- Created on
- 28 August 2026
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- EU4Algae
Published on 28 August 2026
Eric Viard is the founder of Biovie, with a background in tropical agronomy and many years of experience in the organic sector. Drawing on professional experience across some forty countries, he has developed a strong commitment to ecology, sustainable food practices, and making living food and algae-based nutrition more accessible to a wider audience.
After working alongside organic farmers for about a decade, he founded Biovie in 2007, with the aim of sharing the values and lifestyle he believed in while helping make organic and living foods more accessible. Inspired in part by his experiences in Asia, where algae are widely integrated into everyday diets, he has worked to expand access to algae in France through products, educational resources, culinary training, books, podcasts, articles and other formats.
Eric is the co-author of Algues au Quotidien with Aurélie Viard. The book received recognition from the Gourmand Cookbook Awards 2025 and the Académie Nationale de Cuisine, with the latter marking what Eric describes as a genuine turning point in the perception of algae-based cuisine within the French gastronomic profession.
In this interview, Eric reflects on his journey from tropical agronomy and organic agriculture to algae-based nutrition, and shares how accessibility, education, customer collaboration and innovation have shaped Biovie’s approach. He also discusses the evolving recognition of algae-based cuisine and his vision for introducing algae more widely into everyday diets, particularly among younger generations.
1. As the founder of Biovie and a graduate in tropical agronomy with many years of experience in the organic sector, you have played an important role in promoting living food and algae-based nutrition in France. Could you tell us more about your journey, and how your personal experiences and professional background shaped your commitment to raw food, organic sustenance, and sustainable dietary practices?
I come from an entirely conventional family. From my teenage years onwards, I was drawn to ecology and to social commitment. When the time came to choose my studies, I initially turned to medicine, with the ambition of joining Médecins Sans Frontières – but the medical track ultimately did not open its doors to me. I then redirected my path towards tropical agronomy. Through my professional experiences abroad, across some forty countries, I came to realise that sustainable food practices were far more present in developing nations – quite simply because those countries did not enjoy the same level of economic resources as we did.
Throughout my studies, I worked exclusively in organic agriculture. And, 33 years ago, I decided to become vegetarian. I fairly quickly turned to algae as a reliable, sustainable source of plant-based protein – and one whose taste, above all, I found exceptional.
Early in my adult life, several people close to me passed away from illnesses such as cancer: the grandfather of my first three children, the mother of my first three children, and, more recently, my own mother. These experiences led me to question, deeply and quite early on, the impact that food can have on our health – and, more importantly, to realise the extent to which our eating choices are shaped by advertising and by family expectations rather than by science.
2. In the early 2000s, you identified a growing public interest in organic and healthy food, alongside a lack of accessible information and practical support regarding raw food. How did this observation inspire the creation of Biovie, and what motivated you to focus on making living food and products such as sprouted seeds and fresh seaweed more accessible to wider audiences?
After about a decade spent working alongside organic farmers, in 2007 I decided to start my own company, primarily to share the values and lifestyle I deeply believed in. Personal and professional travels in Asia introduced me to people who had integrated algae into their daily diets across every stratum of society – children, teenagers, adults, the elderly, working professionals, retirees and students alike. Algae are omnipresent in Asian cultures. They are widely used in every conceivable form, including as a “healthy” snacking option.
During those travels, I also had the sense of journeying back through time. And on my return to France, I felt the uncomfortable impression of stepping backwards on the dietary front, as finding algae-based alternatives was nowhere near as easy here as in Asia, where even the smallest neighbourhood grocery store offers dozens of options. All of this gave me the desire to make algae available for sale, particularly in France, and to provide accessible resources so that information and accessible educational content could reach a wider audience.
Beyond algae, and to speak more broadly, what primarily motivated me to create Biovie was the observation of a gap between French culture – with its deeply rooted gastronomic habits and a culinary heritage that delights the entire world, but which also acts as a brake on the arrival of new food trends and new ways of eating – and the rest of the world.
France carries considerable inertia in matters of gastronomy and cuisine, and the discoveries I was making in Australia, California and Asia took years to reach my own country. Despite the difficulties involved in shifting mindsets, I drew on the rich French heritage around algae, which I nonetheless consider underexploited.
The same is true of sprouted seeds: they appear either in atypical and vegetarian restaurants, or on the tables of Michelin-starred chefs. But just as seaweed on fishmongers’ stalls thirty years ago was viewed as a purely ornamental and decorative item, sprouted seeds in French culinary gastronomy remain largely a garnish – whereas we would all benefit greatly from their nutritional virtues by eating salads composed of half-sprouted seeds.
Recent research on broccoli sprouts and their sulforaphane content is regularly featured in the scientific press for its anti-cancer properties. I speak about it as often as I can, but this knowledge has yet to reach the wider public.
3. Over the years, Biovie has expanded its focus to include fresh seaweed and educational resources centred on algae-based cuisine. From your perspective, what makes algae such a valuable resource in terms of nutrition, sustainability, and the future of food systems?
One of Biovie’s foundational missions was to make algae easily available to the general public. Twenty-five years ago, in the early 2000s, I bought my own algae directly from Michel Coz, the founder of Bretalg, but the minimum order was 12 kg, shipped via a specialist carrier in a fishmonger’s insulated container. At the time, it struck me that this was only realistic for the most highly motivated individuals.
The very first step we took with Biovie was to make algae available in smaller packaging than 12 kg. We began with 1 kg, then moved down to 500 g. But offering algae alone was not enough; educational resources were also needed – culinary training, books, podcasts and articles. I have therefore worked steadily to make these resources available, drawing on Biovie’s 100,000 daily visitors to inform a broad audience.
Aurélie was the driving force behind the writing of the scientific section of Algues au Quotidien. Aware that numerous earlier works on algae had already been published, I set out on a scientific quest for a few forgotten gems capable of highlighting the pivotal role algae have played at certain moments in our history – such as the discovery of spirulina by a team of ethnologists from the French ORSTOM in Chad, or the anthropological findings around the so-called Kelp Highway along the American coastlines, which is thought to have enabled the first peopling of the American continent.
I am grateful to Aurélie for instigating this project and for finding the energy to motivate me to become a co-author. We are deeply gratified by the book’s reception.
To answer the question more fully: algae are, in my view, an extraordinarily valuable resource in nutritional terms. Consuming algae has none of the detrimental side effects associated with, for instance, eating meat – with its saturated fats, to name only one. In algae, everything is beneficial. The proteins are easily digestible, the minerals are present in great abundance, trace elements are well represented, and many molecules of interest to science and longevity research are also present.
I have also been struck by how unaware the general public remains of the environmental role of algae – namely, that algae sequester CO₂, whereas livestock farming releases it in massive quantities. Algae are an exceptional carbon sink, and beyond meeting nutritional needs, they also address environmental challenges and remain truly outstanding foods, offering a palette of tastes, textures, colours and translucent sensations far broader than other categories of land-based foods.
Aurélie speaks of a “gustatory odyssey”, a culinary odyssey, and I wholeheartedly agree with her.
4. A strong part of Biovie’s philosophy is the idea that healthy and organic food should not be reserved for experts or people with higher incomes. How have affordability, accessibility, and community-building shaped the way you have developed Biovie and promoted algae and living foods over the years?
Regarding making these foods accessible to a broad share of the population – and particularly accessible in financial terms – Biovie has positioned itself, from the very outset, as the sole intermediary between supplier and customer. We therefore handle every stage of the operation: packaging, importing, sourcing and selling.
In the wider economic landscape, much of the added value generated by a sale is typically absorbed by intermediary structures – distributors or resellers. In our case, online sales and the absence of physical shops have allowed us to act as the single intermediary.
The other choice I made – inspired by people who shop in organic stores – was to favour bulk and generous packaging. People can discover algae by buying small formats to begin with, or by tasting them at friends’ homes. But once algae become part of their daily routine, we offer generous, economical, family-sized packaging.
As a father of four children, with children under my roof since 1997, I am well placed to know that the food budget can sometimes weigh heavily on a family’s resources. That is why these considerations have always seemed essential to me, to remain accessible rather than elitist.
5. In addition to Biovie’s products, you have been involved in publishing books, writing articles, participating in podcasts, and delivering training related to raw food and algae. Why do you believe public education and practical guidance are so important when encouraging people to adopt more sustainable and health-conscious dietary habits?
I observe for myself that someone who works in the city and drives home in the evening is exposed to a genuine ideological bombardment – passing various fast-food outlets whose illuminated signs cannot fail to catch the eye, and perhaps ten or fifteen advertising billboards which, of course, extol the merits of processed or even ultra-processed foods.
Faced with this constant flow of commercial messaging that bears little relevance to health, it seemed essential to me to offer educational and nutritional counter-narratives, while striving to meet people where they are.
As everyone learns, informs themselves and seeks entertainment differently, at Biovie we have opted for a wide variety of formats: radio shows and podcasts, books, articles, infographics, videos, training programmes and social media posts.
Through all of these channels, I hope to engage consumers and help them realise that algae are a high-quality, affordable resource, easy to integrate into daily eating habits – and that consuming them is also a virtuous act for the environment.
6. Biovie’s development has also been shaped by collaboration – from customer feedback and partnerships with naturopaths to your work alongside Aurélie Viard. How have these collaborations influenced the evolution of your products, educational activities, and your approach to algae-based innovation?
I have always tried to stay close to our customers despite the distance imposed by the screen and the fact that we operate in a virtual rather than a physical shop – and this has been the case ever since 2007.
I have listened carefully to the needs people have shared with me: their wishes, their ideas and the contacts they pass on. The algae range we offer on Biovie today is, in fact, a reflection of that relationship we strive to maintain through modern means of communication.
It is also the fruit of my observation of certain processing practices, widespread in the agri-food sector, which sometimes deserve to be questioned, revisited and modified or improved.
Seven or eight years ago, for instance, I called into question the destructive temperatures at which algae were typically dehydrated. At that time, no one was producing low-temperature dehydrated algae – quite simply because it was not done, it was not known, it was not standard practice.
I encouraged my partner Bretalg to try the adventure of low-temperature dehydration; he listened to me and even went on to suggest the same to others. It was bold and innovative at the time – even risky. And today, it has become something of a norm in the algae-drying industry, at least in France.
So the range we have in our shop is at once a reflection of the collective needs expressed by our customers and the result of a personal determination to challenge what already exists – to identify what could change easily, simply by agreeing to question our cultural and professional assumptions.
7. In 2025, Algues au Quotidien, co-authored with Aurélie Viard, received major international and national recognition. In your view, what does this growing recognition of algae-focused cuisine say about changing attitudes towards marine plant foods and sustainable nutrition in Europe and beyond?
We were deeply moved by the recognition of the Gourmand Cookbook Awards 2025, but in truth, it was the recognition from the Académie Nationale de Cuisine in 2025 as well that marked a genuine turning point for us in the perception of French gastronomy.
This venerable institution is more accustomed to honouring chefs who sublimate French traditions. I was therefore very pleasantly surprised that our book was selected in the “cuisine et santé” (cuisine and health) category, and that it received the recognition of the French gastronomic profession. We look forward to receiving our prize, which will be awarded to us in December 2026.
For me, this recognition is, more than anything, a form of rehabilitation. It is not as though we had an innovative food appearing out of nowhere at the dinner table; rather, this food is already present and has been so for centuries among Asian peoples.
So, to my mind, it is an update, a dusting-off, a true rehabilitation. The red carpet we are rolling out for algae is, in truth, a reflection of a societal awareness that we can also nourish ourselves with foods that come from the sea – foods that are neither fish nor animals – and that this is beneficial for everyone, and very valuable for the environment as well.
8. Looking ahead, what opportunities do you see for algae within future food systems, and what are your hopes for the continued development of public awareness, sustainable consumption, and algae-based innovation in the years to come?
Looking to the future of algae, the most important focus, in my view, should be on children. There is much to be gained from drawing inspiration from the Korean model, where children consume algae every day in school canteens – not as main dishes made entirely of algae, but in dishes that are enhanced or sublimated with algae. This is documented by the Korean Ministry of Health, which has observed that this widespread initiative of offering algae daily to young Koreans in school canteens has had an extremely positive impact on public health.
The future, as I see it, lies with children, and algae would have everything to gain from being invited into the thematic weeks offered to schoolchildren across Europe – such as France’s “Semaine du Goût” (Taste Week). These would offer a simple opportunity to demystify the image that still clings to algae as something one merely steps on at the seaside.
Equally welcome would be support for innovation alongside Michelin-starred chefs, since starred chefs are widely recognised as a major source of gastronomic and culinary inspiration.
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