Amplifying the intersection of art, science and food, the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at Scripps Institution of Oceanography hosted a “Seaweed Speakeasy” Nov 3 as part of the fourth annual California Seaweed Festival.
The speakeasy, held at the Ted and Jean Scripps Marine Conservation and Technology Facility at SIO, a new facility designed to foster community collaborations, featured a science showcase, seaweed-inspired foods and cocktails from local chefs, booths hosted by local artists, a live performance and more.
Event co-host and SIO marine ecologist Jennifer Smith, a self-proclaimed “seaweed lover,” focused on curating an event that brought together those who share her excitement and enthusiasm for seaweed, she said
Scientists from SIO, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and more were on hand to discuss current research, while other seaweed purveyors from all over the state displayed their wares. A silent auction benefiting the California Seaweed Festival took place in one room.
The event also included a live theatrical performance by ResilienSEA, a performing arts platform aimed at immersing audiences in urgent ocean and climate issues.
Mixologist Edmundo (Eddie) Avilla III from The Fishery in San Diego offered cocktails and mocktails, including the “Neptune Rising,” made with Seven Caves La Jolla Gin and a Daybreak Dulse Seaweed Reduction; chefs including Christina Ng from Berry Good Food Foundation and Marcus Twilegar from Dockside Fish plied partygoers with small plates starring seaweed.
Seaweed’s celebrity
Seaweed is “one of the most nutritious superfoods on the planet,” Smith said, a source of “nutrition, medicine and celebration for thousands of years throughout human societies.”
Beyond that appeal, seaweed will feature prominently in future sustainability efforts, she said, in terms of providing biofuel, biogas, bio plastics, renewable fertilizers and new drugs.
Smith herself has been engaged for years in showing how seaweed can remove excess carbon from the atmosphere; her lab has performed studies cultivating Asparagopsis taxiformis, a species of red algae that produces a compound that could greatly reduce the production of methane in livestock.
When fed in really small quantities to livestock, the seaweed prevents the animals from emitting methane, Smith said. “We’re trying to find solutions from the sea to help with climate change.”
Powering partnership
“There are very few events where you have artists, scientists, chefs and dancers all in one place,” said speakeasy co-host and SIO faculty member Sarah Mesnick, who also works at NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center.
The synergy that arises from the convergence of “all these different viewpoints [helps] make new connections between how seaweed can be part of the local ecology and part of the local food system,” she said.
The event sold out in five days, showing “there’s hunger and excitement and enthusiasm around this topic here in San Diego,” Smith said.
“So many people love the ocean, and they’re always thinking, ‘How can I make a difference?’” Mesnick said.
“Learn about the local seaweed from local purveyors,” she suggested. “Go to restaurants and ask for seaweed drinks [and] dishes. And learn about how we can live sustainably with the ocean.”
As the Seaweed Speakeasy was the first event in the newly converted MCTF building, Mesnick hopes it will propel the sustainable seaweed initiative, a collaboration among SIO, NOAA Fisheries and California Sea Grant.
Noting the MCTF will soon have a kitchen for classes and other educational purposes, “we’re showing what we mean when we want to bring the community together,” Mesnick said. “It’s not just scientists talking to scientists. It’s us branching out and connecting with all these people that love the ocean but through different lenses.”
