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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."

16 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.
  2. 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...
  3. 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/...

  4. Fried in what? by Anil · · Score: 4, Interesting

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

  5. 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!
  6. 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.

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

    You sit on a throne of lies.

  8. 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.
  9. 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".

  10. 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
  11. Re:It needs the right marketing. by the_other_chewey · · Score: 5, Funny

    How does one "activate" an almond?

    Nutlear reactors.

  12. 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.
  13. 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)

  14. 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!!!