Chasing Play Potentials in Food Culture and Traditions

In this project, we turned to culture and traditions to produce an annotated portfolio of play-food potentials, i.e. interesting design qualities and/or interaction mechanisms that could help promote playful and social engagement in food practices. Our portfolio emerged from a one-day workshop where we played with and analyzed a collection of 27 food traditions from diverse cultural backgrounds and historical periods. We highlight play forms and experiential textures that are underexplored in Human-Food Interaction (HFI) research. Our contribution is intended to inspire designers to broaden the palette of play experiences and emotions embraced in HFI. This project was led by Ferran Altarriba Bertran and co-authored with: Jared Duval, Elena Márquez Segura, Laia Turmo Vidal (Uppsala University), Yoram Chisik (Independent Researcher), Marina Juanet Casulleras (Freelance Illustrator), Katherine Isbister, and Danielle Wilde (University of Southern Denmark).