Bearing an Open “Pandora's Box”

Abstract

The sustainability of food is a significant global concern with drastic change required to mitigate complex social, environmental and economic issues like climate change and food security for an ever increasing population. In this paper, we set out to understand the place of food in people's lives, their mundane yet surprisingly complex ways of sourcing their food, and the processes of transition, past and ongoing, that shape these choices. Our goal is to understand the potential role for digital interactions in supporting the various ways that food consumption can be made more sustainable. To inform this exercise, we specifically set out to contrast the journeys of committed sustainable 'food pioneers' with more conventional mainstream consumers recruited in branches of a UK supermarket. This contrast highlights for both groups the various values, and 'meaningfulness' attached to foods and meals in people's lives; and suggests ways in which food choice and pro-sustainable practices can be supported at least in part by new digital technologies.

Research on agro-food sustainability transitions: where are food security and nutrition?

“…Generally speaking, all papers that address aspects of food consumption deal with nutrition (Chiffoleau et al 2016;Clear et al 2016;Dedeurwaerdere et al 2017;Liu et al 2016;Mylan et al 2016;Rossi 2017;Stahlbrand 2016). Interestingly, there is also a correspondence between focus on nutrition and reference analytical framework.…”

“…These are mainly the ones that address issues regarding the whole food system (see, 'food system approach') as well as those that deal with food consumption patterns and practices (Chiffoleau et al 2016;Clear et al 2016;Dedeurwaerdere et al 2017;Jurgilevich et al 2016;Kuokkanen et al 2017;Liu et al 2016;Mylan et al 2016;Rossi 2017;Stahlbrand 2016). In fact, all papers that deal with food utilisation/use pillar of food security also address aspects of food consumption and, consequently, nutrition (Chiffoleau et al 2016;Clear et al 2016;Dedeurwaerdere et al 2017;Liu et al 2016;Mylan et al 2016;Rossi 2017;Stahlbrand 2016). For instance, Liu et al (2016) propose applying the social practices approach (SPA), which combines both human agency ('individualist' perspective) and social structures (system or structural perspective), to better understand transitions toward the sustainability of food consumption patterns in China.…”

Food Democracy in the Making

“…Over the last decade, HCI has increasingly engaged with food and the potential for digital technology to play a role in its production and consumption [17]. Researchers have designed and studied ICT that shapes how we produce (predominantly through growing of vegetables in community gardens) [42,54,62,78], shop [14,15,45,75], prepare [16,32], eat [1,13,14,18], share [34,36], and dispose of [3,19,30,33] food. Within this, HCI has historically focused on the household level [18,35], with the community level primarily researched through community gardening and urban agriculture studies [54,78].…”

“…The practice lens avoids seeing food as an element of isolated behaviour and connects food activities and experiences with sensory, physiological, psychological, socio-demographic and social factors. HCI has explored these factors in relation to food sourcing, consumption, and disposal [14,33]. This approach explores mundane food practices and the material and social circumstances that shape them [18], and allows us to examine both the experiential and structured, dynamic, relational, and occasioned contexts that shape behaviour on an individual level.…”

“…More recently, digital technologies have also begun to take on a significant role in the way we consume food [17]. In the last few years, HCI's engagement with food has moved from a modernist framing of people as rational actors that need to be educated or persuaded, to a more nuanced understanding of the material circumstances and social practices surrounding food [14]. These food practices are commonly explored using a health or environmental sustainability lens [17].…”