He Failed 88 Times to Make an Edible Spoon. Now, It’s Finding Its Way to Dining Tables

An edible spoon is cutlery made from food ingredients rather than conventional disposable material. Edybites uses a millet and flour-based formulation, including sorghum, corn flour and wheat flour. The spoon is designed to hold food during a meal and then become part of the meal itself. This matters because ordinary disposable spoons may be used for only a few minutes before being thrown away.

The concept was demonstrated at Niki Rai’s Ganpati gathering in Mumbai. Guests used the spoons with dessert, and children began biting into them as crunchy snacks. The spoons can be made in flavours such as chocolate, which pairs with vanilla ice cream and makes the idea easier to try.

If someone does not eat the spoon, Edybites says it is designed to naturally decompose. Its shelf life is about three months without refrigeration. The approach aims to make a convenient alternative to disposable plastic cutlery, rather than simply asking people to use less.

At Niki Rai’s Ganpati gathering in Mumbai, dessert was served with an unusual instruction: guests should keep their spoons. Rai had already explained that the cutlery was edible, but many people remained unsure. The moment challenged the usual idea that a spoon is only a tool and must be thrown away after eating.

Rai handed the children dessert with the edible spoons and told them, “Now this is your biscuit.” The children quickly started biting into the spoons. They treated the cutlery as a crunchy snack rather than merely using it to carry food. The adults were more cautious and watched first to see whether the idea really worked.

The reaction soon spread. Other guests wanted to taste the spoons as well, turning the dessert into a small spectacle. Rai later recalled that it was worth the attention. The spoons were made by Mumbai-based startup Edybites, which is developing alternatives to disposable cutlery waste.

Rupesh Sanghvi says he failed 88 times while developing a usable Edybites spoon. The number shows that making edible cutlery involved much more than shaping a food mixture like a spoon. Every attempt had to solve several practical problems at once. It needed to work reliably during an actual meal, not merely look like cutlery.

Each version was tested for shape, size, weight and sturdiness. The spoon had to carry food without breaking or collapsing. At the same time, it could not become so hard that people found it uncomfortable to bite. The balance was difficult because the ingredients also affected how quickly the spoon became soggy.

The formulation uses sorghum, corn flour and wheat flour, along with other ingredients. Sanghvi says the exact recipe is proprietary. Too much flour could make the spoon soggy, while too much firmness could make it difficult to eat. The final product also includes flavour experiments, including chocolate.

Rupesh K Sanghvi founded Edybites in 2022. Before that, he spent more than 17 years in the aviation and travel industry, working in sales and business development with airlines including Malaysia Airlines, Flydubai, Malindo Air and Kuwait Airways. His work exposed him to the large amount of disposable material moving through flights.

After a flight landed, used food packaging and cutlery had to be discarded. Some meal components could not be reused because of safety rules and airline policies, even when passengers had not consumed them. This experience led Sanghvi to ask whether at least one small part of an airline meal could be made differently.

He first imagined edible spoons for yoghurt, pastries, desserts, dal khichdi and sambar rice on flights. Aviation remains one area of interest, alongside hospitals, institutional catering and events. His wider goal is to make an alternative convenient enough for people to use.

If someone does not eat an Edybites spoon, it is designed to naturally decompose. That gives the product a second end-of-use path: it can be consumed as food, or it can break down instead of remaining as ordinary disposable waste. The spoon is made from a millet and flour-based formulation, rather than being intended only as a short-lived object.

The problem is simple but widespread. A disposable spoon may help someone finish a meal in a few minutes, then be thrown away. Sanghvi noticed a similar issue in aviation, where food packaging and cutlery were discarded after flights. Safety rules and airline policies could prevent reuse even when food components had not been consumed.

Edybites is trying to make a different choice convenient. Its spoon is meant to replace at least one disposable item in settings such as flights, hospitals, institutional catering and events. The broader aim is practical adoption, not only telling people to reduce plastic use.

Edybites has focused on spoons because they present a more manageable technical challenge than some other edible items. A spoon needs to carry food for the duration of a meal, but it does not usually need to contain a liquid for a long period. That makes it a practical first product for testing edible cutlery.

Cups create a tougher problem. When edible material is expected to hold tea or coffee, it can soften. It may also affect the eating experience. These demands make it harder to preserve the item’s structure while keeping it pleasant to eat. The spoon avoids some of that prolonged contact with liquid and can be introduced through familiar foods.

Dessert is especially suitable because chocolate spoons pair naturally with vanilla ice cream. People may be more willing to eat a spoon after dessert than change every piece of cutlery used during a full meal. Edybites is also interested in hospitals, catering, events and aviation.

A grain-based spoon must balance strength with eatability. It needs enough sturdiness to hold food without breaking, bending or collapsing during a meal. Yet it cannot be so firm that biting into it becomes uncomfortable. The material must work as cutlery first and as food afterward, which creates two different performance demands.

Edybites tests each version for shape, size, weight and sturdiness. The formulation includes sorghum, corn flour and wheat flour, along with other ingredients. Sanghvi says the exact recipe is proprietary. The proportions matter because they influence both the spoon’s structure and its texture.

Too much flour can make the spoon become soggy quickly. Too much firmness can make it difficult to bite. The successful balance is therefore strong enough for food, resistant enough for normal use, and pleasant enough to eat. Chocolate is one flavour variant, helping the spoon fit naturally with desserts.