What's really in your icecream?

Next time your eating a creamy Magnum, think about the sea harvesters here in Nusa Lembongan. They extract from the seaweed that they loyally collect, the Carragheen, an emulsifier used to thicken icecreams, cheese and many other milk products. They also replace the fat in food used for diets.

In Lembongan, 80% of the population work cultivating the algue (only 5% for tourism) which makes it the pricipal industry on the island. Reasonably lucrative, this industry answers to intensive work, and is generally done by women. (Fact: Women work harder!)

As you walk through the villages, you'll see, and smell, the vaste communal spaces devoted to drying the algue. In the water you can distinguish the patchwork of plantations. The growth is rapid and the locals can harvest the new algue aproxamativly every 45 days. This region is particulaly sucessful due to it's shallow waters, rich in nutrition. The dried red and green seaweed is exported all over the world.

So next time your slurping down that yoghurt or slobbering on that Magnum icecream double caramel..... think about these men and women hauling seaweed in wicker baskets and untangling lines, in the sweltering heat....