Laverbread is the Welsh breakfast spread made from seaweed boiled into a dark purée.
It is prepared from laver, an edible red alga traditionally gathered along parts of the Welsh coast. The seaweed is washed and boiled for several hours until it becomes soft and thick, then it may be formed into cakes or served as a spread.
Laverbread is often eaten with oatmeal, fried as cakes, or served as part of a cooked Welsh breakfast alongside bacon and cockles. Its intense savory flavor and dark appearance distinguish it from fruit preserves and yeast-extract spreads.
Despite its English name, laverbread is not bread in the ordinary baked sense. The term describes the prepared seaweed food. In Welsh, it is called bara lawr, which can also be translated as “laver bread.”