Annie Chun is sharing her Korean heritage by creating healthy and affordable seaweed snacks. She and her husband, Steve Broad, are the co-founders of Gimme, a company that sells USDA Certified Organic, non-GMO Project Verified seaweed snacks.
Gimme’s seaweed is grown using sustainable technology that avoids using any marine life-harming pesticides. The tasty, flavorful snacks are not only incredibly good for you, but they are good for the ocean environment, too.
Photo Courtesy gimmeseaweed
“For me, this is a company about sharing, sharing my roots but also sharing something that is good for our health,” Chun told “Forbes.”
Seaweed has long been a staple in the diets of countries like Korea and Japan but hasn’t been as popular in the United States.
In 2012, Chun wanted to start a new business that reminded her of the snacks of her childhood. She soon realized there was nothing like it in the American market and decided to make it herself.
At the heart of the company is the fact that seaweed is incredibly healthy — full of many nutrients, including iodine, omega-3, iron, calcium, fiber, and protein. Chun knew her mission was to make the naturally tasty food even tastier. The resulting crispy, chip-like Gimme seaweed comes in several flavors, including teriyaki, sea salt, wasabi, white cheddar, and chili lime.
Photo Courtesy gimmeseaweed
“For its weight, it’s a very nutrient-dense food,” Broad told “Forbes.” “And if we need to look for more vegetarian options, it’s a great choice, given that we’ve overfished our seas.”
Chun and Broad make sure Gimme seaweed is the most flavorful by using red Porphyra seaweed cut from the first of several wintertime harvests. The company says this method means the seaweed is sweeter, with more umami and a texture that melts in your mouth. Gimme then double roasts the fresh seaweed before adding flavor and cutting it into sheets for packaging.
Photo Courtesy gimmeseaweed
Gimme cultivates its seaweed in deep waters off the coast of South Korea, an area known for nutrient-rich waters. While growing, the seaweed is rotated and exposed to the sunlight above the surface of the ocean. The sun kills any species that can harm the seaweed without the need for any harmful chemicals. Farming seaweed using this regenerative and organic method can be particularly sustainable and low-maintenance.
The benefits of seaweed for the environment are substantial. Seaweed reduces ocean acidification and creates a habitat for numerous marine species.
It also significantly reduces carbon via sequestration. A 20-acre seaweed farm can sequester 9,000 kilograms of carbon and 300 kilograms of nitrogen annually. In fact, seaweed can sequester up to four tons of carbon every year, as much as five times the amount of a tropical forest.
Photo Courtesy gimmeseaweed
Chun and company take the natural sustainability of the product one step further by looking for eco-friendly solutions throughout its supply chain, including working with One Step Closer Packaging in the search for the best sustainable packaging that also keeps the seaweed fresh.
Gimme saw a huge rise in popularity during the pandemic when people started making sushi at home. The company continues to see spikes in popularity via social media platforms and word of mouth. For Chun and Broad, the sky — or, in this case, the sea — is the limit:
“Our data tells us that seaweed is at about 4% penetration in American houses,” Broad told “Forbes.” “So it’s still early days.”
