Research . Social Impact . Food Systems
PROCESSING PROCESSED FOOD
An autonomous research project focusing on diet transformation brought about by moving from India to
England. It draws qualitative and quantitative comparisons through in-depth research between young adults’
diets in India and UK. This project is communicating that the way food is eaten and treated in the UK is a systemic issue, and systemic
changes can lead to people getting the chance to consume food that is less processed, packaged, and transported. It is an expression against the ‘beige food bombardment’.
Class Project (Design in Action - Sem 4), MA Design for Social Innovation and Sustainable Futures, University of the Arts London
Mentor: Gabriel Wulff
London, United Kingdom, 2022
Mentor: Gabriel Wulff
London, United Kingdom, 2022
Through research about food and eating in the UK, I
proposed what come across as its
most evident attributes - being processed, packaged, and transported - to an outsider in their mid-20s from a country like India, which is
significantly different than the UK
with respect to food.
Documentation of eating in the UK was carried out to learn about the research participants’ and my own experiences of navigating
the big move from India to UK with respect to food. Narrations focused on food habits, food culture at home, and eating in London while
living by oneself.
In addition to desk research, open-ended conversations, autoethnography, participatory research through interviews and workshops, and some good old photographic documentation allowed me to understand feelings and practicalities of being surrounded by food in packets, for me and for the group.
My main aim was to assess the quality of meals and amount of packaged food consumed in comparison to that typically done by the group in India.
In addition to desk research, open-ended conversations, autoethnography, participatory research through interviews and workshops, and some good old photographic documentation allowed me to understand feelings and practicalities of being surrounded by food in packets, for me and for the group.
My main aim was to assess the quality of meals and amount of packaged food consumed in comparison to that typically done by the group in India.
Amount of packaged food consumed increased
Food packaging waste that I collected at home for 4 weeks brought about another angle of looking at its effects. Along with posing a severe threat to the over-burdened waste systems and our planet, this waste also showed how food packaging takes away the experience and emotion of simple, unprocessed, fresh food.
Emotionally speaking:
Food packaging waste that I collected at home for 4 weeks brought about another angle of looking at its effects. Along with posing a severe threat to the over-burdened waste systems and our planet, this waste also showed how food packaging takes away the experience and emotion of simple, unprocessed, fresh food.
Emotionally speaking:
- Buying loose groceries - fresh produce, grains, meat, nuts - on weight
gave agency in choosing. It had a rawness to it. Packets mostly decide meals in the UK
- Individually packed, small, cheap, not-so-guilty-feeling packets of chocolate, crisps, snaks displayed
strategically tempt you to buy something every time
- Snacking is big in the UK - variety, quantity,
presence, temptation, processing is
more
- Food around you requires you to love eating healthy. It needs separate efforts and more motivation
Quality of meals reduced
While looking at the change in the quality of meals, insights showed that having freshly cooked meals was the norm for most of the group at home in India. Whereas in the UK, eating food from outside has increased in frequency. In addition to meals being more ingredient and nutrient-rich in India, they also included more fresh ingredients. In the UK, more ingredients (grains, lentils, sauces, fruit, veg, etc.) are consumed as ‘value-added’ (processed and packaged) ingredients. The meal could still be ‘healthy’ but will include more packaged and processed ingredients. Convenience and availability are the most common drivers towards pocessed ingredients and readymade foods.
While looking at the change in the quality of meals, insights showed that having freshly cooked meals was the norm for most of the group at home in India. Whereas in the UK, eating food from outside has increased in frequency. In addition to meals being more ingredient and nutrient-rich in India, they also included more fresh ingredients. In the UK, more ingredients (grains, lentils, sauces, fruit, veg, etc.) are consumed as ‘value-added’ (processed and packaged) ingredients. The meal could still be ‘healthy’ but will include more packaged and processed ingredients. Convenience and availability are the most common drivers towards pocessed ingredients and readymade foods.
Evaluation of research
The factors that shape our eating habits can be broadly divided into 3 types: Individual, Social and Material. A major part of Social and Material factors is the food environment, which is highly influenced by the market. Companies produce and promote food that they know will sell, and today, a lot of that in the UK is processed and packaged food. The UK’s Victorian obsession with canned peaches, corned beef, and condensed milk gave rise to a massive market selling processed foods like Pot Noodles, Pop-Tarts, and Cheesy Wotsits today. There exist separate stores or parts of stores for organic food, while microwave meals, snacks, and processed meat sit on the middle aisles of major supermarkets in abundance.
I entered this world of manufactured food from a place where I had experieced:
The factors that shape our eating habits can be broadly divided into 3 types: Individual, Social and Material. A major part of Social and Material factors is the food environment, which is highly influenced by the market. Companies produce and promote food that they know will sell, and today, a lot of that in the UK is processed and packaged food. The UK’s Victorian obsession with canned peaches, corned beef, and condensed milk gave rise to a massive market selling processed foods like Pot Noodles, Pop-Tarts, and Cheesy Wotsits today. There exist separate stores or parts of stores for organic food, while microwave meals, snacks, and processed meat sit on the middle aisles of major supermarkets in abundance.
I entered this world of manufactured food from a place where I had experieced:
- Naked, unpreserved, varied fresh produce is affordable and accessible,
- Cooking (or getting food cooked for you) commonly happening on an everyday-basis,
- Balanced meals being popularly eaten, and
- Flavours (not just spice) being widely used, accepted and loved.
- Eating healthy is easier when it’s a communal activity
- Individual-level efforts are not adequate against processed, packaged, transported food
- Systemic intervention + individuals’ participation will provide effective results in bringing about a culture and accessibility of fresh foods
^ Data is laid out to portray processed and
ultra-processed food as accused
criminals. A
web of facts and research insights is woven around the accused, in which inanimate objects and
intangible concepts have been personified to achieve a
satirical impact. Using metaphor as a tool, I want to provoke thought about the
advent of processed diets and their
impact on not just bodies and the
environment, but also on emotions,
feelings, and culture of food.
The intricacy and overlap of threads highlights gravity and complicatedess. Migrants from India living in the UK more often than not sign up for consuming larger quantities of processed foods, and this crime web aims to show how this affects them physically and emotionally.
- Threads make connections between clues and evidences to ‘solve the murder’ of health, culture, local food, and more.
- Processed foods are suspected for aspects like the feeling of home, kitchen prowess, freshness, seasonal eating being missing.
- Weapons like adictiveness, convenience, attractive branding are used against nutrition, natural capital, creativity.
The intricacy and overlap of threads highlights gravity and complicatedess. Migrants from India living in the UK more often than not sign up for consuming larger quantities of processed foods, and this crime web aims to show how this affects them physically and emotionally.
^ Food coming out of packets and boxes tastes, looks and feels the same almost every time. The feeling is that of eating beige food. I had set out to gauge if this shift in diets was felt by others in similar situations as me. And yes, it was. I wish to explore further possibilities of interventions for this research.
︎ Happy to share the project document :)
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