Exploring The WhatIF’s: This S’pore Startup Turns Instant Noodles, Soups Into Healthy Food

Exploring The WhatIF’s: This S’pore Startup Turns Instant Noodles, Soups Into Healthy Food

It’s not an understatement to say that Singaporeans are ardent lovers of food.

The city-state has often been fondly described as a ‘Nation of Foodies’, and even its hawker culture has managed to make it into the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list under the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

Unfortunately, most of Singapore’s beloved food are unhealthy, often laden with oil and heavily seasoned. It’s the same for snacks, which are usually high in calories with little nutritional value.

This is what food technologist Christoph Langwallner realised after the birth of his children.

“In my daily job, I needed to make snacks that are more delicious than the last. This meant adding more flavours that have little to no nutritional value, only to go home and discourage my kids from eating the food I made,” the Austria-born entrepreneur said.

He wanted to resolve this pain point and co-founded WhatIF Foods. The startup harnesses the power of Future Fit crops — crops that are nutritionally dense, climate resilient, and resource efficient — and incorporates them into familiar comfort foods.

This helps to enhance the food’s nutritional profile, while ensuring that they taste as yummy as ever.

The Nutritional Paradox

a woman holding a plate of food on a table: Image Credit: WhatIF Foods© Provided by Vulcan Post Image Credit: WhatIF Foods

WhatIF was started by five experienced scientists and executives in the food industry who have “had enough”.

Since bottomline was their top priority, they had to add artificial additives for more visual stimulation, more flavour enhancer to make the food “just a little bit more addicting”.

“Our food system has allowed for obesity and nutrient deficiency to co-exist, for non-communicable diseases to become the norm,” said Christoph, co-founder and CEO of WhatIF Foods.

According to WhatIF, seven out of 10 people suffer from what they eat. It added that eating too much kills three times more people than famine. This reality was later termed the Nutritional Paradox by the WhatIF team.

The Nutritional Paradox set Christoph to thinking, and he wondered if it was possible to diversify food sources by sowing climate-resilient, drought-tolerant and nutrient-rich Future Fit crops.

For the past six years, the team shuttled between the lab and the field, researching on Future Fit crops, and how to harness its potential to nurture people, the Earth and farmers.

WhatIF Foods was finally launched in 2020 after “a lot of bootstrapping due to unprecedented operational challenges the pandemic brought about, like border closures and disrupted supply chains.”

Despite the setbacks, the team decided to dive into the market to test whether WhatIF Foods’ value proposition would be well-received by consumers.

The first products launched were instant noodles and instant soups, which received “overwhelming support” from both consumers and the media.

The Best Of Both Worlds

a plate of food on a table: Image Credit: WhatIF Foods© Provided by Vulcan Post Image Credit: WhatIF Foods

Instant food, particularly instant noodles, is a guilty pleasure for many, and is often consumed as a quick lunch fix or a late-night snack.

Despite its convenience and often addictive taste, it has a bad reputation for being extremely unhealthy. These worries are alleviated with WhatIF’s healthy instant noodles.

Its instant noodles are dehydrated through steaming and high-velocity air instead of deep frying. This results in 55 per cent less fat, 130 per cent more dietary fibre and 110 per cent more protein than the typical ones on the market.

According to WhatIF Foods, its best-selling instant noodles are the BamNut Noodles with Sweet Hot Seasoning (S$3 per serving; box of five for S$15) and Moringa Noodles with Sesame Garlic Seasoning (S$2.70 per serving; box of five for S$13.50).

The noodles, together with the rest of its product range, are currently available on RedMart, Fairprice Online, Amazon.sg, Everyday Vegan Grocer, Nourish and Food Folks at Lau Pa Sat.

A Holistic Approach

When asked how WhatIF Foods stands out from other healthy food brands on the market, Christoph told Vulcan Post that the brand adopts a “holistic approach”.

The company first addresses the Nutritional Paradox by redesigning familiar convenience foods, which are notoriously low in nutritional content, into healthy options that nourish the consumer.

A guiding principle at WhatIF Foods is to take advantage of the natural inherent properties of ingredients, combine them with a strong understanding of taste, taste perception, the human palate, and knowledge on nutrition to create the final product.

It then sources for and innovates around raw, natural, but forgotten materials that benefit the planet. These are also termed as Future Fit Crops.

Some examples of Future Fit Crops include the Bambara groundnut and moringa, which are both used in WhatIF’s instant noodles.

WhatIF’s approach is best encapsulated by the venn diagram on its packaging / Image Credit: WhatIF Foods© Provided by Vulcan Post WhatIF’s approach is best encapsulated by the venn diagram on its packaging / Image Credit: WhatIF Foods

Bambara groundnut (or ‘BamNut’) is the key Future Fit ingredient used in all of WhatIF’s soups and shakes, as well as its high-protein BamNut noodle. It is an extremely hardy legume with the ability to grow in poor soil conditions and arid climate without the need of fertilisers or pesticides.

These traits make BamNuts the go-to ‘insurance’ crop for the financially-disadvantaged farming communities, providing them with a definite harvest and food source.

Traditionally, the Bambara groundnut has been consumed in various forms — they are eaten whole as snacks, cooked by boiling, roasting, and frying, or mixed into porridges and breads as flour.

WhatIF Foods strive to harness the raw potential of BamNuts as a Future Fit Crop, as it believes that to change our current food system, humans need to harness the resilience and nutrition of powerful plants.

By using these crops as ingredients, more sustainable agricultural practices around resource-efficient crops that can be grown on degraded, arable lands are promoted.

Lastly, it set up its supply chain in a way that rewards the most important stakeholders: the farmers. Specifically, WhatIF Foods tries to keep its supply chain short so as to work directly with farmers.

“This way, we provide value to the farmers via outreach programmes, whilst allowing them to capture more value by bringing them closer to the market. By growing Future Fit Crops on degraded lands, farmers also benefit from lands that would be otherwise be left economically unproductive,” said Christoph.

The Future Of Food

So far, Christoph is proud that the WhatIF team has “managed to preserve the integrity of the vision and mission that they have for the WhatIF Foods brand.”

Earlier in February, it was granted the Prime Minister’s Hibiscus Award in Malaysia. This was in recognition of the impact the brand drives with the use of Future Fit Crops.

“With this, we cannot wait to extend the impact we can create with Future Fit crops in our South East Asian region, growing resilient crops for an agrobiodiverse regional food system,” said Christoph.

Despite its successes, communicating the mission of WhatIF Foods remains a challenge. People want to be healthy or do good, but may act in ways which contradict their intent, since they are bounded by what is easily accessible.

At the moment, healthy, tasty, convenient foods that are good for the planet have not been widely present, but Christoph hopes WhatIF can bridge this gap.

“What we are doing at WhatIF Foods is to take away your sustainability and well-being headache and replace it with tasty, convenient and accessible foods that drive good impact for our planet, communities and your well-being,” said Christoph.

Featured Image Credit: WhatIF Foods

探索WhatIF's：这家新加坡创业公司将方便面，汤料转化为健康食品

可以肯定地说，新加坡人是美食爱好者。

这座城市国家经常被人们誉为“美食家之乡”，甚至其小贩文化也已使其跻身联合国教育，科学及文化组织（教科文组织）的人类非物质文化遗产名录。

不幸的是，新加坡最受欢迎的大多数食物都是不健康的，经常富含油且调味丰富。零食是一样的，它们通常是高热量的，几乎没有营养价值。

这就是食品技术专家克里斯托夫·兰沃纳（Christoph Langwallner）在他的孩子出生后所实现的。

“在我的日常工作中，我需要制作比上一次更美味的小吃。这意味着要添加更多的营养成分，这些营养成分几乎没有营养价值，只能回家并劝阻我的孩子不要吃我自己做的食物。”这位奥地利出生的企业家说。

他想解决这一难题，并共同创立了WhatIF Foods。这家初创公司利用了Future Fit作物的力量-营养密集，气候适应力强且资源高效的作物-并将其整合到熟悉的舒适食品中。

这有助于增强食物的营养成分，同时确保它们像以往一样美味。

营养悖论

一个女人在桌子上拿着一盘食物的图片来源：WhatIF Foods©由Vulcan提供Post Image Credit：WhatIF Foods

WhatIF由五位“足够”的食品行业资深科学家和高管创立。

由于底线是他们的重中之重，因此他们必须添加人工添加剂以提供更多的视觉刺激，更多的增味剂，以使食品“稍微上瘾”。

WhatIF Foods联合创始人兼首席执行官克里斯托夫（Christoph）表示：“我们的食品体系使肥胖和营养缺乏症并存，使非传染性疾病成为一种规范。”

根据WhatIF的数据，十分之七的人遭受饮食的困扰。它补充说，饮食过多杀死的人是饥荒的三倍。WhatIF团队后来将此现实称为“营养悖论”。

营养悖论使克里斯托弗开始思考，他想知道是否有可能通过播种具有气候适应性，耐旱性和营养丰富的未来作物来多样化食物来源。

在过去的六年中，研究小组在实验室和田间之间穿梭，研究Future Fit作物，以及如何利用其潜力来培育人们，地球和农民。

WhatIF Foods最终在2020年推出，原因是“由于大流行带来的前所未有的运营挑战，例如边境关闭和供应链中断，导致了很多失败。”

尽管遭受了挫折，该团队还是决定进入市场，以测试WhatIF Foods的价值主张是否会受到消费者的欢迎。

推出的首批产品是方便面和方便汤，受到了消费者和媒体的“压倒性支持”。

两全其美的

桌上的一盘食物：图片来源：WhatIF Foods©由Vulcan提供Post Image Credit：WhatIF Foods

方便食品，尤其是方便面，对许多人来说是一种内的愉悦，并且经常作为速食午餐或深夜小吃消费。

尽管它具有方便性和令人上瘾的味道，但它因极不健康而享有声誉。WhatIF的健康方便面减轻了这些担忧。

它的方便面通过蒸煮和高速空气脱水而不是油炸。与市场上的典型脂肪相比，脂肪减少了55％，膳食纤维增加了130％，蛋白质增加了110％。

根据WhatIF Foods的说法，其最畅销的方便面是带甜辣调味料的BamNut面条（每份3新元;每盒15新元15新元）和带有芝麻大蒜调味的辣木面条（每份2.70新元;每盒5小包装S级） $ 13.50）。

面条及其其他产品系列目前可在Lau Pa Sat的RedMart，Fairprice Online，Amazon.sg，Everyday Vegan Grocer，Nourish和Food Folks上找到。

整体方法

当被问及WhatIF Foods如何从市场上其他健康食品品牌中脱颖而出时，Christoph告诉Vulcan Post，该品牌采用了“整体方法”。

该公司首先通过重新设计众所周知的营养含量低的方便食品，解决营养矛盾的难题，将其营养成健康的营养品，从而为消费者提供营养。

WhatIF Foods的指导原则是利用成分的天然固有特性，并将其与对味道，味觉，人类味觉和营养知识的深刻理解相结合，以制成最终产品。

然后，它从有益于地球的天然，天然但被遗忘的原材料中寻找资源并进行创新。这些也称为“未来适合作物”。

Future Fit作物的一些示例包括Bambara花生和辣木，它们都用于WhatIF的方便面。

WhatIF的方法最好用包装上的维恩图封装起来/图片提供：WhatIF Foods©Vulcan Post提供 WhatIF的方法最好用包装上的维恩图来封装/图片来源：WhatIF Foods

班巴拉花生（或“ BamNut”）是WhatIF的所有汤和奶昔及其高蛋白BamNut面条中使用的关键Future Fit成分。它是一种极耐寒的豆类，能够在恶劣的土壤条件和干旱气候下生长，而无需肥料或杀虫剂。

这些特性使BamNuts成为经济上处于弱势的农业社区的“保险”作物，为他们提供了明确的收成和食物来源。

传统上，班巴拉（Bambara）花生以各种形式食用-它们可作为零食完整食用，可通过煮沸，烘烤和煎炸来烹饪，或者混入稀饭和面包中制成面粉。

WhatIF Foods努力利用BamNuts的潜在潜力作为未来作物，因为它认为，要改变我们目前的食品体系，人类需要利用强大植物的适应力和营养。

通过使用这些农作物作为原料，可以促进在可以在退化的耕地上种植的资源节约型农作物周围更具可持续性的农业实践。

最后，它以一种奖励最重要的利益相关者：农民的方式建立了自己的供应链。具体来说，WhatIF Foods试图使其供应链保持较短，以便直接与农民合作。

“通过这种方式，我们通过推广计划为农民提供了价值，同时使他们更接近市场，从而获得了更多的价值。通过在退化的土地上种植未来适合作物，农民也将从原本没有经济生产力的土地中受益。”

食物的未来

到目前为止，克里斯托夫（Christoph）为WhatIF团队“设法保持对WhatIF Foods品牌的愿景和使命的完整性感到自豪”。

2月初，它被授予马来西亚总理芙蓉奖。这是对品牌使用Future Fit Crops所产生的影响的认可。

克里斯托夫说：“有了这一点，我们迫不及待地希望扩大我们在东南亚地区利用Future Fit作物创造的影响力，为农业生物多样化的区域粮食系统种植有韧性的作物。”

尽管取得了成功，但传达WhatIF Foods的使命仍然是一个挑战。人们想要健康或做好事，但可能会采取与自己意图相反的方式行事，因为他们受到容易获得的事物的束缚。

目前，还没有广泛存在对地球有益的健康，美味，方便的食品，但克里斯托夫希望WhatIF能够弥合这一差距。

Christoph说：“我们在WhatIF Foods所做的工作是消除您的可持续性和幸福感头痛，并用美味，方便，可及的食品代替它，为我们的星球，社区和您的幸福带来良好的影响。”