Don't eat me!!

SapperlottDon’t eat me!!

Humans really will eat anything. Although normally we are horrified by this dubious talent, here is a possible food trend we could get behind: eating plankton.

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In England last week, chefs Ángel León and Nuno Mendes served up a plankton-inflected menu. It included plankton cocktail, a very green plankton risotto, and plankton rice. And the chefs are sure you’ll be seeing more of this in the future: “Think how we were talking about sushi 15 years ago: this is where we are now with plankton,” says chef León.

What does plankton taste like? It’s “silky once mixed, oily and elegant, pungent on the nose yet subtle and leaves a long finish in the mouth,” León says. So, you know, it tastes like whatever that means. (It is, we should note, not vegetarian: As a category, plankton includes tiny plants like algae but also tiny animals.)

Plankton also has, according to the chef, “so many antioxidant properties.” No wonder baleen whales look so fresh and young.