How Kelp Drifted Into Hong Kong Soup Pots
Bastillepost · 1 SOURCESabout 3 hours ago2 MIN
Summary
Kelp is a familiar ingredient in Hong Kong-style slow-cooked soup, often simmered with pork bones and carrots for a clear, sweet broth, yet the seaweed commonly used today was not a long-established native staple in China. The article traces how the modern edible kelp species Saccharina japonica, formerly classified as Laminaria japonica, originated in cold North Pacific waters and entered Chinese food systems through 20th-century introduction and cultivation. It also argues that the word “kombu” in Japan and older Chinese references to “kunbu” do not always point to the same species, creating a long-running mismatch between names and biological identity. In Guangdong, the ingredient’s affordability, storability and natural umami helped it become a practical soup base despite local waters being too warm for cultivation
Key Points
- Ancient Chinese texts including Erya used the term “kunbu”, but modern botanical and textual studies suggest it often referred to Ecklonia kurome, wakame and other warm-water brown algae
- Tang and Song materia medica works by Chen Cangqi and Su Song recorded kunbu from the East China Sea for treating goitre, consistent with iodine-rich seaweed use
- The kelp now common on Chinese tables is Saccharina japonica, native to Hokkaido, the Russian Far East and Korean coasts, and unsuitable for warm southeastern Chinese waters
- Japanese scholars and businesses began trial cultivation around Dalian and Lüshun in the 1920s, while Chinese scientists Zeng Chengkui and Wu Chaoyuan advanced stable seedling methods in the 1950s
- The 2020 edition of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia lists “haitai” and “kunbu” separately, but shops and everyday speech still often mix the two names
Why It Matters
For Hong Kong readers, the story recasts a seemingly traditional soup ingredient as a relatively recent arrival shaped by migration, science and trade rather than timeless local continuity. It also shows how everyday food language can preserve older cultural memories even after the ingredient itself, its source regions and its scientific classification have changed