EARLIER THIS YEAR, we reported on how Soylent, a food formula created from factory produced ingredients, is growing massively in popularity.
It has been branded as the ultimate convenience food – it cuts down on time spent buying, making, and eating food, but delivers everything you need to function.
The food raised hundreds of thousands in its crowdfunding campaign, surpassing targets, showing monumental public demand for this almost alien form of food.
Soylent’s formula was designed to give your body the exact right mix of nutrients it needs to power itself.
However, it is somewhat unnatural. It’s a collection of powders, not extracts or parts of naturally grown plants, which while Soylent can appeal to health-conscious people, this unorganic element could put many off.
Enter Ambronite - and it’s quickly following Soylent’s path.
Created by a group of Finns who enjoy setting up start-up companies, climbing rocks, running triathlons and marathons – oh, and one is a former navy combat diver – this meal-in-a-bag formula is created entirely from organic ingredients.
“We had been solving the problem of busy eating for a long time, each of us from our own viewpoint,” co-founder Simo Suoheimo told TheJournal.ie in an email exchange.
“I’d been preparing drinkable meals since 2007, and in early 2013 we got together and started developing the ultimate, nutrition recommendation fulfilling recipe with experts.”
The result is nicknamed Ambro, and the company this week launched a crowdfunding campaign to step up production, raising more than $42,000 in less than a week.
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The taste is apparently similar to nuts and oats, with a “hint of herbs and berries in the mix”, Suoheimo described, but that people will often mix it into a smoothie or with other foods – avocado and apple juice is apparently a favourite mix.
In theory, it’s totting up everything your body needs, but Suoheimo said that “substituting every meal has never been the point.”.
“Every person has different needs depending on many factors, such as physiological and lifestyle factors”
Unnatural
While it is a very similar product to Soylent, Suoheimo said that for some people, the unnatural element of their ‘rival’ is just not for them.
“We use nature’s best real food ingredients, such as organic nuts, herbs and wild berries from the Arctic Circle, whereas Soylent uses synthetic ingredients to serve a different kind of audience”, he said.
Given growing concerns over a growing population, but a shrinking amount of space available for agriculture, Suoheimo added that they are trying to take this into account.
We use the world’s most nutrient dense ingredients, and because we carefully grind them down into a fine, dry powder, we get long shelf lives and thus can minimize spoilage.
“Ambronite is supplied as a dry powder, minimizing weight, space and our logistics footprint.”
“Many of our most nutrient dense ingredients, such as bilberries, are wild and thus require no farming at all,” he added.
Given these concerns, with UN reports warning that a growing population is going to need an ever increasing amount of farmland, and with lifestyles becoming busier, it’s likely that these meal-in-a-bag formulas are going to begin cropping up more and more.
At the time of writing, Ambronite is just $6,500 short of its goal of $50,000 in funding after 5 days of campaigning, and could become a player in this field.
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