Food for Hikers New Business in Food Industry of Serbia – HikingFood Makes High-Calorie Meals Packed in One Snack

Marathon runner and nature lover Zoran Vukelic has launched the production of meals for hikers in Zemun. The company HikingFood prepares special food for mountaineers, which gives them the energy to conquer the most difficult mountain peaks of the world, the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia announced.

Nature lovers know that willpower alone is not enough to conquer a mountain and that success also depends on quality meals, which are almost impossible to prepare in extreme mountaineering conditions.

Inspired by the living habits of the Tarahumara tribe from Mexico, who call themselves Raramuri – “runners”, Zoran noticed that they were able to traverse great lengths, owing their resilience to a specific diet. That’s where the idea for the FIBRO product came from. This high-calorie food is packed into a single snack, a 55-gram meal with 200 calories.

– FIBRO was designed in London, where I used to live, and the inspiration for this product came to me while researching the dieting habits of the Tarahumara tribe from Mexico, who live in the Copper Canyon. They are famous for being able to run unusually great distances, and they owe their resilience to a specific diet, which consists of specially thermally treated grains of maize, better known as pinole – Vukelic says.

He started producing in Serbia at the initiative of his friends after he recently returned from London.

Up to a few months ago, there was nothing similar in the Serbian market or in most European countries. By founding HikingFood in Zemun, Zoran has put Serbia among only a several states that produce these specific meals for nature lovers.

Initially, the product was available in over 40 locations in London and its area, and the new phase of the company Zoran is running started when, for private reasons, he left Great Britain and returned to Serbia, where he re-launched the whole business.

The size of the outdoor industry is illustrated by the fact that, when it comes to its scope and the number of employees in the U.S. alone, it has recently surpassed the financial, automotive and pharmaceutical sectors.

The Association for Plant and Food Production at the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia confirms that, with the launching of the production of special food for mountaineers in Zemun, Serbia has become of the few countries in the world to follow the modern trend of development of these products.

– Although the epicenter of the industry’s development is located in America, Europe is not behind at all. In certain sectors, it is a very successful competitor to companies on the other side of the Atlantic. Where Europe definitely lags behind America is the latest trend of development and production of food for hikers – explains Aleksandar Bogunovic, the association’s secretary.

The numbers show that the outdoor industry is constantly growing and that it has surpassed the energy source sector in the U.S. In 2019 alone, this industry recorded an inflow of USD 887 billion, securing regular salaries for 7.9 million people.