Manna Moments

The Israelites had manna in the morning and quail in the evening for 40 years. Then one day it came to an end. 

So, where is your next meal coming from?  

Vegetables from your garden? Groceries you haul home from the store? Something on the restaurant menu that looks good to you? 

Until recently, these were about the only choices most of us had, meal-wise. Until, that is, the advent of meal-kit delivery services. 

Once the domain of those trying to lose weight, gourmet meal kits have become a hot little corner of the food industry. Trading under names like Blue Apron and HelloFresh, these companies offer subscribers a box of fresh ingredients each week that they can use to whip up their own gourmet meals at home. Open box. Follow recipe. Dig in. 

Rapid delivery services like UPS and FedEx are key to the success of these enterprises. So is an ingenious plastic sack of frozen goo that sits inside a shiny foil “space blanket,” transforming the humble cardboard carton into a single-use disposable cooler. Consigning all that packaging to...