The Seaweed Man
Toine Wilke is the Seaweed Man. He once became captivated by this sustainable, healthy vegetable from the sea during a surf trip in Indonesia. “In 2013 I graduated with ‘world seaweed guru’ Stefan Kraan in Ireland. There I learned everything about the food of the future,” he says in To eat!.
Once back in the Netherlands, I wanted to make seaweed the food of today.” Toine turned to seaweed burgers. A year later, this was voted the best scientific/social idea in the Netherlands. Three years later, his products were available at a number of large supermarket chains and wholesalers. .
With his latest creation, De Zeewierbox, he wants to show everyone how tasty and easy it is to cook with seaweed at home. His ambition: to conquer the world with seaweed.
Bursting with nutrients
Toine: “It is a very beautiful natural product. It is bursting with nutrients and taste. It tastes great. Fiber, vitamins, minerals and proteins and omega 3; they are all in this vegetable. That is what seaweed consists of. are five minerals that, together with the omega 3 species, ensure the development of our brain.”
It is a perfect addition to our current diet. That’s why it’s actually weird that we eat it so little. While Asia is everywhere in the supermarket, we hardly eat seaweed in the West, not even in the Netherlands. “Not on the sushi and the wakame salad that gives light.”