Neat on Suite: Edible Food Wrap?

Posted by Marci Hotsenpiller Aug 22, 2008

I did a quick search on Suite101 and found out how the two ideas can work together from Food Trends expert Mary Luz Mejia. It turns out she's an expert on how to “green” kids’ lunches and has written about it in “Eco-Friendly Lunch Tips for Back To School: How to Green Your Child's Lunch and Lunch Box”.

Mary Luz outlines 10 trends to help parents create “green” school lunches. Here are three:

1. The “Litterless Lunch”: Schools everywhere are implementing Litterless Lunch policies, which mean that parents can no longer send their kids to school with any quick fixes: plastic baggies, tetra packs, ready-made lunch packs or other disposable containers.

2. The Thermos Makes a Comeback! The old Thermos is back. This time it’s not limited to liquids and can be filled with homemade mac n’ cheese, chilies, soups, spaghetti with sauce and stews.

3. Edible Wrapping in the Future? Edible wrapping is under study by numerous groups including scientists at the Oregon State University. Combining fibre from shellfish and egg white protein mixed with powerful antimicrobials, this may soon be the wrapping of choice.

Edible wrapping? Will it be flavored at some point? I had to ask Mary Luz more about this:

“Chef Homaro Cantu in Chicago is already making edible menus out of soy and organic, edible ink, so I imagine it won't be too far down the road for edible packaging. If it's not littered with tons of chemicals and proves to be a healthy alternative to plastic and other packaging, it might be one solution towards a more litterfree lunch and existence. I wait to see what comes of this before my final verdict is reached.”

Find more of Mary Luz Mejia's Food Trend articles here on Suite. She has written for Saveur and Latina magazines, as well as for The Globe and Mail, Asian Gourmet Magazine, Edible Toronto, and Amoi. She’s also an associate producer and director at the Food Network.