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People have traditionally eaten just about anything in the name of food, but no one seems to love seaweed like the Japanese. In the West, seaweed has long been used in fertilizer and feed for livestock; but with a few exceptions in certain regions, it has never been used for human consumption.
In Asia, however, seaweed has been eaten since time immemorial. It has been an important source of nutrition, particularly in Japan, since prehistoric times; seaweeds such as hijiki and arame have been discovered in shell mounds dating back some 10,000 years. Seaweed is easily preserved, high in protein, and low in calories; and research has shown that the more seaweed you eat, the longer you tend to live.
Of the many kinds of seaweed-based foods, perhaps the most unusual is tokoroten. Tokoroten is a jelly-like food whose main ingredient is tengusa, a seaweed found on shoreline rocks. When soaked in water and boiled, tengusa turns into a thick liquid which, when it cools, gels into tokoroten.
It is said that tokoroten has its roots in a Chinese food known in Japan as tama-abura that is also made by boiling down tengusa. In fact, tengusa is called “the seaweed that gels” in Chinese. In Japan, stores selling tokoroten already existed by the time Kyoto became Japan’s capital in 710, illustrating the depth of its history. At the time, tokoroten was strictly a delicacy for the upper classes; however, as means of distribution blossomed in the Edo Period (1603–1867), tokoroten became available to all segments of society. |
