Design Concept
Food Tab is the result of speculating about new possibilities for interactions between people, plants and animals, and experimenting with ways to make people notice the unseen city. We wanted to allow people to develop relationships with the wonders of urban wildnerness they walk past every day and eavesdrop on the life of their non-human neighbours. Widening the pinhole of our human perspective might shift the way we think about nature, from something distant and abstract, to something real, at once annoying and beautiful. We wanted to create an experience that is part nature lesson and part love letter to the world's urban jungles.
Research Findings and Design Brief
When it comes to food, the Internet of Things is currently mostly used in agriculture, with sensors to monitor and predict behaviour of fields and lfiestock, and automate caring for them. When we eat, the place around us, the people we are with, what we smell and hear, what we feel, what we remember, what we know about the dish and its ingredients, and the stories we hear about this food all become part of our experience.
Food has complex and often political meaning for people, it goes beyond simply nutrition. There is an opportunity to design interactions through food. Already, people share food when they come together to celebrate, to mourn, or jsut to be amongst friends and family.
People often perceive food from rural areas as the ideal and romanticise it. Yet a lof ot 'good food' comes from cities. Food is a medium to convey memories, messages, and meaning. Chefs create menus that remind us of past meals but also make us curious to try new dishes. And fusion foods combine two cultures' tastes and tell the story of travel and immigration.
How it might work
A taste sensor detects and quantifies chemical features producing similar human taste sensations. Different taste values are assigned particular musical elements. An audio is rendered and uploaded to a server, creating an mp3 which can be downloaded by the user.
