They can usually be obtained quite easily from most health food shops, but if you experience any difficulty, they can also be obtained by mail order from Real Foods. At first, they may seem expensive at about £2.00/3.00 per packet, but because they are dried and swell in size when soaked, only a small amount is usually needed. Commonly available seaweeds include: kombu (kelp), wakame, hijiki, arame, dulse and nori. Kelp powder, agar flakes and carrageen are also types of sea vegetables. Sanchi produce a good range of seaweeds and can also supply recipe ideas if you send a large SAE to: Western Isles, PO Box no. 3577, London NW2 1LQ, England.
There are over 70 species of seaweed which are eaten throughout the world. The red seaweed, laver, is eaten in Wales and dulse and carrageen are popular in Ireland. Arame, nori, kombu, hijiki and wakame are all cultivated in Japanese waters and sea vegetables are frequently used in Japanese cookery to replace garden vegetables. The Japanese Vegetarian Cookbook, mentioned in this month's Book Review below, contains many interesting recipes which use them. Leah Leneman also has a chapter of good recipes which use sea vegetables in 365 plus one Vegan Recipes. I would suggest that you consult one of these books for further sea vegetable recipes.
Sea vegetables can be used in salads, soups, stir-fries, casseroles and stews, or as a setting agent to replace animal gelatine. Strips of dulse can simply be toasted under the grill until they are crisp: try giving some to the children as a nutritious alternative to crisps! And, another easy way of adding sea vegetables to the diet is to use a sprinkling of kelp powder instead of salt and pepper.
The two easy recipes in the recipe section this month, use agar flakes as a replacement for gelatine. They do not have a seaweed taste or texture and so if you are feeling a bit nervous about eating seaweed, then you might like to try one of these recipes to start off with!