Speculative Design . Social Impact . Food
FOOD FROM THE FUTURE
Envisioning and co-creating future scenarios based on signals and research findings of today was the goal in this project. This brief nudged me to explore
speculative design to imagine a version of the
future with respect to the chosen eco-social challenge - advent of processed food. I carried out workshops to engage
individuals from different walks of life in this world-building exercise. The resulting amalgamation of
imaginations, speculations, questions, and debates
led to the design of the ‘artefact from
the imagined future’. The aim was to provoke debate about the present-day issue of increased consumption of processed food. They’re mass-produced,
mass-delivered, and omnipresent. The sheer scale
of this industry is what is causing adverse effects
like resource depletion and over-consumption.
Class Project (Co-design for Sustainable Future - Sem 3), MA Design for Social Innovation and Sustainable Futures, University of the Arts London
Mentors: Gabriel Wulff, Anna Schlimm
London, United Kingdom, 2022
Mentors: Gabriel Wulff, Anna Schlimm
London, United Kingdom, 2022
The two main signals from the current times that I focused on were processed food and meal replacements. My speculative theory said that given the speed of rise of these two kinds of food today, humans would soon reach a dystopic point in the future where they wouldn’t have resources left to grow, manufacture, and eat any fresh food, and they would only be consuming nutrient pills for sustenance.
Processing and ultra-processing massive amounts of food is problematic on a lot of levels. Not
only does it exploit resources like soil, water, and air (which our planet is fast running out of), it
also encourages mass consumption and over-consumption of food.
Couple this unhealthy addiction of processed food with the fact that according to the
United Nations, there will be almost 3 billion more mouths to feed by 2050, for which the world
must produce 70% more food, and you’ll see a dark picture. The adverse effects that processing of huge amounts of food has on the resources of the planet are a glaring signal in the current times that I carried ahead into a speculative food dystopia.
On the other hand, though meal replacement drinks/foods have been criticised for containing too many additives and overlooking the psychological importance of eating proper food, they are growing popular. They do offer a nutritionally balanced, time-saving alternative to traditional meals. What this inclination could indicate is that humans have started prioritising productivity at work, health, or just saving time over eating healthy homecooked meals. This signal became the second pointer for the dystopia I speculated.
Speculated food dystopia
In the year 2122, due to rampant manufacturing and consumption of ultra-processed foods over the years, the Earth’s resources have been used up. Humans now cannot grow or manufacture food due to inadequacy of clean water, healthy soil, and good-quality air.
In this world where eating food in its conventional sense isn’t possible anymore, I speculated that humans have resorted to consuming nutrients necessary for survival in the form of pills; diets only consist of protein pills, vitamin tablets, carbohydrate capsules, and so on.
On the other hand, though meal replacement drinks/foods have been criticised for containing too many additives and overlooking the psychological importance of eating proper food, they are growing popular. They do offer a nutritionally balanced, time-saving alternative to traditional meals. What this inclination could indicate is that humans have started prioritising productivity at work, health, or just saving time over eating healthy homecooked meals. This signal became the second pointer for the dystopia I speculated.
Speculated food dystopia
In the year 2122, due to rampant manufacturing and consumption of ultra-processed foods over the years, the Earth’s resources have been used up. Humans now cannot grow or manufacture food due to inadequacy of clean water, healthy soil, and good-quality air.
In this world where eating food in its conventional sense isn’t possible anymore, I speculated that humans have resorted to consuming nutrients necessary for survival in the form of pills; diets only consist of protein pills, vitamin tablets, carbohydrate capsules, and so on.
‘Artefact from the future’
Food is such a social aspect of our lives today that taking it away seems like it’ll leave us with only a few avenues to be social in. Sharing food is like sharing love. We have started treating restaurant meals like valuable experiences we invest ourselves in. Food brings us more joy than a very few other things can.
This is the exact emotion that I wanted viewers to think of when they first interacted with my exhibit. Then with the element of surprise, I wanted them to feel that feeling slipping away, like they could never feel it again in the dystopia of 2122. I came up with an idea to give my viewers ‘pills on a plate’.
< I laid out a beautiful dinner table for 2 as if at a restaurant - with an elegant floral table runner, dinner plates, side plates, dome-shaped covers on the plates, forks, knives, wine glasses, a candle, some leaves and flowers in a glass bottle as a centre piece, and menu cards describing a delicious 3-course meal. This setup under a tree in the park when it was breezy looked pretty and inviting.
When viewers walked ‘into the restaurant’, I handed them the menu cards and narrated the story:
“Welcome to ‘Food From the Future’. We are a fine dine restaurant existing in the year 2022. But today, our expertly made food has been brought in exclusively for you from the future - year 2122!” I paused, and carried on. “Are you excited to try the food?!” Upon getting excited nods everytime, I lifted the covers to reveal a row of pills on the plate.
Decked up with glitter and gems, these pills were made to look futuristic. Expecting to find real food under the covers, viewers were surprised to find just pills.
Continuing with my narrative I said,
“In the year 2122, humans are only consuming nutrient pills as food. The pills on your plates are from that future, and they have all the nutrients that the food on the menu card would have had.
We humans, between 2022 and 2122, used up all resources that were available to us for agriculture and farming of animals. With our ever-increasing hunger for ultra-processed foods we burnt through the Earth’s bounty to set up massive factories and processing plants. The air, soil, and water in 2122 are no longer fit for growing even the most basic natural ingredients. Pollution from factories and food transportation messed up the planet beyond repair. Now the only way humans know how to sustain is by consuming synthetically engineered nutrient pills. Your prescribed Pill Plan tells you how many of which pills you need. All you have to do is consume the right pills in right quantities and you’ll always be fit as a fiddle!”
Food is such a social aspect of our lives today that taking it away seems like it’ll leave us with only a few avenues to be social in. Sharing food is like sharing love. We have started treating restaurant meals like valuable experiences we invest ourselves in. Food brings us more joy than a very few other things can.
This is the exact emotion that I wanted viewers to think of when they first interacted with my exhibit. Then with the element of surprise, I wanted them to feel that feeling slipping away, like they could never feel it again in the dystopia of 2122. I came up with an idea to give my viewers ‘pills on a plate’.
< I laid out a beautiful dinner table for 2 as if at a restaurant - with an elegant floral table runner, dinner plates, side plates, dome-shaped covers on the plates, forks, knives, wine glasses, a candle, some leaves and flowers in a glass bottle as a centre piece, and menu cards describing a delicious 3-course meal. This setup under a tree in the park when it was breezy looked pretty and inviting.
When viewers walked ‘into the restaurant’, I handed them the menu cards and narrated the story:
“Welcome to ‘Food From the Future’. We are a fine dine restaurant existing in the year 2022. But today, our expertly made food has been brought in exclusively for you from the future - year 2122!” I paused, and carried on. “Are you excited to try the food?!” Upon getting excited nods everytime, I lifted the covers to reveal a row of pills on the plate.
Decked up with glitter and gems, these pills were made to look futuristic. Expecting to find real food under the covers, viewers were surprised to find just pills.
Continuing with my narrative I said,
“In the year 2122, humans are only consuming nutrient pills as food. The pills on your plates are from that future, and they have all the nutrients that the food on the menu card would have had.
We humans, between 2022 and 2122, used up all resources that were available to us for agriculture and farming of animals. With our ever-increasing hunger for ultra-processed foods we burnt through the Earth’s bounty to set up massive factories and processing plants. The air, soil, and water in 2122 are no longer fit for growing even the most basic natural ingredients. Pollution from factories and food transportation messed up the planet beyond repair. Now the only way humans know how to sustain is by consuming synthetically engineered nutrient pills. Your prescribed Pill Plan tells you how many of which pills you need. All you have to do is consume the right pills in right quantities and you’ll always be fit as a fiddle!”
The first impression my setup created was an innocent and inviting one. The restaurant table was well put-together, and the details made it enticing. When I lifted the covers off the plates and visitors discovered pills on the plate, I saw them feel surprise, disconnection, and some confusion - which was the exact effect I was hoping to achieve. My main motive was to highlight the fact that the
things we associate with food today might not
be the things we get to see around food in the
future at all. Escalation of factors like over-consumption of food and exploitation of resources for food might lead us to my version of dystopia.
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©2023 PRANJAL GOKHALE