The Type Of Seafood That Can & Should Be Part Of Your Vegan Diet (Seriously!)

Eating vegan means eliminating animal products, but it doesn't technically mean steering clear of all seafood—that is, if you take a looser look at the term. If you're wondering where in the world I'm going with this, I'm talking about sea vegetables (such as kelp). Because, just like up on dry land, the sea is full of leafy green veggies—many of which are packed with nutrients.

If the health benefits of kelp aren't enough to convince you, more good news! Because it's such a sustainable crop, companies are now harnessing it as a plant-based meat substitute and snack addition.

Back in 2019, AKUA launched kelp "jerky" as a new snack offering, with the hopes of shifting that particular snack toward a more sustainable future. "Kelp sequesters carbon and nitrogen from the water as land-based plants do from the air, helping to reduce ocean acidification and mitigate climate change," founder Courtney Boyd Myers told senior sustainability editor Emma Loewe at the time. Other brands are up on the snacks, too: Barnacle Foods sells kelp pickles, kelp salsa, and kelp hot sauce (among other things), while 12 Tides is slinging puffed kelp chips in three different flavors.

More recently, AKUA brand also launched a line of kelp burgers as an alternative to the already alternative options, such as Impossible and Beyond burgers. While the faux-meat burgers are meant to appeal to an already meat-eating crowd (and to replace some of the meat those people would otherwise eat), the kelp burger is meant to be a veggie burger with even more nutrients. In case you're wondering, I tried one, and they taste pretty amazing.

Really, adding some sea veggies to your meals probably isn't a bad idea for people who follow any eating style—but for vegans and plant-based eaters, in particular, kelp is a vegan meat alternative to watch.