Itacate: Backpacking Food with a Mission

The Mission

To celebrate diversity in the outdoors by bringing Latin American cuisine to the backcountry and to give back to organizations increasing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in outdoor participation

The Problem

There is a huge lack of diversity in outdoor participation, especially in backcountry recreation, and the backpacking meals that are currently available reflect that lack of diversity

The Opportunity

• Americans overall already consume tons of Latin food in their day-to-day lives. In fact, 238 million Americans used Mexican food and ingredients in 2020 (Statista 2020).

• Latinos have the second highest participation increase among ethnic groups and still a 35.5% gap in population vs outdoor participation rate (OIA, 2021)
• The demographics of the US are changing and we're seeing a projected increase of BIPOC outdoorists (OIA, 2021)
• Therefore, it only makes sense to have a dedicated brand for Latin backpacking food because we need to have food that reflects the diversity out our population and the diversity of the taste preferences of Americans

The Backstory

I grew up in Central Mexico and migrated to the US with my family at 10. We went all into outdoor recreation and spent our weekends hiking, biking and generally exploring our new home.  The outdoors is where we celebrated our birthdays, had cross country meets and gathered with our community. This is where our collective love of the outdoors was born

I continued to engage in outdoor participation as an adult and post-college I tried backpacking for the first time after being too intimidated to venture into that space for lack of funding and a feeling that I didn't belong. Once I finally went out with my girlfriends there was no turning back! We were all hooked and wanted backpacking to be part of our lives! However, one thing that is still missing is the **food**. On these trips we fantasize about the food we could be eating (specifically chilaquiles) and question why there are such few people on the trail who look like us

This is where Itacate comes in! I'm hoping for this brand to bring familiar flavors of Latin America to the backcountry while giving back to organizations doing the work to increase DEI in outdoor participation through our give-back program, Juntos Outdoors

Thank you SO MUCH for supporting this campaign to help me get Itacate to launch! With your support I'll be able to afford additional lab testing, machinery,  packaging, and commercial kitchen time!