Lofoten Seaweed Company
Lofoten Seaweed Company are proud to be a female-led business that creates opportunities for the local community, whilst minimising their environmental impact. They hand harvest the seaweed, and craft unique products for healthy and flavoursome cooking. They create seaweed products for everyone from home cooks to pro chefs- straight from ocean to plate.
The dynamic duo- who I think resemble more of real life Lara Crofts- are Angelita and Tamara. Angelita grew up cutting cod tongues and baiting long lines for her fisherman father in the village of Napp. The ocean was a lifeline for her family. But her curiosity around seaweed only arose when she was researching nutrition for her own health. Her discoveries led to a passionate belief: that seaweed is the food of the future.
Tamara grew up in New Zealand, where her Japanese mother used seaweed in almost every meal. With a passion for Japanese cuisine and an eye for detail, she recreates the food of her childhood with the exceptional seaweed of her new home in Norway.
The combination of knowledge, experience and traditions from opposite sides of the planet is at the heart of what makes Lofoten Seaweed unique.
From diverse beginnings, united by a love of food and the ocean, Tamara and Angelita are on a mission to bring seaweed back into the modern kitchen.
Life in Lofoten is challenging and beautiful. Framed by snow-capped mountains that plummet into the wild Norwegian sea, the islands are at the mercy of ferocious storms and bitter temperatures. But it is also blessed by some of nature’s rarest phenomena: the Aurora Borealis and the midnight sun.
Their unique ocean forms the perfect habitat for the world’s largest cod fishery (as well as its largest cold water coral reef) because its arctic waters are fed by the Gulf Stream. As well as milder temperatures, the stream brings diverse nutrients and minerals, which create a rich and varied underwater ecosystem.
Nappstraumen connects Vestfjorden (the western fjord) to the Norwegian Sea. This fast-flowing water is crystal-clean, nutrient-rich, and provides optimal growing conditions for seaweed and kelp. It’s here that the seaweed is harvested, paying close attention to nature’s signals to ensure that our relationship with the ocean is sustainable and low impact.
There are around 12,000 different species of seaweed in the world, and nearly 500 of them can be found growing in Norway.
What we love about Lofoten Seaweed Company
Who couldn't love the story of these two powerhouse women, harvesting seaweed by hand in the freezing cold waters of the Norwegian Sea? Hearing their story about how they met in Australia whilst studying, and coming from literally the other ends of the earth, destiny brought them to start this business together with the knowledge of the plant and the region in their blood- complementing each other now to produce these wonderful products.