Eco-Friendly Disposable Palm Leaf Plates

My friend Justin at Marx Foods recently sent me some really cool plates.  Thanks, Justin!

I'm not one to get too excited about "green" or "eco friendly," because usually that means ugly or lame. If it's not ugly or lame, I'm in.  With these palm leaf plates, I was very pleasantly surprised.  They are neither ugly or lame, in fact, quite the opposite.

Here's a salad in the plates, so you see them in action!

Here we go...

Eco-Friendly Disposable Palm Leaf Plates

What they say...

Our Palm Leaf Plates are great for entertaining. These elegant and durable disposable party plates are an eco-friendly alternative to conventional disposable plates. These biodegradable plates are a natural and renewable resource. Naturally discarded sheaths of the leaves of the Adaka palm tree are collected from the forest floor. No trees are cut down. The plates and the disposable cutlery are even compostable!

Here's more on the hows of the palm plates. How Palm Leaf Plates are Made

That's what they say.  Here's what I say...

Pros: 

These plates are really good looking, and each plate is different.  The pictures on the Marx Foods site don't do them justice, as each one is lighter or darker, with darker "veins" of color running through.

Sturdy. They hold a lot of food without collapsing.

Eco friendly. Green.  They come from something that would be wasted, and then they can be composted afterward.  In Southern California, where we are overdrawn on water, it's a good thing to not wash a dish, as long as it can be disposed of in an environmentally friendly way. 

For those of you (and it's sometimes those of "us") who don't eat grains, rice, bread, or all those delicious foods that soak up juices, these plates are awesome.  I'll call them paleo or primal friendly, since they are sturdy and have a nice lip around them to hold in the liquids.  I haven't tried soup, but sauces are just fine.  The lip is deeper than those plastic plates from the grocery store, so don't buy those anymore.

Lots of shapes and sizes, and there are utensils that I've only seen in pictures (and I don't know their story, either), but look pretty sweet.

When I say they are good looking, I'm not talking "cool china pattern" good looking, but if you're a hippie, want to be a hippie, wear no shoes as often as not, live "primally,"don't wear deodorant, or live amongst women who seldom shave the pits, these plates are right up your alley!

Cons:

Expensive.  Sorta.

You'll feel bad tossing them, so you'll try to wash them.  You might get away with a quick rinse, but anything hot or wet, for any length of time, and you've used the plate up.  It's a one time use, things like sandwiches excepted.

Again, if you missed the link to Marx Foods, above, here it is again - Eco-Friendly Disposable Palm Leaf Plates