Donât edible spoons, chopsticks, plates, bowls, and cups sound delicious, better than the actual meal?
The full-fledged edible-packaging revolution aimed at reducing single-use containers and plastic waste is here to stay! (A peaceful one)Â
If we canât stop eating, at least we shouldnât waste our pastic utensils and cutlery no more!
I never thought I would be saying this but yesterday as the final course and component of my dinner, I ate edible utensils. Yes, I said it. Iâm not a garbage truck, Iâm human and they were quite deliciousâââpossibly the placebo effect on saving the earth and feeling healthier strengthened the taste.
The plant-based revolution around burgers to milk have come in hot lately as people have finally realized the 80/20 method of staying healthy. 80% of what you eat, 20% how you exercise will keep you on the best track. You cannot erase that milkshake from last night but should enjoy it once in a while instead. A healthy food relationship is key to longevity.
As a skeptic of anything that is called pea milk, I had to learn about the true nutrients inside these products. Whatever I can do to help the planet, Iâm all in for but I also proceed with caution when ingesting any food creation shaped like forks. Veggie chicken nuggets or fake fish from plants donât sound so scary after all.
Too Good To Be Tasty
Sadly, food scientists still have a ways to go when it comes to adding deliciousness to meat-based alternatives. Although Beyond Meat, its rival, the Impossible Burger, and in the beverage space, Oatley seem to tout how exceptional and healthy they are, once you dig into the ingredients, they do in fact have more sugar and salt than regular burgers. Ditch the calorie count since they donât tend to keep people satiated any longer either.
The devil is in the details.
If youâre going to promote a brand thatâs saving our animals, there needs to be a compelling reason itâs actually better for us to eat not just for the manufacturers to cheaply process and slap on misleading labels. No wonder self-help and dieting sells. They are a combined $700b industry!
In order to save our animals, we need balance and moderation is key in everything. If the average American didnât eat pounds of processed salty meat each year and instead tried alternative sources of protein such as nuts to legumes, beans to chickpeas, tofu, and fish from the ground, not only would the world will be healthier, leaner, have stronger brainpower, and follow the blue zone lifestyle of being more relaxed and centered, they will be happier and wealthier as well.
Health = wealth after all.
Although a skeptic, as a personal finance reporter, advocate, and blogger, my mission is to test out these new overpriced creations in this space to see if itâs worth the buck. It was the least I could do to save the planet and curate my pallet.
The Deal With Edible Cutlery
Not what I was expecting. Well, Iâm not a picky eater so itâs a bit biased but according to my picky vegan intermittent fasting pals as well, without getting into all the details of the flavors, tastes, and smells, once you train yourself to bite into utensils and accept it as part of the meal, it tastes like regular food since these products are made from tasteless wheat and rice.
This edible creation, not only prevents waste but is a light delicacy. Although it may be seen as a waste of precious inflationary funds at first, compared to regular utensils or the act of cleaning it, it saves an incredible amount of waste and plastic that ends up in our oceans each year.
The edible cutlery is made of three flours: rice, weather, and sorghum. It tastes like a water or just rice. Who doesnât like those? OPRAH LOVES BREADDDD I was surprised myself and hadnât heard of the cutlery revolution.
This Kickstarter campaign Edible Cuterly: The Future of Eco-Friendly Utensils offered has already been backed by a 9k+ investors online and personally something I wanted to try out right when I saw it. Itâs rare to see something simple and practical on these VC funding pages. Itâs usually another lethal version of Facebook such as Trumpâs conservative TruYou Social that debuted last week and already crashed.
When I was first introduced to edible cutlery a.k.a utensils scrolling on KickStart for fun to see the ventures that will hopefully fix the problems that Big Tech or any other meme company has created, I believe this is such a useful and beneficial tool not just for life but for our wallets as well.
Wallet Impact
The reason I bring up this neat solution is because it is something Iâve always pondered myself. As a frugal minimalist living in NYC, although tempting, I try to limit eating out to 2x per month, not week, since not only is there so much wasted plastic with extra plastic utensils packed in the delivery that no one wants to reuse but there is an exorbitant cost to using unicorn food delivery chains that end up getting cold food in front of my door anyways. From shipping to the tip, it usually costs more than the order itself. Alongside my delivery, inside the order, the restaurant usually packs extra plastic utensils that I prefer not to use at home.
According to the campaign, about 40 BILLION plastic utensils are used within the US per year. This revolution wonât be imminent. It will take time and convincing. The same type of convincing to eat chicken on the bone.
Coastal cities-NYC, L.A, Miami, account for more than three-quarters of wasted plastic and waste with delivery chains and less cooking. Developed high populated countries such as the U.S. China, and India waste the most. More people means more tummies that need to be filled.
The thing that irks me the most with plastic utensils is that they are designed to only be used once. Do you use plastic spoons for breakfast and dinner? I didnât think so.
This Kickstarter campaign has currently ells 1.5 million spoons each year and are currently fundraising $20k. Their facility hopes to be able to produce 800k spoons of utensils each day.
Although you may not be hooked on rice spoons that taste just like water with 0 calories, the spoons come in various flavors such as:
-Sugar
-Ginger-Cinnamon
-Ginger-Garlic
-Cumin
-Celery
-Black Pepper
-Mint-Ginger
-Carrot-Beetroot
Size of the Market
Although I may be the first person youâve heard of that is eating such strange products, the edible cutlery market size is estimated to be worth $29.5 million by 2025! If any of these companies go public, their valuation is bound to boom, possibly as high as EV on a good day.
Edible Cutlery was the company I tested yet there are various other players in the market that have started as early as 2018 with Gajamukha Foods company under the brand name, Edible Pro. Product. Funny enough, North America dominated the market accounting for more than a 35% share of global revenue in 2018 according to Grand View Research.
With the heightened awareness around waste, pollution, environmental protection, agricultural production, lower carbon emissions, and eco-friendly products in the beverage, food, and now edible utensils space, the U.S. and Canada are leading the charge and playing an essential role in promoting the use of this edible utensils.
If thereâs a way to promote being healthy, Americans will cling to this health trend in no time. This is definitely a space to watch out for since eating is one of lifeâs main pleasures.
Although I suggest everyone live to work not work to live, itâs okay to confess you live to eat.