In the same way, our interest in food changes, the discussion around it modifies as well. It becomes more public. People learn more and more how to cook right, how to eat correctly and how to choose the best ingredients. This change in our interest concerns all types of food, from slow food to fast food, from haute cuisine to a simple dish.

Scenario

Inspired by one of the main ideas of the Slow Food Movement, to preserve taste diversities, “Eat” will work on the importance of local food recipes and manifest their importance towards todays global food industry with an art related process and a tangible result in the end. The result of “Eat” should inspire us to look on our daily food from a different, more precious angle and encourage us to be the guardians of a legitimate and precious heritage through the transmission of the rituals, the moves and the values of manipulating food and through this, adding preciousness. “Eat” will involve groups of elders as agents to empathise the results of the last Scenario (Transform) and transcribe them into transferable knowledge. The results could be partially transmitted to the next generation, and also the segment of the adult population living alone, reintroducing the pleasure and value of cooking at home.

Result

“Eat” focused on the act of degustation of the “Precious Food”. Based on the concept of “Food Tools”, meaningful and tangible examples created by designers with renowned chefs, were shared with a large audience in several places (Transplant in Norway, PICNIC in Amsterdam, Food Design in Paris). Workshops were organised to prototype more Food Tools with rituals from other cultures as inspirational input. To finalise the process, a workshop with the Norwegian producer Figgjo identified two concepts of “Food Tools” targeted to professional markets such as hospitality services and conference catering.

“Animal agriculture makes a 40% greater contribution to global warming than all transportation in the world combined, it is the number one cause of climate change” – Jonathan Safran Foer

Eating standing up workshop

By Constance Gaard Kristiansen, Christel Eide and Ralston & Bau (NO)

The last of the three steps in the Precious Food program, Eat, was the departure point of a workshop on eating scenarios emphasising the preciosity of food. Together with Constance Gaard Kristiansen, design manager at Figgjo porcelain, and the chef Christel Eide, Ralston & Bau explored scenarios of eating standing up in a social setting. The result of the workshop was a real life scenography within the Ideal Lab’ Precious Food.

Two new concepts of tableware dedicated to displaying food to a big audience at large venues, such as during conferences, were found. The concept of stacking up portions of food in a scenographic tableware landscape was one of them. The other conceptual track was to develop a playground and elegant food dispenser, offering a tasteful portion of food to the user with the minimum amount of interaction needed to achieve this action, with reference to gaming industries items. This process creates a more advanced user awareness toward food and could not only minimise the waste of food during large events but optimise its display.