All Episodes

September 19, 2023 • 18 mins

In today's episode, I speak with South African edible ocean and landscape forager Roushanna Gray.

When I first heard of Roushanna's unique take on eating from the wild landscape, I was intrigued, particularly as it related to her deep dive into the seaweed off her local coast in Cape Town. I was interested in her foraging with the over 900 edible seaweeds found in South Africa's intertidal rock pools.

But, maybe unsurprisingly, what came out of our interview that interested me was less about what she did and more about why she did it, and I found her way of talking and relating to the ocean to verge on the magical, and it was exhilarating.

And this view has now led Roushanna to teaching this way of foraging and cooking with the edible landscape around her through her immersive culinary school, Veld and Sea. And when we did our interview, Roushanna spoke openly about the journey to having her eyes open to the edible landscape in the sea around her, what it meant to have your passion for the ocean connect with discovering a sense of purpose in her own life, and a largely unremarkable free dive in South Africa that ultimately unloved the mysteries of the ocean for her.

Support the show

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jason Elias (00:08):
Hi and welcome to the Big Deep podcast.
Big Deep is a podcast aboutpeople who have a connection to
the ocean, people for whom thatconnection is so strong it
defines some aspect of theirlife.
Over the course of this serieswe'll talk to all sorts of
people and in each episode we'llexplore the deeper meaning of

(00:29):
that connection.
Today I speak with an ediblelandscape forager from South
Africa whose unique passion iswild indigenous seaweed along
the rocky intertidal coast ofAfrica.
Hello, this is your host, jasonElias.
Welcome to the Big Deep podcast.
In today's episode I speak withSouth African edible landscape

(00:54):
forager Roshanna Gray.
When I first heard of Roshanna'sunique take on eating from the
wild landscape, i was intrigued,particularly as it related to
her deep dive literally into theseaweed off her local coast in
Cape Town.
Roshanna's initial foraging foredible wildfires in the spring
and mushrooms in the forest inthe winter was so different from
the way I usually view myrelationship with the

(01:16):
environment.
I was almost shocked you coulddo this before I recognized how
fundamental that way of eatingonce was.
And, of course, i wasinterested in the ocean aspect
and her foraging with the over900 edible seaweeds found in
South Africa's intertidal rockpools.
But, maybe unsurprisingly, whatcame out of our interview that
was of interest to me was lessabout what she did and more

(01:38):
about why she did it, and Ifound her way of talking and
relating to the ocean to vergeon the magical and it was
exhilarating.
And this view has now ledRoshanna to teaching this way of
foraging and cooking with theedible landscape around her
through her immersive culinaryschool.
Veld and Sea.
And when we did our interview,roshanna spoke openly about the

(01:59):
journey to having her eyes opento the edible landscape in the
sea around her, what it meant tohave your passion for the ocean
connect with discovering asense of purpose in her own life
and a largely unremarkable freedive in South Africa that
ultimately unloved the mysteriesof the ocean for her.

Roushanna Gray (02:16):
My name is Roshanna Gray.
I am in Cape Point, Cape Town,South Africa, and I am a
foraging teacher and a verycurious foodie with a love of
exploring and tasting our ediblelandscape.

Jason Elias (02:31):
So, Roshanna, you mentioned before our interview
that growing up in South Africait was hard to not have a
connection to the ocean.
Can you talk a bit about thatand when you first remember your
connection to the water?

Roushanna Gray (02:44):
Well, if you grew up in Cape Town, it's hard
not to be connected to the oceanbecause we are so beautifully
situated.
We've got the warm Indian Oceanup the east and we've got the
lovely freezing cold AtlanticOcean on the west.
And personally, i grew uphaving many adventures along the
coastline.
My father and my mother's sideof the family were all

(03:08):
recreational fishers, and so Ispent many an hour on the harbor
walls, mostly for catchingcalamari, usually in the evening
under a light, so the lightsglistening on the surface of the
sea and attracting thesecalamari, and so there's many
memories of sitting on theharbor wall as a child with a

(03:31):
picnic, listening to the oceancoming through the little cracks
very special memories.

Jason Elias (03:38):
I'm sure those were special times and I know you
still live near Cape Town, thishuge metropolis, but I also know
it is still fairly wild and rawwhere you live in Cape Point,
about an hour outside of town.
Can you talk a bit about thatlandscape and did that play any
part in your journey ofdiscovery with Edible Seaweed?

Roushanna Gray (04:00):
It's not that far away from the busy city life
hub of Cape Town, but it's veryelemental out here.
So I'd already been workingwith edible plants growing in
the wild in the land in wintertime.
In springtime there's edibleflowers and in autumn it was the
wild mushrooms growing in theforest.
But in summer time here it'salmost a dormant season, because

(04:23):
it is very hot, there's aprevailing southeaster wind that
blows, really drying up thevegetation even more, so, in
terms of foraging it's quitedifficult to find something
juicy and delicious.
So there was this missingpuzzle piece, until this amazing
human called Hiromu Jimbo, aJapanese traveler, came to visit

(04:45):
us.
He had been travelling on hisbike, zigzagged his way up from
Istanbul all the way down Africa, and he ended up knocking on
our door and asking if he couldcome.
He had such an extraordinarystory and he had been travelling
for three and a half years.
So of course we let him stayand his three night stay turned

(05:07):
into three months And every nowand again he would hop on his
bike with a little bucket at theback and he would cycle off to
the nearest beach and he'd comeback and shortly afterwards
there'd be these deliciouscockling smells coming from his
campsites.
So one day I went down with himto the intertidal zone and he

(05:27):
just looked over the coastlinewith me And there are so many
sea vegetables here.
He couldn't understand whynobody was eating them.
There was such a delicacy wherehe was from, in Japan.
So this really opened my mindand my curiosity was awakened

(05:48):
And I just wanted to learn asmuch as I could about this new
edible landscape, this oldedible landscape.

Jason Elias (05:58):
Yeah, it's so interesting how, sometimes,
ideas that seem so fresh and neware simply reconnecting us back
to the wisdom of people wholived before us, and yet with
that, we can take those ideasand learn new ways of moving
forward.
And so I guess my question toyou is has this way of foraging

(06:18):
for edible seaweed changed yourrelationship to the ocean?

Roushanna Gray (06:23):
It definitely has.
If anybody had told me what I'dbe doing now, back when I first
started, i would have thoughtthey were completely crazy.
And at first started out as ahobby.
I wanted to learn more aboutseaweeds.
There wasn't a course that Icould do, so I decided to create

(06:43):
one myself and that meant along, slow journey of learning
in nature.
And I'm still on this path oflearning And I think it's that
magic place where, whensomething you are so passionate

(07:05):
about connects with your senseof purpose in life, anything is
possible.
When you first go down to therock pools and you look over the
intertidal zone, it's what Icall seaweed blindness.

(07:29):
You kind of just see a lot ofthe same colour, there's maybe a
difference in texture, but youdon't really know what you're
looking at.
But if you creep a littlecloser, maybe get down on your

(07:49):
hands and knees and you start toreally look closely at the
different colours and textures,tastes, even Learn a little
about their culinaryapplications and their medicinal
properties, learn about theecosystem surrounding it.

(08:12):
You're never going to walkthrough that space in the same
way again And it almost changesyour senses.
You don't just walk throughthere visually, you walk through

(08:34):
there with a flavour paletterunning through your mind.
So it's not just about foraging, it's more about creating
awareness of how incredible andhow special our oceans are, and

(08:59):
when you learn this knowledge,you are more likely to want to
protect and preserve the areas,and it's a great step in
nurturing custodianship of theoceans.
Yeah, it's beautiful.
We can take a lot of lifelessons from being in the ocean.

Jason Elias (09:27):
Oh, i agree with that And it's the primary reason
I started this podcast.
It's really about people whohave been changed by their
connection to the ocean, and Ithink your story epitomizes that
in some ways.
But I think something elseunique about your story is
because you look for the edibleaspects of the ocean, like the

(09:48):
relationship a farmer might havewith their land.
I suspect you have a deeperconnection to the changing
energies of the ocean over theyear And I'm wondering if you
find there are differentcharacteristics of the ocean in
the different seasons of theyear And, if so, how does that
guide your relationship toforaging for seaweed?

Roushanna Gray (10:09):
In the rock pools.
There's lots of differentseaweeds.
In South Africa we're reallylucky.
We have just over 900 differentspecies of seaweed And out of
all of those 900, there's onlyone that you can't eat.
There are obviously choiceedibles.
There's a lot of very deliciousseaweeds And the flavor is very
different.
You kind of have to think ofsea vegetables just like land

(10:33):
vegetables.
Each one has their own flavor,their own season, their own
texture, And it's thisreciprocal relationship that we
start to form with the oceanwhen we are in this place.
Right, I mean just by beingphysically in the rock pools.
We are having a reciprocalrelationship, whether you

(10:54):
realize it or not.
And to access this intertidalzone and to witness these things
on a macro level, you have towork on an even bigger scale.
So in wintertime it's veryelemental and very wild and
powerful, but from an energycoming outside of the ocean, not

(11:15):
inside.
So the outside elements arecreating this force within the
ocean.
In autumntime there's still alittle bit of a dormancy within
the intertidal zone.
In springtime We get theseaweeds that grow once a year.
So, like a lot of the landplants, there's quite an energy

(11:37):
shift within the rock pools.
There's an excitement andthere's a growth spurt.
It's like the feeling that youfeel on land in springtime, when
all these beautiful littleflowers start blossoming and
blooming and new leaf growthhappens.
A lot of this stuff ishappening in the intertidal zone
as well.
In summertime, the seaweedshave grown and there's abundance

(12:01):
, And when seaweeds are at thebeginning of summer, they are at
their most nutrient rich And sothe coastal garden is full of
sea vegetables.
So summertime has a lot ofenergy and life force within the
ocean, And summer is the timethat we go coastal foraging in
the intertidal zone.

(12:22):
So once you dive into thedelicious world of seaweeds,
it's quite exciting from afoodie perspective, because
there's so much you can do.

Jason Elias (12:30):
Yeah it's just such a different way of connecting
to the ocean and I findsomething deeply rooted in that.
Now, you mentioned, before westarted our interview, there was
one free dive.
You did a dive that wasunremarkable in almost every way
, and yet something shifted foryou on that dive.
Can you tell us the story ofthat dive and why it meant so

(12:52):
much to you?

Roushanna Gray (12:53):
There's many magical epiphany moments that
happen when you connect with theocean, but I think a story that
I haven't really told is myrelationship with being
underwater.
For ever I have been terrifiedof being underwater and felt
like I needed to connect alittle bit more deeply to

(13:16):
explore the cup forests.
So I decided to go on a freediving course.
But even after the course andafter going into the ocean a
couple of times with my freediving buddy, i was terrified.
I didn't want to go too far out, but the ocean rewards

(13:36):
familiarity.
And after going for quite a fewdives in quite a few different
locations over a few yearsactually It was this one day and
it was very unremarkable at alovely little place called
Winmell Beach, very easy beachentry, you can just walk

(14:00):
straight into the ocean from thebeach And the kelp glistening
at the surface of the sea andall these beautiful different
colours and the sunlight justglistening on the surface And
it's just absolutely beautifulunderwater there.

(14:22):
Going underwater there is likeentering into rainbow coloured
out of space underwater worlds.
There's so many differentcolours and textures, with these
beautiful big fans justfloating with the current, and

(14:45):
the silence, the beautifulsilence when you're underwater,
just the little cricklingcrackling of the reef.
Yeah, it's something veryspecial.
But something happened where Iwas underwater and something
clicked.
I was comfortable and relaxedAnd I could hold my breath that

(15:15):
much longer and start to lookaround and see what was there.
And for me that was a pivotalpoint.
That was my change.
It was a feeling in my mind andin my heart and in my body.

(15:40):
It was an expansive feeling.
It was a feeling of belonging,a feeling of excitement and joy.
I was really proud of myselffor having gone through this

(16:03):
whole process, from being frozenin fear to pushing through that
barrier, through the power ofknowledge and through the
repetition of visiting the oceanagain and again and again,

(16:27):
until she let me in.
Yeah, it was like coming home.

Jason Elias (16:41):
Finally, we end every interview and every
episode with a single open-endedquestion.
we ask everyone we talk to Whatdoes the ocean mean to you?

Roushanna Gray (16:52):
Sure, that's a beautiful question.
The ocean is a very healingspace.
It can hold memory, it carriesstories and heritage and it
offers freedom and hope andnourishment and happiness.

Jason Elias (17:15):
Thanks for listening to the Big Deep
podcast Next time on Big Deep.
We really appreciate you beingon this journey into the Big
Deep as we explore an ocean ofstories.

(17:38):
If you like what we're doing,please make sure to subscribe
wherever you listen to podcasts.
Also, please like and comment,because those subscribes, likes
and comments really make adifference For more interviews,
deeper discussions with ourguests, photos and updates on
anything you've heard.
There's a lot more content atour website, BigDeepcom Plus.

(18:00):
If you know someone we shouldthink we should talk to, let us
know at our Big Deep website, aswe are always looking to hear
more stories from interestingpeople who are deeply connected
to our world's oceans.
Thanks again for joining us.
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know
The Joe Rogan Experience

The Joe Rogan Experience

The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.

24/7 News: The Latest

24/7 News: The Latest

The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.