The New Food Culture workshop
Organised by the Dutch eating designer Marije Vogelzang.
16-20 November 2015 Aalto University
We imagined a future where smart-phones are an extension of our limbs. The phone hand is considered pure and not used for anything apart from tech. Instead of cheering before eating everyone takes a picture of their food. It’s a cultural activity to photograph one’s food and keep a digital diary. Therefore, we developed the Phone-Hand Decorum. To show a complete dining manner, a set of tools for one-hand dining kits was designed along with related choreography.
Senses: Food can still be tasted and smelled not really touched, but it’s sight will be the most important thing. Science: People don’t have a right and left hand anymore. Instead they just have a ‘phone hand’ and a regular hand. The former is used only for smart phones, making it’s fingers very strong and leaving the rest of the hand weak. No food is hard enough to require a knife to cut into. Technique: Food doesn’t change its purpose; it continues to be a form of nutrition focusing more on the visual expression than on the flavor. The science being eating remains the same, however the tools become minimal and more suited for eating with one hand.
Psychology: The disposition of food on the plate can be personally organized before taking the picture and eating. The state of mind is represented by the setting; example comfort food can be organized in a peaceful composition. Society: Because of common allergies and elimination of cutting we all end up eating the same food. It’s a shared food culture for which you don’t need different dishes. Food is served directly on the table and everyone can share the food and eat directly off it. This is done to simplify the act of sharing and serving as well as picture taking and positioning of the hand. Nature: The growing selfie trend brought people to reconsider the concept of documenting their everyday actions. Documenting everything has become the norm and sharing it online is a way of communication. We’re always connected so we don’t leave the phone alone even while eating. This gave a central role to the ‘phone hand’ even though it is not used for actual eating. This led to creating a new kind of table setting and etiquette while eating.
Product design, food design : Suhyun Park
Choreography : Suhyun Park & Martina Bonetti
Video editing : Martina Bonetti & Saudamini Tambay
