We rank SNACTIV as one of the best inventions of our lifetime. It lets you snack while gaming, scrolling through TikTok, and doing whatever else—without messing up your controller, mobile phone, et cetera. Now we have found another clever snacking invention that we think ranks up there with SNACTIV. It is called Monchi.
Where SNACTIV is best suited for home and targeted at gamers and gadget users, Monchi is designed for everywhere outside the home and was originally created for little ones.
It started life as a student project by three industrial design students in Singapore with the aim of, erhmmm, turning plates into puppets. You heard that right. It is as strange an idea as it sounds. The motive was simple: leverage playfulness to encourage kids to eat their veggies.
It later evolved into a contactless way for grown-ups to snack without the mess.
Anyhoo, the result is a compact snack box with built-in “fingers” that pick up the food inside so you can eat without getting your digits dirty.
Primarily designed with kids in mind, and for scenarios like picnics, Monchi features a flexible lid with a pair of finger gloves molded into its food-grade silicone lid. By inserting your fingers—namely your index finger and thumb—the lid effectively turns into a shield. It prevents the snack from dirtying your fingers and hands, and also prevents you from dirtying the food.
The container itself is made from clear Tritan plastic and is BPA-free. It measures 12 cm (L) x 10 cm (W) x 6 cm (H), with the base sized perfectly to keep the snacks within reach of the finger gloves.
The silicone fingers feature a textured grip for holding food firmly. As a fun touch, the inside of the lid has molded details of a monster, which presumably is Monchi. Together with the built-in “hands,” it looks like an adorable, hungry monster is picking up the food.
Monchi was successfully funded on Kickstarter in 2024. Interestingly, during the campaign, it was offered with a compressible base that allowed Monchi to reach the “depth” of the container, and it was smaller too, aligning with its original target market.
Fast forward to 2026, and it is no longer offered with a compressible base, and it appears to be much larger as well. It has evolved into a mess-free snacking solution for grown-ups, too.
Monchi is available in a bunch of attractive colors globally for US$21.
Images: Monchi.
