Supervisor:
Josina Elizabeth Vink
Juan Alberto Soriano Valtierra
While I initially focused on addressing food waste in households through food storing knowledge providing, the project delves deeper into the underlying problem of human detachment from food. The modern industrial food system has controlled a lot of uncertainty but has also made us less sensitive to the complex entanglement between nature, food, and life. And we are less understanding and curious about food. Indeed, as food consumers at the end of this system, we are passive. But what if we return to the identity of eaters? What if we treat food as an actor rather than a commodity or a product?
The outcome of this diploma project is the establishment of the Food Carer Community, designed to facilitate the transition towards a deeper connection with food. This transition encompasses three progressive stages. The Food Carer Community advocates for a supportive and collective food education environment that fosters discussion and exchange, starting with food carers, whether individuals or organizations, to deepen people’s connection towards food gradually. The Food Carer Centre provides tools for food carers to communicate with general food consumers. Through the continuous development of this relationship, an open and mutually supportive food education environment can be established. By triggering reflexivity in this service ecosystem, we can create structural malleability, resulting in an open platform that provides resources and opportunities for food carers to co-create more possibilities and tools to connect with food.
xMy design interventions aim to provide support and facilitate different stages of the transition, promoting the continuous transformation of people from general food consumers to explorers, and eventually food carers. The four interventions, namely “Messages from food,” “Cook from your friends’ fridge,” “Activities box,” and “Food knowledge base”.
Contact
Chenjing Zhang / chenjing.zhang43@outlook.com