First post!

The ice must always be broken at some point, and here it starts--this is a blog about edible seaweeds, sometimes referred to as 'sea vegetables'. To start, here is the definition of 'seaweed', courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary:

Seaweed (si:wi:d) [f. SEA n. + WEED n.]

1. collect. Any marine plants of the class Algæ (see ALGA).
1577 B. GOOGE Heresbach's Husb. II. (1586) 56b, Wrap it in seaweede. 1591 PERCIVALL Sp. Dict., Alga marina, reeks or sea weede, Alga. 1667 MILTON P.L. VII. 404 Part single or with mate Graze the Sea weed thir pasture. 1734 POPE Ess. Man iv. 292 Mark by what wretched steps their glory grows, From dirt and sea-weed as proud Venice rose. 1762 MILLS Syst. Pract. Husb. I. 91 A fresh manure of sea-weed being laid on each year that barley is sown.

2. A particular marine alga.
1894 H. DRUMMOND Ascent of Man 414 Whole classes in the plant world--the sea-weeds for instance have no roots at all.

3. attrib. and Comb., as seaweed belt, collector, -green n. and adj., limpet, poultice; seaweed-covered adj.; seaweed-fern, the hart's tongue, Scolopendrium vulgare; seaweed-marquetry (see quot. 1975).

Seaweed has had a long history of use in Europe for purposes such as fertilizer, poultices, animal fodder, and in human nutrition. More recently, seaweeds have entered the dictionary once again as a beauty product:

seaweed wrap n. a type of beauty treatment intended to revitalize the skin and relax the body, typically involving the application of a seaweed-based paste to the skin, and the wrapping of the body in heated sheets.
1985 Record (Bergen County, New Jersey) 26 Aug. B5/2 In addition to the *seaweed wraps, there are treatments like the German Thalasso therapy. 2000My Canapé Hell (2001) xii. 301, I have..regular waxes, pedicures, manicures, body brushings, eyebrow pluckings, massages, seaweed wraps, de-toxes, Cellophane wraps..and I still insist..I just do yoga and drink plenty of water.

This blog will progressively look at the traditional uses and issues surrounding various seaweeds native to Canada. Tomorrow, we'll look in greater depth at my research project on Porphyra abbottiae, an algae found on the Pacific west coast of Canada and the United States.