ABSTRACT
Microalgae and macroalgae have been utilized by man for hundreds of years as food, fodder,
remedies, and fertilizers. Ancient records show that people collected macroalgae for food as
long as 500 B.C. in China and one thousand of years later in Europe. Microalgae such as Arthrospira
have a history of human consumption in Mexico and Africa. In the 14th century the Aztecs
harvested Arthrospira from Lake Texcoco and used to make a sort of dry cake called tecuitlatl,
and very likely the use of this cyanobacterium as food in Chad dates back to the same period, or
even earlier, to the Kanem Empire (9th century A.D.).
