Inspired by sea vegetables

This Week’s Winner

A Leyteno, Dr. Paciente A. Cordero Jr. holds degrees in botany, fisheries, marine biology, and a post-doctorate degree in marine biology. He has taught at the graduate schools of UST, UP, DLSU, and PWU. His research, publications, books, and technical articles as contributing author to S&T books and encyclopedia focuses on Philippine biodiversity and bioresources. He was a TOYM awardee in 1979 and Outstanding Young Scientist awardee in 1981.

MANILA, Philippines – A majority of the books in my private library are on marine science, specifically topics on biological resources and biodiversity. These are dominated by foreign-authored books, a testimony of the few Filipinos who have chosen to study and write on Philippine marine ecosystem and its biodiverse plant and animal populations.

I have always believed that the sea is man’s ultimate frontier for his existence. The sea-based bioresources are among nature’s bounty, providing humans with food, medicines, fertilizers, and other consumer products.

One of my prized acquisitions is a book called The Sea Vegetable Book by Judith Cooper Madlener. I bought a copy at the University of California in Santa Barbara, California, while attending (as a paper presenter) during the 9th International Seaweed Symposium in August 1979.  

Madlener’s book, easily among my favorite acquisitions, had a direct impact on me as a fledgling marine biologist honed by five years of graduate and post-graduate studies and training under a Japanese government scholarship program. Moving on from pure basic research on identification and naming or taxonomy of Philippine marine algae/seaweeds, I redirected my research by responding to the government’s call for food security and livelihood generation by concentrating on the useful species of seaweeds found in both the Pacific Ocean and South China flanks of the country.

These useful seaweeds, edible and appropriately referred to as sea vegetables, are grouped into green, brown, and red according to colors manifested externally, as dictated by the dominant pigments stored. Sea vegetables have long been accepted as part of Filipino meals especially in the Ilocandia region, though not yet popular among Visayans and Mindanaoans.

My initial encounter with the word “sea vegetable” or edible seaweed species came after getting hold of Madlener’s book. She is credited with coining the name. Some of the known sea vegetables included in her book grow in the warm waters of the country, except for the red genus Porphyra, which is a cold-water species found only in Northeastern Luzon (Cagayan and Ilocos Norte). Thus, green Caulerpa racemosa (lato in Visayan, ararucip in Ilokano), and Codium (pocpoclo in Ilokano); brown Sargassum (aragan in Ilokano, lusay in Bisayan) and Hydroclathrus (balbalulang in Ilokano); and red Porphyra (gamet in Ilokano, nori in Japanese, laver in English), Kappaphycus and Eucheuma (collectively known as guso’ in Visayan and Mindanaoan), Gracilaria (gulaman dagat in Tagalog, Visayan and Mindanaoan) and Gelidiella (gulaman in Visayan/Biliranon).

In her 1977 sea vegetable book (possibly mine was the only copy in the country at the time, was borrowed and never returned, and thus I had to get my second copy years later), she made a strong point by saying that “Seaweeds are not weeds,” but are rather lowly nutritious marine plants. Sea vegetables are rich in carbohydrates, protein, iodine, etc., almost zero in cholesterol/fat. They contain considerable levels of vitamins A and E, while Niacin and vitamin C contents are about even in the green, brown, and red group. For instance, Porphyra, easily the most expensive (being limited in distribution and seasonal) and popular, is a rich source of vitamins B and C and “one hundred grams of dried Pophyra tenera supplies — the daily adult protein requirement and found higher than rice and very close to soy beans and very close to horsemeat in protein value.” Incidentally, Porphyra marcosii has been recommended for marifarming (a food source or income- generating livelihood activity in the Philippines using a Japanese culture technology modified by the present author). To those who go to Japanese restaurants sushi wrapped in seaweed is a familiar dish, and seaweed is differently prepared in Chinese and Korean eateries.

The Madlener book is doubly important as it brings to the fore the varied uses of seaweed to man, most species of which are found in tropical waters like the Philippines. Her book contains basic information on how to cook sea vegetables, describes 51 sea vegetable species and presents several recipes grouped into appetizers and snacks, soups, salads, main dishes, desserts, beverages, pickles, preserves and condiments, and seasonings and staples.

If only for these, I was encouraged to work on several projects by tapping sea vegetable resources and getting funding from the Philippine government. The projects described eight green, six brown and 16 red sea vegetable species used to enrich 61 Filipino recipes validated through Hedonic Scale acceptability process.

In what could be the more outstanding influence of Madlener, I wrote a book in semi-popular language (for wider readership and understanding even among non-science enthusiasts), compiling the results of my projects on Philippine sea vegetables. In 2005, my book Gabay sa Pagkain ng Gulay-Dagat or Guide to Eating Sea Vegetables garnered first place in the food category during the annual National Book Fair organized by the Manila Critic Circle and other collaborators. The book is considered the Philippines’ a modest counterpart of Madlener’s book on sea vegetables.