ReArk Regenerative Foods

Long description

This project comes at a time when confections are posing a significantly negative impact on human health, communities, and the environment. With sugary products responsible for close to 40% of all healthcare costs, child and slave labor in regions like West Africa, and production significantly contributing to environmental destruction, something has to change.

ReArk is a new brand of confection that regenerates human and environmental well-being. The project posits that we purchase, fund, or create local, regenerative food ecosystems called “food forests”, that produce the ingredients for ReArk products. This would result in unique ingredients and recipes that change based on location and season, creating a dynamic treat that reflects the flavor profile of each community. The system itself is innovative in that, the use of food forests will regenerate the local environment and food culture, and the business model can help to regenerate the local economy and society, offering jobs and educational opportunities.

For now, we’ve imagined two flavors, one from Philadelphia (“Philly Fall”) and one from Cameroon (“Bafut June). We spoke with experts from both regions and prototyped the Philly Fall bar using locally sourced ingredients from farms in Pennsylvania that were recommended to us. We see this project as less of an idea for a new cash cow and more as a robust system for producing confections that we can actually call food and enjoy guilt-free. We feel that this project has the potential to change our relationship with candy, forever.

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