What`s Really in Japanese Seaweed Salad?
(WorldNews Italy)

This article originally appeared on VICE Italy. 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 with my boyfriend or friends, where I’d order three servings of sashimi and four of seaweed salad. Like many other calorie-conscious eaters out there, 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...