Why aren't we munching our way through the season's major pollution problem?

And why, when nature delivers it free to our backdoor, are we importing sea lettuce from Europe for consumption and paying big dollars for it?

Considering a new Papamoa delicacy is Rylee Bell, 11 and her siblings Tasha, 9, Keenan, 6, and Cleo, 4. But be wary of eating sea lettuce which is cast on the beach. Photo: Tracy Hardy.

Well, because sea lettuce is either ignored, misunderstood in New Zealand or over-legislated.

The rules governing harvest are ‘suffocating' according to Doug Fawcett, from the Pacific Harvest company that imports sea lettuce from France.

'It's extraordinarily nutritious,” says Doug, 'has compelling health properties, is profuse and has limitless culinary applications – wraps, in soups and sprinkled on food. But New Zealanders are slow to buy in.”

An A4-sized plastic bag of Doug's dried sea lettuce costs $20-plus, which seems expensive considering that all around us in the Bay of Plenty this summer is sea lettuce, and free sea lettuce at that.

'That's right – but we wouldn't use that sea lettuce. It's very susceptible to pollution from cities and run-off,” says Doug.

'And there's the sand. But harvesting at sea before it's dumped on our beaches, well that's another story.”

It's a story that crumbles under the weight of the rule book.

According to the Ministry for Primary Industries, sea lettuce can be harvested without restriction at sea, or when beach cast or attached to the seabed for that matter. The one proviso being it 'cannot be taken for the purpose of sale”.

So when can it be harvested for sale?

MPI says if sea lettuce is taken for the purpose of sale then 'it can only be harvested in its beach cast state and in areas where beach cast harvest is permitted”. And that requires the individual to hold a fishing permit.

Doug harrumphs with disbelief. 'It makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible,” he says.

Sea lettuce doesn't have a good ‘rep' in Tauranga. The festoons of vibrant green sea lettuce lace soon turns into a putrid, sulphur-smelling problem – fouling beaches and waterways, to be removed and buried at some cost to the ratepayers.

Meanwhile, Doug's packing 10 cartons of sea lettuce for a Queenstown restaurant. It seems the tourists at least have an appetite for it. While they're gorging the dried European variety, we're whiffing the rotting local kind.

'It constitutes 14 per cent of diets in Asian countries and has 20 times the nutritional value of similar food types. They are impressive numbers,” says Doug.

So why hasn't NZ embraced sea lettuce?

'We don't give ourselves a chance to like it, to benefit from it,” says Doug, the frustrated superfood disciple.

'We are tangled up in red tape. The rules are many and restrictive and the costs high.”

So to assist our understanding and appreciation of sea lettuce consider the health benefits.

Improved digestion and reduced sugar absorption; balances blood PH, antiviral for flu, soothes burns, cuts, sores; tones, nourishes and hydrates the skin, clears intestinal worms, treats gout, and is a natural source of iodine and an astringent.

It can be eaten raw or cooked – microwaved on low for three minutes – added to salads and soups and stir fries, and can be dried and added as powder to other dishes, chopped, boiled, mixed with grated cheese and oatmeal and fried as patties, blades or fronds can be cooked or raw and used as a wrap.

Seaweeds were the first plants on earth – they've been around for 3.5 billion years. Their use in cooking can be traced back 3000 years and are now a widespread staple ingredient.

It's probably not too late for NZ to re-engage with a lost tradition, says Doug.

'The uptake has been slow even though we have been selling seaweed for 10 years. But attitudes and understanding are improving.”