Flight travel can be a cosmic yawn of boredom or an opportunity to think creatively. For Narayana Peesapaty, Research scientist at the International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), the in-flight time served plenty of food for thought. By the time the plane landed, Narayana Peesapaty had decided to make his in-flight idea of ‘edible cutlery’ a reality.

Narayana Peesapaty of BK Environmental Innovations Private Limited, a Hyderabad start-up company makes Edible Cutlery, using a mixture of sorghum jowar (corn), rice and wheat flour as an alternative to the environmentally-detrimental plastic and wood cutlery. According to Peesapaty, the sale of plastic cutlery growing at a rate of 30 per cent is generating significant non-biodegradable waste and contributing to overflowing landfills.

“Edible Cutlery is the only solution that provides the same convenience of disposable forks, spoons and chopsticks,” says Narayana Peesapaty.He shares his experience with www.nanomaya.com about his innovative product.

Nm: Why did you think of Edible Cutlery? Can you describe the Eureka moment?

NP: The concept of Edible Cutlery was born about 5 years ago, while returning from Ahmedabad to Hyderabad. Post Kandahar, in-flight catering most often carried plastic cutlery. Plastic cutlery being not quite convenient and thinking about the huge garbage each plane load brings in, I was wondering could not be there any alternative? It was a two hour long journey from Ahmedabad to Hyderabad and with nothing else to think about, I set myself thinking about and by the time I landed, the EUREKA moment happened.

Nm: How long did you take to develop the product? Can you describe your experience during development?

NP: It was about three years of in-house (literally speaking) R&D. The Lab was the kitchen; I had to share with my wife. She is a fastidiously clean person and I an equally a fastidiously messy person. I was allowed entry only after her exit, which was usually after 10:00 PM if not later. But somehow, I was smitten by this Idea, that I would work alone (means, mess up the kitchen alone) till late into night, sleep at about 2:00AM and get up and get ready to catch my bus to ICRISAT (International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics).

The ICRISAT bus reaches sharp 6:50 and if I am late by a minute, I will have to either drive down or catch some other obnoxious public transport, neither of which is appealing. So, sleeping at 2:00 am, I used to get up by 5:30 am and hurriedly get ready for office. I would catch the rest of my sleep enroute, which is about an hour long drive of 40 Km. During the process of development, I actually set up a bhatti in the backyards of our apartments, made moulds out of clay and well, several such. Each of these indeed gives me pleasure to recall.

Nm: Were you confident it would work? Were people skeptical around you?

NP: I would not say I was confident, but somehow, I went along as if I was destined to do this. I really have no explanation to quit a well paying job as researcher in an International research institution, with quite a fair international exposure, a comfortable office and loads of respect… Even now, I just do not know why I did what I did and still continue to be doing (After quitting his ICRISAT job, Narayana Peesapaty has so far invested Rs 70 lakh in R&D of Edible Cutlery).

Nm: What has been the response so far?

NP: Not once did I hear any criticism. Incidentally, we were selected by CII as among top 10 sustainable businesses in the very year when we were incorporated, from a list of over 50 contenders… The media had been extremely supportive to us. The market too is reacting favorably now, after initial hesitation. The best part is, my relatives, who thought I was suffering from delusion and I would become ‘normal’ soon realized I was indeed serious and now, they too are being able to see the light.

Nm: Where is it available? What is the market you are looking at?

NP: Our product is not simply an alternative to plastic disposable cutlery. It is much more than that. It is so rich in nutrition that our products go beyond the cliched “cradle to grave”. It incidentally is good from womb to grave. Jowar is rich in Calcium, Iron, Phosporous, Minerals, Vitamins, Protiens, Fiber and is low on fat.

Thus, this is good for pregnant women, who generally are prescribed OTC medicines such as Calcium tab, Iron tonic and Digene. They need not buy these any more. Eat three of our spoons each time and you benefit as much as these medicines.

By the way, writing this to Nanomaya gave me a slogan - eat Bakeys Spoons and Keep medicines away (Not Just pregnant women).

Likewise, lactating mothers also stand to produce better quality milk. The best thing about our product is that it would be an excellent alternative to plastic teethers that are generally given to teething children. In case of plastic teether, the child produces saliva and swallows that. In our case, the child produces saliva, which dissolves some of the nutrients and when it swallows this, benefits nutrition. Growing children need nourishment for bone and muscle formation. The calcium, phosphorous and iron help in strong bone formation and proteins help in muscle development.

Adolescents, prone to tantrums (I have a teenage daughter and I how know!!) also benefit since the vitamins present helps reduce the stress levels due to hormonal changes. As adults, diabetes is competing with cell phone industry in growth rates. Jowar is known to be best for diabetics. Vitamins Niacin and Folic Acid present in Jowar have the property to dissolve cholesterol (another ailment growing like BSNL - growing, but slowly and surely).

As we age, we get prone to Arthritis / Osteoporosis. The calcium, Phosphorous and iron help prevent that.  Now these are the common ailments that a typical standard human faces and our product address all of them.Certainly, special cases like cancer, etc cannot be solved by our magic cereal. So, more than worrying about the environment, if we eat our spoons, we will have a healthy life and since we will not be using plastic spoons, the environment too will not get spoiled…..

Given the above, in Hyderabad, we are positioning them in Medical shops because through these outlets, one would be able to better appreciate the health advantages rather than be willing to pay a premium for an eco-friendly cutlery. It would be eventually, when we would be placing them in departmental stores.

Nm: Food products are getting highly innovative, there is GM food, and there is molecular mixology, where do you think it is heading?

NP: My fingers are still crossed.

Nm: What’s next for your company, any other products up your sleeve?

NP: We have several other innovative solutions for growing environmental problems such as plastic waste management, solid waste management, renewable energy and so on. However, as of now, we are completely focused on this first venture of ours - the Food Division.

Tags: BK environmental innovations, eco friendly, edible cutlery, ICRISAT, Narayana Peesapaty, Nutrition