What do our eating habits say about us? How has food culture changed throughout the last decades and what do you imagine it to be in the future? How can we tell our own stories through food?

The two-day workshop »Eat Design! Creating Edible Stories« explored questions like these and showed that eating is much more than just a daily need, but is a whole experience that defines ourselves and the way we interact with others. Our eating habits, the way we buy, prepare and consume food is strongly related to culture and history. Through food, we express not only our cultural background, identity, ideals and values, but also our emotions and passions.

Together with our group of participants, we explored the different aspects of food culture. We discussed, shared, tried out, mixed up and experimented until we came up with the final concept of a »marketplace of experimental cuisine« which represented the international team spirit as well as a spectrum of different interests and backgrounds. Personal stories and cultural values were put into a new context and became edible tales,  able to be experienced by others using all five senses! For the final presentation, we invited a group of 30 people to share the culinary experience with us: each guest participated actively in the »experimental market« and got to try (at least) one out of three edible stories.

The concept/story behind the »experimental market«:
The guests were welcomed at the counter desk where they chose one out of three ingredients, which would then lead them to one of the three food stands on the experimental marketplace. The chosen ingredient would therefore function as a kind of »ticket« for a particular meal. Each stand offered a unique two-course menu concept that united different cultural aspects, ways of eating and also played with the guest’s perception and habits. Working with the season and the availability of local products was also an important aspect shown in the final results. Through the unconventional food concepts, the guests were encouraged to share, discuss and question their own cultural traditions and eating habits whilst sitting all together on a long, family-style table.

This project was implemented in cooperation with design researcher and curator Iohanna Nicenboim

Skills:

• workshop concept
• workshop lead