Arc’teryx Has Helped Create World-First Sustainable Trail Food & Edible Tableware (& You Can Try it Yourself!)

Tired of plastic-wrapped, preservative-stuffed trail food and heavy tupperware weighing down your pack? An innovative collab between Arc’teryx, Rough Rice, and Other Matter has put zero-waste trail food and edible tableware on our list of camping must-haves.

We love hitting the trails. We also love eating yummy food while on the trails.

The thing is, the current trail food landscape needs a shake-up. Products are usually loaded with preservatives and often come dehydrated (which has about 97% less nutrition compared to freeze-dried products).

Trail food is commonly wrapped in plastic, while reusable tableware is made of plastic, is bulky and heavy to carry, which isn’t conducive to a long hike.

But what if I told you the future of trail food and tableware could look totally different? What if trail food was delicious, sustainable, natural, and preservative-free? And what if you could eat your tableware once you’re done with it?

Well, that’s the kind of future we’re looking at, thanks to some seriously cool innovators who are reimagining what trail food and outdoor sustainability look like.

Future Trails – Redefining Outdoor Food & Tableware

I recently had the pleasure of nabbing a sneak peek of Future Trails, a public concept launch, panel chat, and tasting where I glimpsed into the future of sustainable trail food combined with edible, algae-based bioplastic tableware.

Future Trails is part of Melbourne Design Week and the Material Matters 02 exhibition, which examines the development and application of sustainable materials. It’s a joint collaboration between Arc’teryx, Rough Rice, and Other Matter – three pioneers of outdoor sustainability and innovation.

Together, they’re disrupting the linear narrative of ‘buy, produce, dispose’ for a future that’s circular and transparent, while redefining what outdoor food can and should be – natural, nutritious, lightweight, and sustainable.

At its heart, Future Trails aims to change the way people relate to and care for nature, through design and cuisine. Through the combination of Other Matter’s algae-based bioplastics, and with Rough Rice’s locally sourced and fermented trail food, Future Trails seeks to introduce circular, zero-waste principles to outdoor nutrition.

The Problem with Trail Food & Plastic in Our Wild Places

Modern trail food and its packaging are creating big problems in our natural spaces. We’re using super strong, long-lasting materials for items we only use once – or a few times at most.

The thing is, most plastics come from petroleum oil, which is made from ancient fossil fuels buried deep in the earth. This oil is incredibly old, dating back to when only microscopic life forms existed. We dig up this old oil to make products that we use for a short time, but then they take forever to break down.

Did you know the estimated time it takes for petrochemical plastics to degrade isn’t based on how long the plastic itself lasts, but how long it might take for microbes to evolve to break it down?

That’s why artist and innovator Jessie French from Other Matter – an experimental studio working with algae-based bioplastics – started looking at ways to use natural materials to create packaging for trail food. She designed 100% natural, ultralight edible tableware that’s easy to carry in, and you don’t need to pack it out.

Jessie French from Other Matter | Photo by Arc’teryx

Is the tableware really edible? What does it taste like?

Technically, the tableware, made from algae-based substances (seaweed) is edible, but not in the way you think.

You could theoretically eat it, but it’s chewy and would give your jaw a good workout. Instead, Jessie has designed the tableware in a way that when you’re finished with it, you simply pop it in your Jetboil and let it dissolve into a nourishing broth you can drink.

The texture of the bowls and cups is quite soft, but it effectively holds hot liquid and is even washable.

Jessie said the broth is essentially flavourless, but as it’s algae-based, it’s packed with B vitamins, vitamin K, iron, magnesium, calcium, iodine, and more.

I reckon it’s a super innovative way to leave absolutely no trace while on the trails!

A Future with More Sustainable, Tasty Trail Food

Adam James, AKA owner of Rough Rice is the sustainable food man behind Future Trails. He’s a food innovator, fermenter, and flavour alchemist based in lutruwita / Tasmania. Adam is a Churchill Fellow (global fermentation techniques) who’s endlessly inspired by nature.

Adam Jones from Rough Rice | Photo by Arc’teryx

Adam’s focus is on reimagining outdoor and adventure food with an emphasis on nutrition, sustainability, and deliciousness. Rough Rice already has a range of creative ferments, made without added sugar, vinegar, or stabilisers, and is continuously innovating.

Adam’s goal is to create tasty, sustainable trail snacks and food that tastes good and makes you feel good with no fillers, nasties, or numbers.

We got to sample some of his creations including:

• Rough Bites – hemp seeds, organic oats, leatherwood honey, sauerkraut, saltbush, wakame, buckwheat, quinoa, and hemp oil
• Golden Roughs – crunchy golden bites of biodynamic brown rice (think Twisties) seasoned with sea lettuce, shiitake, and lovage (umami dust)
• Wallaby Biltong – Bruny Island wallaby marinated in Fire Tiger (a fermented health tonic made from organic turmeric, ginger, various vegetables, and medicinal spices, designed to boost gut health, immunity, and digestion), and ten-year ‘Mothership’ (hot sauce with fruit, veg, and chilli) to enhance, preserve, and neutralise gaminess
• Shiitake Crisps – freeze-dried local shiitake seasoned with last apriboshi, lovage, and kelp. Crunchy and earthy with a yummy umami flavour
• Vitality Broth – fermented turmeric, shiitake, wakame, hemp, preserved lemon, fermented chilli, sea salt. Like a hug from the inside

All of these snacks were 10/10 delicious and the exact type of food you want to nourish and energise you when hitting the trails.

Arc’teryx: Leading the Charge for Sustainable Trails

And where does Arc’teryx come into this? You probably know Arc’teryx for being a global outdoor apparel company renowned for its technical high-performance gear and equipment.

However, Arc’teryx is always on the lookout for better, more innovative solutions to make our time in nature more eco-friendly and sustainable.

Arc’teryx marketing manager AUNZ Hayden Stevens told WAE, ‘At Arc’teryx, our core belief is ‘there is always a better way’: a never-ending process of testing and refining, forever focussed on making life better for the Mountain Athlete.

‘In the process, we discovered that the better we made our products, the longer they lasted, lowering their environmental impact.

‘As designers, we recognise that not all innovations come from us: it’s by supporting the wider industry, particularly local artists and makers, that progress truly happens. Our work with Other Matter and Rough Rice is an opportunity to find ‘a better way’ in an area often overlooked by the outdoor industry.’

Experience the Future Trails Exhibition for Yourself

If you’re keen to see what the future holds for sustainability and outdoor dining, you can check it out for yourself at Melbourne Design Week on Friday 24th of May 2024. 

Attend the public concept launch, panel chat, and tasting of sustainable trail food with edible, algae-based bioplastic tableware.

Join the conversation about redefining what outdoor food can and should be – natural, nutritious, lightweight, and zero waste.

Grab Your Ticket