The existing food systems are rooted in the assumption for the need for excess and elaborate choice to cater to the consumers’ preferences, albeit these choices are sometimes uncertain. (Chen, PJ and Antonelli, 2020). The pressure to have a wide variety of food available, everywhere all the time. This greatly improves convenience for the consumers and helps to improve customer satisfaction, but leads to inefficient resource use.(Robin.P, 2006)
Living in a society of over-consumption, facilitated by the convenient availability of things everywhere has created a culture where these very things have become devalued. This extends to all things, from food to clothing. This contributes to a perpetual cycle of supply and demand, and creates a culture of wastefulness, as things are perceived less valuable. Having de coupled the producers from the consumers has seen the amount of food wasted skyrocket over the past decade (Zobel et. Al, (2016)).
Multiple studies have tried to address how could design influence consumer choices towards lessening food waste.
Examples of such design interventions include The Bump Mark, a sticker that transforms from smooth to bumpy when the food expires, or The Keep-It Label, that visually shows how much longer can the food be kept.(Hebrok, M., & Boks, C. (2017)).
Groundedness, is a new paradigm from marketing that revolves around connecting people to their social, physical and historical environments, the perceived value of the products increase. These products are seen as more valuable and contribute to the overall well-being of the consumers, by affording them to feel rooted. (Eichinger et al,2023)
Against this background, we want to investigate whether feeling grounded helps in mitigating food waste. That is, if consumers feel grounded in their lives, it would drive consumers to handle resources, such as food, more carefully and mindfully. And as a result, they would waste less food.