Stimulating seasonality in food consumption

Abstract

We are used to having access to a wide range of products every day of the year. Technology and import enable this offer, as fresh products were initially seasonal bound. The topic of seasonality is often researched and discussed in the light of sustainability and health. The focus is either on how to reduce food miles or why a connection with nature is beneficial for our wellbeing. However, there is an intuitive side to seasonality that is often forgotten. The overall goal of this project is to make seasonality a positive experience. Instead of focusing on restrictions (limited offer per season), the focus is on what is available. The approach for this project is social practice theory. It prescribes to not target one single form of behaviour, but analyse the whole system around it. This way, you can create links and build a system between factors that is supportive. By changing the system around a person, the behaviour changes automatically as a result. The focus is thus not on nudging or creating awareness in one specific type of situation. Qualitative user research is performed, following the contextmapping method. This enables participants to give input by reflecting on what they think, want and need. By using a sensitizing package, a reflective state is triggered in the participant. From the contextmapping research, four design directions were derived. Focusing on the circularity and continuity of the seasons seemed most promising. The design goal is formulated as wanting to enthuse a group of friends to organise a festive get-together over food to celebrate the fresh products of a season, based on traditional seasonal celebrations. The resulting design is a concept called Gaia. It is targeted at a group of friends. They can organise a seasonal celebration together, according to a tradition that has aged or has merged with Christian celebrations. The main idea is that everyone brings something to the table. This can be food, drinks, an activity or decoration. The user can indicate which task they’d like to perform on the website. The concept consists of an inspirational package that the users receive at home with specific inspiration and guidelines for their tasks. The box is received two months in advance, which gives you time to prepare different elements (e.g planting seeds to pick for making flower decorations or infusing liquor to make limoncello). The focus is on seasonal, local and fresh products. Gaia gives a group of friends a reason to celebrate the season, without unnecessary obligations. You can put as much effort in as you like. The focus is on celebrating the seasonal products and going with what is available. It is an opportunity to create your own rituals and traditions with friends. User evaluation showed that the tone of voice appealed to the target group and that the participants were eager to put effort into their tasks as they got enthusiastic by the box. They tried to make a lot of things from scratch with fresh ingredients. The amount of knowledge about the products they’ve used also increased. For future development, the most important task is to design the website to enable a complete test with the whole scenario. Social media channels to promote it can also be tested this way.