Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Algae Power and Kon Lau Mee



Food Diary (February 15, 2012)
Breakfast: Bacon sandwich
Lunch: Chicken soup
Dinner: Black beans with pasta



Today's Favourite Photo
Kon Lau Mee




Today’s Favourite Blog
Source: Grist
Large amounts of corn and soybeans, amongst other resources, are needed to sustain the demand for proteins. Corn and soybeans are used to produce animal feed. Scientists have discovered a potentially more efficient source of animal feed – algae. 

Algae can be cultivated in human-made ponds on otherwise unusable desert land, requiring only sunlight and seawater to grow. It’s about 30 times more productive than soy, and 50 times more productive than corn. It requires only 1 percent as much fresh water. It also has a much higher protein content — up to 70 percent, compared with about 10 percent in corn and 40 percent in soy. Replacing at least some corn- and soybean-based livestock feed with algae-derived feed would not only shrink the life-cycle impact of meat, it could free up a lot of land currently devoted to the production of animal feed, making more of it available for crops that directly feed humans instead.

Research into algae is not a new area. For almost two decades the U.S. government funded research into algae’s potential as a biofuel. The program was discontinued after concluding that algal biofuels could not be cost-competitive with fossil fuels. But oil prices have risen so much since then that algae has received renewed attention from investors as a potential fuel source.

In addition to protein, algae contains omega-3 fatty acids. Algae is actually the source of omega-3s. Fish don’t make omega-3s, little fish eat crustaceans that eat algae. 

Research is still undergoing. There is hope for our planet.

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12 comments:

  1. There's hope for my pond! They're welcome to come and clean it for me :D
    Now you've got me craving for Kon Low Mee ... that's how it's pronounced here, "Low" not "Lau" .... not sure in Sabah. It's in Cantonese. With my limited Cantonese, Kon means, Dry, and Low means To Toss ... probably when they mix up the sauces and tossing the noodles in it to coat. And it comes usually with some roasted char siew and some wonton dumplings. You must have had some when you were here? Yum! Lunchtime!

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    1. Yap, there is hope, hang in there. Soon the pond will be producing enough protein to meet your cities needs:)
      Thanks for the explanation on Kon Low Mee. It looks really appealing even though its just plain noodles tossed on sauce. I had these, many times.

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  2. Looks like some very authentic soup. I have been in the mood for soup every day for the past month, so anytime I come across a soup recipe, my mouth waters. I have never tried to make an Asian dish like this. The no bake squares sound great too. ;)

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    1. Very simple soup actually.
      That particular Asian dish is quite simple - noodles tossed in sauce

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  3. Great soup, very hearty pieces. Interesting about the algea, needs more resources for sure. And how about applying ti more to human consumption too!

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    1. Thank you.
      As Junia wrote below, it is already being consumed. I didn't know that

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  4. Oh, a chicken soup! I hope it was hearty and warming and heartwarming :-)
    I'm very happy to read about seaweed. Maybe they will not modify it genetically like they do with soybean and corn and also maybe they will use less pesticides...

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    1. It certainly was hearty and warming and heartwarming:)
      Hopefully the scientists don't start doing their business on algae, but I am pretty sure they are already experimenting.

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  5. the sea greens are packed with nutrition - alot of the health food drinks have "blue green algae" as a supplement like the fermented green kombucha drinks and the naked "green juice" and odwalla "green juice" - a lot of vegans tend to use algae, spirulina, etc. to supplement their b12 and protein n such!

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    1. Thank you for the info, I didn't realise algae was already being consumed.

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