Ecological sustainability is becoming of increasing concern to the HCI community, though little focus has been given yet to issues around food waste. Given the environmental impact of food waste, there is potential to make a significant difference. To understand everyday domestic practices around food and waste, we took a "practice" lens and carried out a study in 14 households that involved interviews, in-home tours and, in five of the households, a FridgeCam technology probe. The analysis highlights that food waste is the unintended result of multiple moments of consumption dispersed in space and time across other integrated practices such as shopping and cooking, which are themselves embedded in broader contextual factors and values. We highlight the importance of respecting the complex negotiations that people make within given structural conditions and competing values and practices, and suggest design strategies to support dispersed as well as integrated food practices, rather than focusing on waste itself.

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Issues of consumer food waste in industrialised countries are becoming an increasing concern and this is paralleled by a growing interest in HCI to support more sustainable consumption practices. In this paper we report on a mobile food waste diary application that was made available on app stores, with the aim of enabling motivated people to reflect on their moments of food waste and to explore rationales. Through analysis of the entries submitted by users of the diary application, we identify instances of reflection located on different levels. The intention of supporting reflection was visible in instances of submitted diary entries where deeper insights about the relationships between food waste, previous experiences, habits, knowledge, occurrences and intentions to change were offered.

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Everyday food and drink consumption makes up a significant proportion of global greenhouse gas emissions (16% of the total footprint for an average UK person [3]). Digital technology offers much scope for helping to reduce this-promoting reflection, increasing transparency of product and supply chain impacts, and so on-but the greatest impacts are predicated on a deep understanding of the configuration of everyday practices. This presents an interesting challenge for Ubicomp, stemming from the deep social and cultural influences on what people purchase, eat and throw away. This workshop brings together participants from a diverse range of disciplines to develop an understanding of existing food consumption practices, and reflect on how this domain can profit from novel Ubicomp technology and interaction designs.