By Mayur Kaushal

Five years ago, if you came across seaweed, it reminded you of that one introverted friend most of us are well acquainted with. It was the quiet Japanese ingredient known for its burst of umami, and chances are you knew about it only under two very specific circumstances: either you were from East Asia or you were a true gourmand. But even then, it carried out a very fixed set of duties. Its whole identity was as that dark green, slightly pungent sheet used to wrap sushi, or as those odd-looking pieces floating in a steaming bowl of miso soup. But as it turns out, seaweed, or nori (one of its most well-known forms), had grander plans.

Fast forward to today, and it feels like seaweed has undergone an image makeover, nothing short of what Anne Hathaway went through in The Princess Diaries. If you find yourself in the mood for some seaweed now, you are surrounded by a whirlwind of options. Walk into a supermarket and you will find colourful bags of nori chips with pretty-looking labels standing tall alongside the potato ones. Enter a gourmet café and it may be hiding inside a suspicious-looking but extremely delicious pastry. Know the right restaurant, and it might arrive sprinkled over a bowl of carbonara as though it had always belonged there.

Shrinkhala Swaroop, an Indian origin nurse based in Boston, first encountered these novel snacks during the type of supermarket trip which one undertakes with not much enthusiasm. Recounting it, she takes quite a long pause as people do when narrating life altering events. “I have been into Japanese food for the longest time. A friend introduced me to sushi, and that’s really how I got used to the taste of seaweed. What’s interesting now is seeing it outside Japanese restaurants. I will be at a regular supermarket and there are seaweed chips right there in the snack aisle. I already like shrimp chips, so I tried them, and they were actually pretty good,” she says.

Talking about its growing popularity, he says, “A few years ago, most people immediately associated seaweed with sushi. That is changing. Chefs are realising that it is not an ingredient tied to one cuisine. It brings saltiness, umami and texture, and it blends well with a lot of familiar flavours. For example, it can elevate a cheese sandwich adding a fresh and deeper flavour. And this is just one instance, it can be used for breads, garnishing, and a lot of other things. This makes it much more exciting to experiment with.”

Seaweed has more going for it than flavour. Depending on its type, it can bring iodine, fibre, iron, calcium and magnesium to the table, usually without much fat. Seaweed, especially kelp, can contain high amounts of iodine, so you don’t need to go overboard with it. It can be a great addition to your meals, but it’s still just one ingredient, not a magic fix.

So, how did seaweed go from holding sushi together to turning up almost everywhere? Part of the answer is timing. Supermarkets became more international, diners more adventurous, and chefs far more willing to borrow ingredients across cuisines. Somewhere along the way, seaweed stopped requiring an introduction. At the start of this decade, it was just a sushi ingredient. Today, it might be someone’s go-to snack — the seasoning you might sprinkle over your popcorn for a home movie night or even the hero of your pasta sauce. It seems like it is finally seaweed’s time to lead the show.