Wakame (Undaria pinnatifida) is a species of kelp native to cold, temperate coasts of the northwest Pacific Ocean. As an edible seaweed, it has a subtly sweet, but distinctive and strong flavour and texture. It is most often served in soups and salads. Wakame has long been collected for food in East Asia, and sea farmers in Japan have cultivated wakame since the eighth century (Nara period). , the Invasive Species Specialist Group has listed the species on its list of 100 worst globally invasive species. Names The primary common name is derived from the Japanese name (, , , ). In English, it can be also called sea mustard. In Chinese, it is called (裙带菜). In French, it is called or ('sea fern'). In Korean, it is called (미역). Etymology In Old Japanese, stood for edible seaweeds in general as opposed to standing for algae. In kanji, such as , and were applied to transcribe the word. Among seaweeds, wakame was likely most often eaten, therefore especially meant wakame. It expanded later to other seaweeds like kajime, hirome (kombu), arame, etc. Wakame is derived from + (, lit. 'young seaweed'). If this is a eulogistic prefix, the same as the of tamagushi, wakame likely stood for seaweeds widely in ancient ages. In the Man'yōshū, in addition to and (both are read as ), (, soft wakame) can be seen. Besides, (, lit. 'beautiful algae'), which often appeared in the , may be wakame depending on poems. History in the West The earliest appearance in Western documents is probably in Nippo Jisho (1603), as Vacame. In 1867 the word wakame appeared in an English-language publication, A Japanese and English Dictionary, by James C. Hepburn. Starting in the 1960s, the word wakame started to be used widely in the United States, and the product (imported in dried form from Japan) became widely available at natural food stores and Asian-American grocery stores, due to the influence of the macrobiotic movement, and in the 1970s with the growing number of Japanese restaurants and sushi bars. Health Studies conducted at Hokkaido University have found that a compound in wakame known as fucoxanthin can help burn fatty tissue. Studies in mice have shown that fucoxanthin induces expression of the fat-burning protein UCP1 that accumulates in fat tissue around the internal organs. Expression of UCP1 protein was significantly increased in mice fed fucoxanthin. Wakame is also