Technical Abstract: Starch is an abundant, biodegradable, renewable and low-cost commodity that has been explored as a replacement for petroleum-based plastics. By itself, starch is a poor replacement for plastics because of its moisture sensitivity and brittle properties. Efforts to improve starch properties and functionality have been limited mostly to its chemical treatments or blending it with other compatible resins. This article describes the use of various processing technologies which include heat expansion, extrusion, puffing and baking for starch in the presence of other materials to make functional composites of advanced functionality and improved sustainability. Results indicated that reinforcing-fibers and other nanoparticles can also be processed together with starch to generate functionalized foam composites that can be used as substitute for some petroleum-based foam products. New bioproducts from starch-based foam and foam-composite materials, including nanocomposites, would provide viable alternatives for some petroleum-based products such as single-use foam food containers.