One of the most wasteful and mostly non-biodegradable things we have lying around is food packaging. But if you buy your food or ingredients in “traditional” supermarkets or from the usual brands, you know that sustainable packaging is not their utmost priority. There are product designers and creators out there that are concerned about such things and so they are coming up with alternatives to the usual way food is packaged and eventually consumed.
Designer: Naama Nicotra
To address this particular issue, the designer came up with packaging that is not just eco-friendly but is actually edible. The material used is algae but don’t worry, you will not be consuming something that sounds or looks not so edible. The packaging material uses agar, an ingredient produced from algae. And what you get is packaging that is edible and soluble, from all these bio-plastic materials that do not contribute to global waste.
Basically, the NakedPack food wrap series is made up of food packaging and the actual food inside them, meaning you will be able to consume the entire thing as it’s just one serving. You have to rinse it and sometimes boil it before you are able to eat the entire thing. The idea is that nothing goes to waste and everything you need, including the ingredients and flavors, are already part of the whole package. There are currently five dishes in the series but the potential for more is there.
The naked soup is made from vegetable stock and dry-frozen vegetables which you just have to rinse and boil. The spaghetti is wrapped in bioplastic that is actually tomato sauce so once you boil it, you get your whole pasta with sauce dish. The curry dish has a Thai vegetable curry wrap with white rice inside so you already get a complete meal. The vegan lasagna has several ingredients including vegan cheese, tomato sauce, flat lasagna, and sheets of Beyond Meat. You even get a dessert with vanilla ice cream wrapped in raspberry sauce and this one actually looks like a fruit.
The NakedPack food wrap series is actually pretty interesting and can be used as an example of how packaging need not always be wasteful. My only concern here is the actual taste as that is a very important factor in whether I would get something. In terms of appearance, it’s not really appealing or instagrammable, but not everything you eat has to be, right? The important thing is that it tastes good and it’s sustainable, so at least for this one, they got the latter down pat.
