Seaweed as snack food - What target consumers ? IDEALG project

The surveys conducted by AGROCAMPUS OUEST as part of the Idealg project iden"fied consumers interested in seaweed as snack food, work that resulted in the authors asking the following ques"on: " Are seaweed food products suited to French ea)ng habits? ". Diagram summing up the methods used Seaweed snacks account for a fairly small part of the range of non-Asian style seaweed food products available although they poten"ally meet the ea"ng requirements of many consumers who have made a habit of ea)ng between meals, outside their homes but who also want to eat healthy, natural and local food. Who are these poten"al consumers of seaweed snacks and what products are currently available? What measures could be taken to encourage consumers to eat seaweed? Context In Asia, seaweed is historically a tradi"onal source of food whereas in France, seaweed consump"on is re-la"vely limited and only started to gain momentum in the 2000s. French seaweed producers and processors have developed a wide range of products suited to French-style cuisine and containing seaweed in all its various forms. In France, food intake is tradi"onally divided in three daily meals. Some consumers, however, choose to move away from this ea)ng pa2ern, with repercussions on breakfast, which they may skip, or on lunch, which will merely consist of a bite to eat. Thus about one third of French consumers eat between tradi"o-nal main meals, a3ernoon snack and aperi"f excluded. Snack food is food that can be eaten with the fingers at any)me and/or anywhere.