Field notes for food cultures: Developing a culture sensitive design guide for the Protein Transition

The Protein Transition is a societal transition that resolves around shifting society towards consuming more plant-based proteins instead of animal proteins. There are numerous drivers for this transition, the most well-known and considerable ones being climate change, animal welfare, public health and unfair agricultural economics.<br/><br/>To...

Supporting food design with consumer research: from inspiration and validation to participation and integration

To increase practical relevance, scientific research on food design is slowly shifting toward studying real-life food situations, letting go of experimental control to allow creative freedom, and studying design considerations during the creative process. On the other hand, some chefs and food designers have started to develop collaborative...

Design for reducing the food waste of the TUDelft banquet service

In the past decade, food waste has accepted intensive attention from society. It is increasingly acknowledged that approximately one-quarter of the food for human consumption is wasted throughout the food supply chain (Papargyropoulou , 2014). At the Delft University of Technology, It organizes a vast meeting every day in different facilities....

Food for Thought: A toolbox for chefs to inspire guests

In the Dutch republic of the 17th century, there were a lot of developments. The economy flourished, science made enormous progress and art and culture bloomed. But as many people don’t know, during this time, a food revolution was born that reached far beyond the Dutch dining tables. Healthy, seasonal and sustainable food products are central...

An exploratory study using graphic design to communicate consumer benefits on food packaging

Commercial food packages may contain multiple messages. Packaging designers try to integrate all messages into a coherent design. Designers may use text, images or stylistic features, but these mediums may differ in their suitability to communicate specific product benefits. To evaluate the usefulness and effectiveness of these three mediums,...

Setting the Stage: Disgust as an Aesthetic Food Experience

Disgust is commonly understood as an emotion of aversion. However, people seem to eat certain food items not despite containing disgust eliciting features but because of them. In this paper, we introduce the term aesthetic disgust to capture this phenomenon. We outline in our manuscript how designers use different techniques to stage the food...

Designing a sensuous eating experience to connect a couple in a romantic relationship

Positive interactions amongst couples improve the quality of the romantic relationship they are part of along with their sense of well-being. It is known that maintaining a relationship takes active participation and work to avoid ending up in a relationship rut. Therefore, spending time together is a constructive way to maintain such a...

Supporting consumers to make sustainable food choices: Changing the consumption behaviour of consumers from a system perspective

The daily consumption of food influences the health of society and the planet. The current food consumption of an average Dutch consumer could be described as unsustainable behaviour (Muilwijk et al., 2019). Especially the intake of animal proteins should decrease and be replaced with plant proteins to realise a positive impact (Kramer &amp;...

Delicious Life: Motivating young Chinese migrants to try novel food

Food is of great significance in the lives of Chinese people. In addition to nutrition, it is also closely related to emotions, social interactions, environment, and culture. China's food culture is not only diverse but also developed its own characteristics in various regions. In recent years, the phenomenon of Chinese young people migrating to...

Between attraction and aversion: How designers can use the concept of disgust to influence food consumption

Disgust is a strong emotion of aversion. In the context of food, it is often referred to as a guardian of the mouth, preventing close contact with pathogens and the accidental consumption of poisons. However, disgust can also create a certain level of attraction and be part of positive experiences, even in the context of food. In this article,...

Fruit in your food: Repositioning the perception of fruit in meals served by caterers

Throughout history, there have been different attitudes towards eating fruit in the human diet. Currently, fruit is mainly perceived as a snack, that is to be eaten as a separate piece. Various developments in the history of the Netherlands like industrialisation, emancipation and internationalisation, have contributed to this position. With the...

Supporting Food Design Processes: Development of Food Design Cards

Food design is a relatively new discipline that requires designers to become familiar with several areas that are not currently covered in many design curricula, such as agriculture, the food industry, culinary processes and the hospitality industry. To inspire, enrich and facilitate food design processes, we developed and tested a card set...

Arenga Rainforest Sugar: Designing a tool to enhance the experience of the Arenga Rainforest Sugar for coffee bar guests

Forestwise wanted a suitable way to serve their Arenga Rainforest Sugar in Dutch cafés. This brown sugar comes from Indonesia and is a tasty, healthy and sustainable alternative to regular sugar. It is wild-harvested from the Arenga palm tree, which grows naturally inside the jungle. The Arenga sugar provides the local farmers with an income...

(Food) Design for Bliss

This graduation project focuses on blissful eating experiences in the home context. After research on positive psychology and factors contributing to blissful eating, a positive design approach was applied to design concepts that assist people in savouring their home eating experience in order to enable blissful eating.<br/><br/>Literature...

Speculative (food) design histories: A critical look at the history of (Western) food

In this project I demonstrate how the world could have been different by portraying alternate historical realities, centered around food, to stimulate my audience to think about the choices they have in the present. The objective is to empower my audience to make mindful food choices today. The final outcome of this project is four stories and...

Meat Substitutes for Flexitarians: A design driven approach to inspire food developers

This report depicts in detail the thesis project “Meat substitutes for flexitarians: A design driven approach to inspire food developers.” This project was developed as my final evaluation in Design for Interaction at the Faculty of Industrial Design at the Delft University of Technology. The project was performed from September 2011 to June...