Stand back; we're going to try science! In our first "Japan-isode," Nicole takes Julia on a scenic bus tour through the kelp forests to see three colorful characters: brown, green, and red algae. We learn about the many ways of eating and preparing seaweed (blancmange, anyone?) before arriving at our final destination: nori. We also meet an unlikely heroine who saved Japan's nori industry from halfway across the globe. Grab your sushi and waka-make yourself comfortable for this one!

Special thanks to our friend John for his scientific review and our friend Emma for her help with Japanese pronunciation! One correction: carrageenan is technically an extract from Irish moss. Irish moss refers to the seaweed itself, and carrageenan is a carbohydrate that's extracted from it. Nicole apologizes for the oversight.

Our theme song is "Red Onions" by Louie Zong, off of his album Vegetable Soul: https://louiezong.bandcamp.com/album/vegetable-soul

We're on Instagram @girlslunchpod. Nicole's website is nicolehylton.com. Have an episode suggestion or question? You can email us at girlslunchpodcast@gmail.com and we will add it to our chaotic list of future episode subjects.

• "How an unpaid UK researcher saved the Japanese seaweed industry," by Esther Inglis-Arkell in Ars Technica

• "'Mother of the Sea' – How Kathleen Drew-Baker Saved Sushi," by Joe Shervin for University of Manchester

• The Omori Nori Museum in Ota City, Tokyo

• Slime: How Algae Created Us, Plague Us, and Just Might Save Us, by Ruth Kassinger

• Seaweed Chronicles: A World at the Water's Edge, by Susan Hand Shetterly

• Dr. Plimmer's "Square Meal" food diagram, courtesy FoodTimeline.org, https://foodtimeline.org/squaremeal.pdf

• "What Is a 'Square Meal'?", FoodTimeline.org, https://www.foodtimeline.org/foodfaq7.html