Nils the Koster of Vlieland cheese has been elected Wadden Sea World Heritage Ambassador

2023-04-03

'We spread the sustainability message and that we operate in an unique area'

Nils the Koster, founder of Vlielander Zeewierkaas, was elected this month as Ambassador Wadden Sea World Heritage of Vlieland. A great opportunity, helping him spread his message about how healthy and delicious seaweed is. 'A spoonful of seaweed is too much for most people, but a piece of cheese with seaweed usually does work. And then you have a conversation...!'

Watching Nils move on Vlieland, you would think he has always lived there. However, he has only been living there for eighteen years. Right behind the lighthouse near the village, on the Vuurboetsduin, is his now well-known cheese bunker. A former water bunker that he has been using since 2015 to mature his organic Vlielander Bunkercheese, including his flagship organic seaweed cheese. It is that cheese with which he expresses his love for the Wadden Sea and his belief in seaweed. A love that began more than a decade ago in his own little kitchen.

‘How food-safe was the processing of seaweed really?’

‘One silly day while making cheese I thought: could I add something from the island to this cheese? For example, could I do something with all the seaweed that grows here and otherwise lies rotting away every summer?' The idea intrigued him, after which he went around the island looking for suitable fresh seaweed which he then hand-picked, dried and processed. With good results. A romantic idea that also turned out to have a practical downside. Because not much later the questions came from the Dutch Food Safety Authority (NVWA): How food safe was this processing of seaweed for consumers really?

That was the moment Nils came into contact with North Sea Farmers. 'For North Sea Farmers, this was a clear-cut case, because they know all these parties,' Nils says. 'So in recent years they have played an important role in the whole food safety program required for the seaweed cheese. In that, people from the NVWA came to take samples to see how many heavy metals and contaminants were in fresh, dried and processed seaweed. If you have to do all that yourself, you get depressed at the very thought. Moreover, I noticed that a lot of doors were now opening. If Mr. The Koster knocks on the NVWA's door, they don't know me. The do know NSF and that makes a difference.'

'Then I put on my boots, and go collect Ulva on the Wad'

Meanwhile, seaweed cheese has become indispensable on Vlieland. Nils Koster started growing the seaweed himself for it. In 2015, he started with a test plant of Ulva, Sea Lettuce, and 8 years later he is still doing it. On a small scale, deliberately. 'Then I put on my boots and go up the mudflats for a bit. There's no tractor involved.' After picking, he rinses the seaweed after which it is dried and processed in a separate room. 'As early as half an hour after it comes out of the sea, it's in the dryer,' says Nils. 'That gives the most beautiful product.

The small-scale way Nils handles this growing reflects the heart of his business. One of the traits befitting an ambassador of Wadden Sea World Heritage. 'In everything we do, we always treat the Wadden Sea very carefully. It is an insanely special area. If you want to know how beautiful it is, all you have to do is walk along the Wadden Sea for half an hour and witness what goes on there. Every day it is high and low tide twice, there are storms or it’s windless, there is sunshine.... There is a world of diverse birds. Life on land, on the seabed and in the air. And every season looks different. You have to be careful with that.

'Then the next time they come across something with seaweed, they try it'

He also tries to give that message to the tourists who visit the island and his cheese bunker. 'We receive a lot of people in the bunker, where they can take a tour that is full of information about the environment, how we work, and how we get around on the Wad. We are also an organic company, we carry the sustainability message and that you operate in a unique area. In it, we also talk about the benefits of seaweed. Afterwards, they get a cheese tasting.'

And therein lies Nils' trump card. For on the cheese board is his seaweed cheese. 'You can't get a spoonful of seaweed in with most people, whereas if you give them a piece of seaweed cheese, they often taste it. How nice and tasty, you hear, what more can you do with that? Then you have a conversation. There are always a lot of questions about that, which you can then discuss in a fun way. That's what me and my colleagues try to convey without being pedantic. Next time they come across something with seaweed in the store, they will try it.

'Then the next time they come across something with seaweed, they try it'

He also tries to convey that message to tourists who visit the island and its cheese bunker. 'We receive a lot of people in the bunker, where they can take a tour that is full of information about the environment, how we work, and how we get around on the Wad. We are also an organic company, we carry the sustainability message and that you operate in a unique area. In it, we also talk about the benefits of seaweed. Afterwards, they get a cheese tasting.'

And therein lies Nils' trump card. For on the cheese board is his seaweed cheese. 'You can't get a spoonful of seaweed in with most people, whereas if you give them a piece of seaweed cheese, they often taste it. How nice and tasty, you hear, what more can you do with that? Then you have a conversation. There are always a lot of questions about that, which you can then discuss in a fun way. That's what me and my colleagues try to convey without being pedantic. Then the next time they come across something with seaweed in the store, they will try it.'

'Seaweed is a fantastic product, full of vitamins and minerals'

He thinks everyone should eat seaweed. 'It's a fantastic product, full of vitamins and minerals. A spoonful of seaweed through your food and then you can omit the steak. And it grows for free and for nothing. I'm not going to save the world with my product, but I do create a bit of awareness in people.'

Despite the fact that almost no tourist goes back to the mainland without a piece of seaweed cheese, there are still some challenges for Nils as a seaweed entrepreneur. 'I am a very small business that does have organic certification. Then it takes a lot of time and administration and bureaucracy to meet all those conditions that come with it. At a time when we need to switch to organic, I think the government can make it a little easier for us. I understand very well that some farmers do not go organic because of all the fuss involved.

'Competition would do biocontrol good'

He refers to Skall's biocontrol, where all administration still has to be done on paper. 'They don't have any software for that yet, now everything is a bit of a wood string so. Moreover, in the Netherlands we have no competition in that field. It is different in Germany. There are many more organizations there that are allowed to do the checking. Competition that can provide some customer friendliness, convenience and low threshold.'

For now, Nils is still very happy that he stayed on the island eighteen years ago after summer work. That he is now one of the ambassadors of Wadden Sea Heritage, who each tell the story of the Wadden in their own way, he experiences as an honor. 'It means a piece of recognition, that you operate in an area in a conscious way and that you are allowed to propagate that. The Wadden Sea World Heritage Site has no value if no one knows about it. If it is promoted from different sides, you get a more diverse image. An honor, fun to do and good for also generates nice attention.'

Learn more about Vlieland organic seaweed cheese at De Vlielander Kaasbunker – Zeewierkaas, excursies en proeverijen