When you skip by seaweed on the beach or crunch into nori wrapped sushi rolls, you're interacting with something that also exists as billion-year-old fossils. In Australia, palawa people have crafted bull kelp water carriers for millennia, and from Ireland to Japan, seaweed’s been a culinary ingredient, a cough remedy and a way to pay taxes. Nowadays, this versatile alga gets shaped into sushi rolls, musical instruments, plastic alternatives, and could be a powerful tool in combating climate change.

This episode features co-founder of South Coast Seaweed, Sarah Thomas; food writer, photographer and award-winning author, Emiko Davies; composer, instrumentalist and composer, Yyan Ng; performer and marine scientist, Emily Sheppard; and marine ecologist and founder of Venus Shell Systems and PhycoHealth, Dr Pia Winberg. A special thanks to 100 Climate Conversations; the National Film and Sound Archive; the Tasmanian Archives; and Uluu. Listen to Dr Pia Winberg on 100 Climate Conversations here.  

This episode was inspired by items from the Powerhouse Collection, such as a 19th century tin of Irish moss and 1879 bottled nori from Japan. 

Culinary Archive Podcast is a Powerhouse series hosted by Lee Tran Lam. Listen to season 1 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube.

Image: Alana Dimou