Ómós Digest 109: Phytoplankton, fossil fuels and food innovation
By Cúán Greene
Hello all,
When chef Gisli Matthías Auðunsson asked if I would come to Iceland to cook a menu based on seafood, at his restaurant Slippurinn on the Island of Vestmannaeyjar I was more than excited. A chance to not only visit this island, but explore it through its culinary attributes sounded too good to be true. Did he know that my interpretation of a seafood course might include phytoplankton? Probably not.
Most people consider plankton as an aimless drifting algae or plant living at the top of the ocean. What people are largely not aware of is that plankton are possibly the most vital organisms on earth, and without them, there would be nothing at all. They’re responsible for over 50% of the oxygen that we breathe and have single-handedly powered economies for almost 2 centuries. What’s more, phytoplankton are now regarded as a delicious delicacy that is equally sustainable to produce.
Shall we begin?
50% of the world’s oxygen is produced by plankton, with one out of every three breaths we take coming from ocean-based phytoplankton - The Smithsonian Centre