindeer · · Score: 1

      As long as it isn't fishy bacon.

    17. Re:Dubious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Sorry, giving someone nutritious seaweed and it turns out that it tastes like bacon is a special kind of evil. This is like James Bond villain evil.

    18. Re:Dubious by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
    19. Re:Dubious by Nethemas+the+Great · · Score: 1

      The $90 per 500g is the traditional use of dulce as supplement not what sea bacon will cost should it come to market. Their original purpose was for the production of feed for Abalone farming.

      --
      Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once ... with negative results.
    20. Re:Dubious by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 3, Funny

      I bet it tastes good with bacon on it.

    21. Re:Dubious by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      Well, I'm still waiting for Ambrosia Plus.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    22. Re:Dubious by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      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 yourself to eat vegetables, you obviously have negative thoughts towards them. Nothing that is healthy is going to taste different than the foods that you already prefer to reject; vegetables taste like the nutrients, there is no way around it. Anything with similar nutrient profiles that tastes different is going to be loaded down with huge amounts of sugar, processed oils, or artificial flavors.

      The only way to enjoy eating healthy is to train your brain. "Healthy = good, unhealthy = bad. Good = Good, Bad = Bad." Right now your brain is saying, "Healthy = Good, Unhealthy = Bad, Good = Bad, Bad = Good." Just by changing the conscious part of how you think about your choices can change how you experience eating.

      Hint: vegetables don't taste bad to humans unless they're trained to say so. It is psychosomatic. You're genetically programmed to enjoy healthy foods. If you haven't aligned your desires so that you subjectively prefer healthy foods, you won't eat a healthy diet, and if you did, it would stress you out which is unhealthy. If you believe you can't like healthy food, don't try, it is a waste of time and will fail. GMO isn't going to change what ascorbic acid tastes like, or any other nutrient. Adding nutrients to things change their flavor so that they taste more like the things that already had that nutrient.

    23. Re:Dubious by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      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 flavor. They should try some Japanese vegetarian dishes.

      People who can't enjoy the foods they decide to choose to eat are... philosophically "special."

    24. Re:Dubious by KGIII · · Score: 1

      You're genetically programmed to enjoy healthy foods.

      Hmm... Are you making that up?

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  3. It needs the right marketing. by bistromath007 · · Score: 2

    Obviously, if their company mascot isn't a sea pig, they're morons.

    1. Re:It needs the right marketing. by NicknameUnavailable · · Score: 2

      As long as they call it Spacon it will be a hit in Hawaii and annoy people everywhere.

    2. Re:It needs the right marketing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Let us not forget the Whole Foods crowd. God help the man who gets between them and their kale, activated almond, quinoa and spacon salad.

    3. Re:It needs the right marketing. by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 2, Funny

      "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.

    4. Re:It needs the right marketing. by the_other_chewey · · Score: 5, Funny

      How does one "activate" an almond?

      Nutlear reactors.

    5. Re:It needs the right marketing. by TooManyNames · · Score: 1

      Wish I had mod points for this one :)

      --
      "Is not a sentence" is not a sentence. Well damn.
    6. Re:It needs the right marketing. by meta-monkey · · Score: 1

      Just click on it.

      --
      We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
    7. Re:It needs the right marketing. by samwichse · · Score: 1

      Basically they claim there are quantitative defense compounds in the almond made by the tree to reduce digestibility (for example, try to eat a raw white oak acorn, tannin city, bleh).

      Soaking the almond supposedly causes them to metabolize some of these compounds... not sure it actually works. When soaking acorns, you're just looking to leach the tannins out, which definitely works.

      YMMV?

  4. Ssssh! by MagickalMyst · · Score: 1

    Don't tell Monsanto!

    --
    Political correctness is really just herd psychology pushed by insecure people who desperately seek social conformity.
  5. New Zealand Herald? by monkeyxpress · · 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/...

    1. Re:New Zealand Herald? by Xian97 · · Score: 2

      But bacon-wrapped kiwi is soooooo delicious...

    2. Re:New Zealand Herald? by LeadSongDog · · Score: 2

      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.

      --
      Oh, I'm sorry sir, I thought you were referring to me, Mr. Wensleydale.
    3. Re:New Zealand Herald? by Mantrid42 · · Score: 1

      Well yes, otherwise the NSA doesn't get a taste.

    4. Re:New Zealand Herald? by Nethemas+the+Great · · Score: 1

      What an interesting idea. I shall have to try it when I get home.

      --
      Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once ... with negative results.
  6. Fried in what? by Anil · · Score: 4, Interesting

    When I fry things in delicious bacon fat, they also taste of bacon.

  7. SUATMM by Idou · · Score: 1

    Shut-up and take my money. . .

    --
    Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
  8. Seaweed by xenotransplant · · Score: 1

    when fried, usually tastes like a cured food, because *shock* it is loaded with seawater.

    1. Re:Seaweed by FranTaylor · · Score: 1

      yeah you can tell it's loaded with seawater because it's so crunchy

  9. Has dulse always tasted like bacon? by basecastula+ · · Score: 2

    It looks like it has always tasted like bavon when fried. Not a real innovation there but I do want to see dulse beer.

    1. Re:Has dulse always tasted like bacon? by Nethemas+the+Great · · Score: 1

      I've never had traditional dulce (dried) fried, but it starts out with a salty savory flavor. That said, imagining what it'd taste like fried, I think it would be a bit of a stretch to say "bacon." Hopefully these guys have pulled off something special with this variant and we truly will get sea bacon.

      --
      Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once ... with negative results.
    2. Re:Has dulse always tasted like bacon? by ITRambo · · Score: 1

      Frying requires the use of bacon fat in this case. I think you'll enjoy the result.

  10. Meanwhile. . . by Idou · · Score: 5, Funny

    The researchers who have invented bacon that tastes like seaweed are having trouble generating the same amount of buzz. . .

    --
    Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
  11. Ridiculous by Anonymous Coward · · 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.

  12. Re:A thing. by Kiaser+Zohsay · · Score: 2

    Summary also says "a new strain". So two things, one that is new and developed, and one that is naturally occurring and centuries old.

    --
    I am not your blowing wind, I am the lightning.
  13. My grandfather first gave me dulse to try by bigpat · · Score: 2

    I used to have fresh dulse from time to time... I liked it. And will occasionally buy some when I find it in the grocery store. I never thought to fry it up like bacon. Perhaps frying something that is good for you is a bit counterproductive?

    1. Re:My grandfather first gave me dulse to try by BVis · · Score: 2

      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.

      --
      Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
    2. Re:My grandfather first gave me dulse to try by Nethemas+the+Great · · Score: 1

      The body requires fat for proper function. The as*hat food manufacturers of the last few decades got everyone brainwashed on the subject, even doctors. As with most things, it's the excess thereof that's the problem. As the saying goes, "all things in moderation."

      --
      Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once ... with negative results.
  14. As if... by speshal_K · · Score: 2

    ...I needed another reason to hate kale.

    1. Re:As if... by Nethemas+the+Great · · Score: 1

      Nothing wrong with kale if utilized by the right chef. It can actually be a rather tasty inclusion in the right dishes.

      --
      Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once ... with negative results.
  15. Re:Tastes Like Bacon. I can see it now ... by willworkforbeer · · Score: 1

    You're thinking of Soylent Pig, the other, other white meat.

    --
    Pretending this is my office full of bitter coworkers..
  16. I'd try this by Jason+Levine · · Score: 4, 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.

    --
    My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    1. Re:I'd try this by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

      Even better just wrap rice with this and flash fry it real quick.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    2. Re:I'd try this by Bob+the+Super+Hamste · · Score: 1

      Add a stick and you probably could have a new MN State Fair million dollar food idea.

      --
      Time to offend someone
    3. Re:I'd try this by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
    4. Re:I'd try this by H0p313ss · · Score: 2

      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.

      --
      XML is a known as a key material required to create SMD: Software of Mass Destruction
    5. Re:I'd try this by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

      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!

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
  17. Re:Tastes Like Bacon. I can see it now ... by ArcadeMan · · Score: 5, Funny

    This Soylent Green tastes funny... Oh look, the box says "May contain clowns".

    --
    Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
  18. Re:Tastes Like Bacon. I can see it now ... by Nidi62 · · Score: 2

    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?

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  19. Expensive by The+Raven · · Score: 2

    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.

    --
    "I will trust Google to 'do no evil' until the founders no longer run it." Hello Alphabet.
    1. Re:Expensive by FranTaylor · · Score: 1

      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

    2. Re:Expensive by Nethemas+the+Great · · Score: 1

      There isn't a tax on healthy food, but there is most definitely a subsidy on unhealthy food.

      --
      Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once ... with negative results.
    3. Re:Expensive by penguinoid · · Score: 1

      Does your "oh wait" mean waiting several years until the patents expire, so that competitors can make it too?

      --
      Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
  20. Woo! by wardrich86 · · Score: 1

    One step closer to the ultimate Krabby Patty!

  21. Re:Sorry guys, it's fake by Nidi62 · · Score: 1

    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.

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  22. In the shadow of the valley of bacon by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, 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.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:In the shadow of the valley of bacon by Oligonicella · · Score: 1

      Where can I get these Uncanny Valley Effect apples? I'd like to try some.

    2. Re:In the shadow of the valley of bacon by Your.Master · · Score: 1

      I have to disagree. I don't think the platonic ideal of bacon is cooked into our minds like facial expressions, and therefore I don't think the uncanny valley applies.

      Lots of things taste kind of like other things, but not quite.

  23. You know what else tastes like bacon? by Main+MAn · · Score: 1

    Bacon.

  24. If it's not _real_ bacon? by MagickalMyst · · Score: 1

    Is it kosher?

    --
    Political correctness is really just herd psychology pushed by insecure people who desperately seek social conformity.
    1. Re:If it's not _real_ bacon? by Jason+Levine · · Score: 4, 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.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    2. Re:If it's not _real_ bacon? by hey! · · Score: 1

      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 buddy the material science major for a scientific ruling. "It's neither," he said. "It's ceramic." Which was technically accurate, but irrelevant to the question of whether it could be kashered.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    3. Re:If it's not _real_ bacon? by hey! · · Score: 1

      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 Plasmodium). Green algae and land plants are grouped together under the kingdom "Plantae" in modern taxonomies.

      So "seaweed" as a category includes organisms which are (cladistically speaking) closely related to land plants (green algae like sea grapes or sea lettuce), middling-related (red algae like nori or carageenan) and not very closely related at all (brown algae like kombu/kelp). Of course all organisms are presumably related to some degree.

      The seaweed in question is a kind of dulse, a red algae. It's more closely related to land plants than a brown algae like kelp would be, but less related than sea lettuce. Red algae are specifically not included in the Kingdom Plantae. However, layman are free to call whatever they want a plant, even if it's in fact something else entirely, the way they call any small arthropod a "bug", even through true bugs are one of the 75,000 species in the order Hemiptera (out of over a million insect species).

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  25. Re:A thing. by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 1

    What they mean is that dulse has been eaten for centuries. Sea Bacon is a new variety of dulse.

  26. Snack by pipingguy · · Score: 1

    Dulse has been sold commercially as a snack food on the east coast of US and Canada for decades.

  27. nutritional value by kwoff · · Score: 1

    What's the definition of "nutritional value" so that this has "twice" as much as kale? The proportion/mass of certain vitamins and minerals is not the whole story. Some foods prevent absorption of certain things like iron or calcium, and just because one or another thing has twice the iron for example doesn't mean it's twice as nutritional.

  28. Tastes like... by in10se · · Score: 1

    Bacon or "bacon flavor"? That's a big difference.

    --
    Popisms.com - Connecting pop culture
    1. Re:Tastes like... by FranTaylor · · Score: 1

      the rich flavor of roasted human is what you really crave

  29. Re:Bacon vs Seaweed by FranTaylor · · Score: 1

    people like bacon because it tastes like human

    people who like bacon are really craving for roasted human

  30. You know what else tastes like human? by FranTaylor · · Score: 1

    bacon is inferior to the real thing

  31. You've gotta tell them! by Solandri · · Score: 4, Funny

    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."

    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. 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!!!

  32. Everything's better with seaweed? by kimgkimg · · Score: 1

    Jury's out for me until I can sample it. Might taste like bacon, but I doubt it'll mimic the texture of bacon.

  33. GMO seaweed growing off the coast.... by Primate+Pete · · Score: 1

    My God, will no one think of the fingerlings?

  34. Dulse... by David_Hart · · Score: 1

    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...

    1. Re:Dulse... by Vermonter · · Score: 2

      "Superfood" is a marketing term that means "we are really trying to push this food product"

  35. This is how veganism will become mainstream by barlevg · · Score: 1

    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 a good thing.

  36. obligatory /. joke by belmolis · · Score: 1

    But does it run Linux?

    1. Re:obligatory /. joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Apparently... https://github.com/chrislusf/s...

  37. As Homer Simpson would say... by Marginal+Coward · · Score: 1

    "Uummm, seaweed...."

  38. Texture, smell? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    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.

  39. Could be worse by daq+man · · Score: 1

    They could have developed nutritious bacon that tastes like seaweed!

  40. yes please. by Triklyn · · Score: 1

    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.

  41. Re:Bacon vs Seaweed by micahraleigh · · Score: 1

    Are you advocating for PETA? Or vampires? Or what exactly?

  42. Re:A thing. by dhammabum · · Score: 1

    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. 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.

    --
    I am not a robot. I am a unicorn.
  43. Re:The right way to cook asparagus by KGIII · · Score: 1

    I dunno. A bacon smoothie sounds pretty horrific. I have not tried one but I have seen a recipe. If you should try one then you should let us know how that goes.

    --
    "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  44. You're comparing it to bacon... by billstewart · · Score: 1

    Yeah, too much seaweed might be bad for you. Too much bacon is also bad for you, between the fats and the salt and the nitrates or other curing chemicals and the other dead pig parts that you eat to make up for getting the bacon. You probably shouldn't overdo either one.

    Of course, frying the seaweed in cooking fat probably brings it more into balance with bacon's nutrition-to-bad-stuff ratios. And even then, it's probably better for you than those fake bacon bits you get in a shaker bottle.

    --

    Bill Stewart
    New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
    1. Re:You're comparing it to bacon... by Reziac · · Score: 1

      Hell, too much of anything is bad for you. It's all about balance. Almost everything we need to live is damaging or toxic if we overdo it.

      But I'll still pick bacon over seaweed. :)

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
  45. If it's GMO enhanced seaweed, just say it! by KalaniPruet · · Score: 1

    Clearly a controversial topic; but being " clear" and to the point, is what we, the consumer, wants to know. Is it GMO? And if it is; as we all know is a topic of controversy, what are the potential "pros and cons". My point is: honest discussion need to surface in order for genetically enhanced foods to gain acceptance. So what's it gonna be " truth or dare".