Food edibility & perception – The power of our senses
FOOD EDIBILITY & PERCEPTION is a project which analyses, observes and bridges the connection of date labels and food status, meaning how date labels influence the way we sort food according to the connotations the labels draw out in people, ultimately favouring food waste. Relating to this issue the project explores, sensory forms of assessing food in a workshop to practice the reconnection to our senses and learn about the impression they can leave regarding food edibility.
The influence of date labels
To quickly introduce you to different kinds of date labels. There are two main types of date labels, namely a guiding date and expiration dates. Date labels are often misinterpreted as people frequently associate every date label to be an expiration date. An expiration date marks a point in time when the food item in question should no longer be consumed as it is likely spoiled after the indicated date, highlighting a food safety concern. Expiration dates are mainly used on animal products such as meat, fish, eggs and dairy products. Contrary to guiding or orientation dates, those only indicate food quality, meaning the properties a food product has according to the producer, such as nutritional value, texture or colour. An orientation date determines how long these aspects stay according to the package labels intended by the producer, the indicated date does not mean the food is no longer safe to be consumed, it means that the food’s properties might change afterwards.
The Workshop
The workshop was held at Kafé de Luxe in Växjö, it was open to the public. The main aim of the workshop was to make people reconnect to their senses. In order to be able to introduce the sensory assessment as a tool to determine if food is safe to be consumed, regardless of the date labels indications, in the long term. Changing our behaviour regarding food perception, learning about food and when it is actually to be disregarded as it turned bad.
The Installation x Intervention
The Installation x Intervention, a mix of an Installation and an Intervention, containing elements of both interactive design methods, was another part of my thesis project. This step of the project incorporated how people assess food and what they look at to determine whether they can still consume the food. This served to be able to closely observe what triggers a reaction, including using food colouring to provoke a rather predictable reaction.
