> Africans around Lake Victoria? ate > spirulina, also high in antioxidents and beta carotene, with their millet. > Were they long-lived? Looks like I was thinking of the Kanembu, at Lake Chad. http://www.millenium2.org/sbgaart/sbgahist.htm Ancient Spirulina eaters Freshwater algae also formed an important part of many culinary traditions, such as in parts of Africa and Central America. The Kanembu natives of the Lake Chad region in Africa have traditionally harvested and eaten blue-green algae, using a processing method similar to that used by the Aztec civilization to remove Spirulina from Lake Texcoco. The algae is gathered from the lake in porous cloth bags and allowed to drain. It is then formed into large flat cakes on the sand and dried in the sun. As the blue-green algae gels, it is smoothed by hand and marked off into squares. When most of the water has evaporated or seeped into the sand, the squares are pulled up, dried further on mats and cut into brittle cakes. The Kanembu then eat the algae, which is called dihe, after it is cooked in a sauce of tomatoes, chili peppers and various spices; the algae sauce is then poured over millet. Unfortunately, much of the chlorophyll and other factors are lost by the hot sun, sand drying and cooking.