What’s Really
in Japanese Seaweed Salad?

By Giorgia Cannarella
Illustrated By Juta

Food-wise, two things happened for me in 2009: all-you-can-eat sushi restaurants boomed in Italy, and I developed a phobia of carbohydrates.

That’s why, in the following years, I’d usually pick a Japanese restaurant for dinner, where I’d order three servings of sashimi and four of seaweed salad. Like many others, I thought the fluorescent tangle of greens was a healthier alternative to rice bowls and sushi rolls.

Seaweed salad, or goma wakame in Japanese, is made with undaria pinnatifida, an edible seaweed used widely in Japanese cuisine. On paper, it’s very nutritious: high in fibre and protein, 45 calories per 100g, plus calcium, iodine and lots of vitamins and minerals.

Wakame seaweed is mainly grown and consumed in Japan and Korea. After being “fished” from the sea, the seaweed is blanched to better preserve it. It’s then sold fresh or dried to be exported abroad.

Goma wakame literally means “sesame seaweed”. It’s hard to trace its exact origins, but it seems the dish pretty much starts and stops at Japanese restaurants in Europe. Japanese food journalist Melinda Joe said the salad is not only not popular in Japan, but pretty much unknown.

“Goma wakame? Like wakame in sesame sauce? I don’t think that’s a common way to eat wakame here.”

-Melinda Joe

Jun Giovannini, chef at the Mu Fish restaurant in Nova Milanese, near Milan, confirmed that so-called goma wakame is not consumed in Japan.

“It’s a Chinese dish, not Japanese. It is not even healthy, contrary to what people might think, because of how it’s processed with dyes before being sold.”

-Jun Giovannini, chef at the Mu Fish restaurant in Nova Milanese

To make the salad, the dried seaweed is dipped in water, drained, cut into small pieces and then mixed with soy sauce, mirin, sesame, sesame oil, yuzu juice, grated ginger, rice vinegar, chilli and sugar.

Most Asian supermarkets in Italy have ready-made seaweed salad on their shelves, sometimes even frozen and in bulk. The ingredients list on these is full of dyes, added sugar and various preservatives and thickeners, which also boosts its overall calorie count.

Although the seasoning of Japanese wakame dishes are similar to the goma wakame we’re familiar with – sesame-oil and sesame-based sauces – the appearance and taste are totally different. Wakame can also be stir-fried, added to soups and eaten with sashimi or octopus.

So, if you actually enjoy your seaweed side dish, just continue ordering it in peace. But remember: it’s not the same as getting a green salad.

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