Friendships can change kitchens. During a recent visit to Yokohama, we spent three unforgettable days with Hirotoshi Anabe, a master of sake brewing and traditional fish fermentation.

If you step into our kitchen on any given morning, you’ll catch the scent of something quietly transformative: seaweed. Over the past few years we’ve been on what we call our seaweed journey—a deep dive into the regenerative power of kelp, kombu, and sugar wrack.

Flatfish—plaice, turbot, sole—have long shaped the seafood traditions of the North Atlantic. Yet these elegant fish are also barometers of a warming ocean. As water temperatures shift, they migrate, often moving further north or into deeper waters.

At first light the Skagerak Strait is pure silver. Our divers slip into the water, knives ready to harvest fresh sugar kelp. The fronds sway like ribbons, rich with natural sugars and ocean minerals.

Nothing in the ocean is truly “waste.” Bones become calcium-rich fish salts, shrimp shells turn into bisque bases, and seaweed stems ferment into rich seasoning sauces. We call this approach our circular ocean pantry.