Duckweed: The Tiny Plant That Could Replace Meat
My husband, Zakary Edington, is a bodybuilder and Pro Wrestler. I can’t even guestimate how much meat we eat in our house. There’s so much chicken I can’t even find ways to cook it after a while. I’m always on the lookout for new protein to try (chicken gets boring), which is how I stumbled on a new plant-based protein that’s growing fast.
Duckweed floats in ponds like tiny little overlapping constellations…green stars on still water.
So quiet, and so ordinary, this plant is the kind I normally would yank up to make way for other “more useful” plants.
Yet duckweed, that overlooked speck of nature, could just be the unlikely hero in our search for a better food future.
While the world argues over climate change, factory farming, and food shortages, this little plant is silently duplicating itself at astonishing rates, thriving in ditches, wetlands, and shallow ponds with no fertilizer, not even soil, and definitely not fanfare and applause.
And now…possibly…no meat?
A future food that’s ancient, tiny, and maybe just revolutionary.
The Smallest Flower With the Biggest Dreams
Duckweed is one of the smallest flowering plants on Earth, which is adorable. Some species are no larger than a pinhead, and I promise, you’ve seen it before, even if you didn’t know its name…those clusters of flat green disks drifting lazily on the surface of quiet water pop up all over the world.
It doesn’t grow tall or bloom bright, but it does one thing extraordinarily very well. It grows fast.
Duckweed can double its mass every 24 to 48 hours. Okay, I don’t think you fully understand what I just said. It can double itself in 1-2 business days. I can’t think of anything that grows that fast, but I wish I could harness its energy and apply it to my blog somehow.
Anyway, its protein content can soar to 45% at dry weight, which is rivaling eggs and surpassing soy if you’re keeping track.
It’s rich in nutrients like magnesium, calcium, and vitamin A, and some varieties even contain bioavailable B12…something incredbly rare in the plant kingdom.
Duckweed isn’t new, it’s just been hiding in plain sight. Or, we’ve ignored it in plain sight for a while…either or.
In Southeast Asia, people have eaten duckweed for centuries, particularly in Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar, where it’s called kai naam or "water egg." Locals harvest it fresh, toss it into soups, or deep-fry it into crispy snacks that I’m dying to try. It’s long been a rural secret there, nutritious, easy to grow, and remarkably filling.
In Ayurvedic medicine, duckweed was used to treat fever, skin inflammation, and even ulcers. In traditional Chinese texts, it's mentioned as a cooling herb that helps clear heat from the body. Now, in a world reeling from heatwaves and over-farming, we’re finally remembering this floating miracle.
The Environmental Equation
I love beef, and I’m all about a good ribeye (yeah, I like the fatty pieces), but beef requires over 1.5 acres per animal, depending on the feed system. Don’t even get me started on the wellness of these animals which will ruin my entire morning, or the way their lives are in these food systems.
Soy takes around ~1 acre to yield 2,500 lbs of beans.
Enter our new friend, duckweed, and you’ll find it can produce 10–20 tons of dry biomass per acre per year, and most of it’s protein.
Beef also uses 1,800 gallons per pound of meat, which isn’t great. Duckweed grows in shallow water, and requires 90% less than alfalfa or soy. A significant improvement on other greens and just completely decimates beef.
They also claim that cattle is one of the largest contributors to methane, which is 28x more potent than CO2. I’m not a scientist, and I haven’t done the math myself, but duckweed absorbs carbon, doesn’t emit methane, and can even purify wastewater as it grows. Seems like a low-key win to me.
If there were ever a plant designed for a climate-challenged world, duckweed would be it.
Like France’s fusion reactor becoming the hottest place in the solar system, this is science that seems like magic, but isn’t.
From Pond to Protein Powder
Modern technology is catching up to duckweed’s potential as startups across the globe are creating high-protein powders for athletes and vegans, as well as meatless patties with duckweed as a base. I haven’t had the pleasure of finding one of these burgers yet or I would’ve tried them, so I can’t really remark on the flavor. Honestly, fried duckweed is probably more up my alley (I’m obsessed with fried artichokes). Nutritional drinks that blend duckweed with pea protein and adaptogens seem to be hitting the market in some regions as well.
NASA has even explored duckweed for long-term space missions. I mean, that makes a ton of sense, its quick growth, minimal space requirements, and high nutrient content make it a dream candidate for closed-loop life support systems. Just like our astronaut Captain Sudhanshu Shukla who is attempting to grow superfoods aboard the ISS this month: green gram (moong) and fenugreek (methi)!
I think about a Martian greenhouse with small pools of duckweed feeding astronauts, oxygenating the air, while reminding us of Earth. I love this idea.
Sound familiar? It’s the same dream behind my Blockchain Botany game I’ve been working on, where life springs from soilless futures and survival comes one leaf at a time.
Can Duckweed Replace Meat?
I’d love to say yes, but realistically, no plant is going to make you forget the sear of a ribeye or the pull of shredded chicken after its been slow roasted.
But, at the same time, duckweed isn’t trying to impersonate meat, it’s offering something different with its neutral, mild flavor that blends into anything. It’s a complete protein without the carbon baggage, as well as fast, local, and a regenerative food.
It's a complement to a smarter food system, not a clone of the old one. One that doesn't rely on CAFOs or slash-and-burn agriculture and doesn't turn forests into feedlots. In the shift toward sustainable eating, duckweed is less a substitute and more a solution.
Let’s bring it home. You, me, and a pot of boiling water or a whirling blender with a tiny scoop of powder that smells faintly of fresh-cut grass. Duckweed enters your kitchen with no marketing buzz, and no neon labels. Just a green dusting on your pasta dough, a swirl in your morning smoothie, any way to get a dash of it into your food.
Lentil-Duckweed Soup: Add 1 tbsp of duckweed powder to your favorite red lentil soup and finish with lemon.
Pesto Upgrade: Blend basil, garlic, olive oil, pine nuts, and 1 tsp duckweed powder for a next-level protein hit.
Green Pancakes: Oat flour, banana, duckweed, and cinnamon for breakfast that feeds more than your belly.
Start small, the future usually does.
Here’s a link to a duckweed protein powder that’s clean and easy to try. I only link what I’d eat myself or feed to my future pro wrestling star husband!
This isn’t about m hating on kale (I really hate kale) and this isn’t about tofu (actually like tofu). This is about reinventing what food can be and about looking at a pond and seeing a pantry.
It’s more about feeding 10 billion people with a plant that floats and remembering that the future isn’t always shiny or synthetic, sometimes, it’s soft and green and growing in the margins.
Just like the mushroom that eats plastic, duckweed is a signal and a gentle reminder that maybe we’ve been searching too far when the answers are floating right in front of us.
Related Reads:
Some Trees Glow Under UV Light (And Why That Feels Like Magic)
10 Plants You Can Grow Indoors Year-Round (Even If You Don’t Have a Green Thumb)
We won’t save the world with one plant, but we can begin with one idea.
Duckweed is an idea whose time has come: green, small, and impossibly hopeful. I think that’s what the future needs, not another product, just a promise to find use in what’s already there.
