Allison Fogg, Manager, at Heritage Seaweed, 61 India Street, Portland.

An Unbreakable, Silicone Glass and a Brief Cookbooklet Written by Josh Rogers, Owner of Heritage Seaweed on Historic India Street, Portland.

A Display of Seaweed Products at Heritage Seaweed, at the Historic India Street Location.

The third annual Seaweed Week kicks off Friday, April 30 and runs through Sunday, May 9th, 2021. But it will be a simpler affair than its debut two years ago according to its founder Josh Rogers, owner of the almost three year old  Heritage Seaweed, 61 India Street on the east end of Portland.

It will be a simpler Week this year because of the pandemic that has caused havoc with the hospitality industry – upon which the product is largely dependent to showcase its many attributes to the public in  Maine’s important hospitality houses.

Two years ago, a wildly successful introduction of seaweed was featured in seventy-five (75) of Maine’s best restaurants, bars and breweries.  A dozen college campuses participated in the inaugural event as well.  It even sparked coverage from FORBES and MARTHA STEWART.

Rather, this year the focus is on Maine’s kelp farmers and relaunching a pilot program introduced last year that connects the public to Maine kelp farmers through its “Get Kelp Program.”  Kelp is a kind of seaweed rich in iodine.  “What’s really cool about this is that when someone buys kelp from a local farmer, they’re championing a sustainable, climate-friendly crop that supports the working waterfront and Maine’s blue economy. ….what I think is just as cool is that this is the only opportunity I know of (certainly in the US, maybe in the world) for consumers to buy fresh kelp direct from a farmer.  It’s a seasonal crop, for one thing.  And it just doesn’t exist in the marketplace yet,” said Rogers in an email to mhn.com.

Instead of the excitement of two years ago, Heritage Seaweed will have some special deals to help take the letdown out of the third annual Week. There will be seaweed-dusted chocolate bars, and numerous other Maine seaweed products.  Available for the first time is the Seaweed Discovery Box – it’s all a surprise, so stop by 61 India Street and pick one up from Allison.  You can also enjoy a Cup of Sea, a creation of Rogers and unique to Heritage Seaweed.  Face coverings and social distancing protocols are enforced here.

“Things are starting to pick up now that folks are getting vaccinated, so I’m optimistic about the coming year.  We are looking forward to pre-pandemic days returning,” said Rogers.

Born and raised in Maine, Josh spent 12 years in New York City, working as a restaurant guide editor at Zagat and on dining and travel content strategy at Google.

For more background information on the business, please visit post herein dated July 14, 2018.  But please disregard the typo in the name of the product – it’s seaweed – not seawood.