They are considered a food of the future and have entered our tables thanks to contamination with oriental cuisine. They are seaweeds, among the super foods par excellence: at Welfair, a wellness and lifestyle event at Fiera Roma, the many properties of seaweeds are revealed. True reservoirs of vitamin C, K, B6, iodine and bromine, and many other precious trace elements, they are available in large quantities, but our gastronomic tradition uses them very little.

The spotlight on these 'sea vegetables' is Professor Francesco Cinelli, professor of Marine Ecology at the University of Pisa and already President of the International Academy of Underwater Sciences and Techniques, guest of Welfair - the digital event of Fiera Roma dedicated to wellness, health, lifestyle, nutrition and beauty, in progress today and tomorrow (to participate for free just register here https://events.purplebox.live/welfair/). There is not and there has never been a strong presence of seaweed in the culinary culture of our country, but the increasingly widespread contamination with oriental cuisine, where instead they are widely used - just think of sushi - could introduce a healthy reversal of trend. 'I do not think that in the course of our lives we will see a plate of seaweed become as popular as a plate of spaghetti amatriciana - comments the professor -, but it is likely that the taste will gradually change and open to the more massive introduction of this food'. Some recipes already exist: the salad called Mauru, a mix of red seaweeds, typical in Catania but today almost completely disappeared and, in Naples, the Sea Lettuce (Ulva rigida) present in the Italian fried.

'However, everyone - underlines Cinelli - we unknowingly eat seaweed in ice cream or fruit jellies or other foods that contain products extracted from seaweeds, such as carrageenan (which is extracted from red seaweeds), agar or alginates extracted from the large Laminaries of the cold seas'. Many applications: 'The probable areas of development in the use of seaweeds include biotechnologies, body care products and functional foods - explains the biologist - the list of commercially useful species is not static and other species may be added as further research is carried out'. Welfair is the Fiera Roma event dedicated to health and quality of life. This year's event, the second edition still exclusively in digital mode, has developed on two macro-themes: Covid and nutrition.