FOOD FUTURES A MULTI-SENSORY EXPERIENCE There exists a burgeoning trend for multi-sensory experiences. No matter the form, structure, or venue, the goal is to heighten our awareness of the links between the 5 senses. While each sense is distinct, when all 5 are activated, or detached, an experience can become extraordinary. Television advertisements often use sense recognition as a persuasive element in their selling piece. Leaning on the sounds of butter being chopped, whipped, melted, and sizzled to delicious perfection: the mouth waters, the eyes grow wider, and suddenly you’re sold. The prospect of not only a joy for the mouth, but for the ears, eyes and nose all tie together to make an extremely successful piece of advertising, such as Marks and Spencer’s that build a sensual image through convincing description of their products. Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory explores the senses, describing lickable wallpaper and bubbles from a fizzy drink that lift you into the air. We are not only told of these sensory wonders, but explicitly shown them through illustration, and although outdated, the ideas still hold great relevance to the future of food. Fading away are the cardboard dining experiences and coming into view is the new age of entertainment feasting.
“There’s one thing that never goes out of fashion, and that’s good food.” - Vogue Australia 2013
IRVING PENN STILL LIFE
THE SIXTH SENSE There is a clear merging between the food and entertainment sectors. A few months ago the Roca Brother’s announced plans to build a Culinary Opera, a multi-sensory dining experience like no other in an attempt to conjure, harness and present a ‘sixth sense’ to diners. A whole new way to eat out, or depending on how you look at it, a whole new way to visit the opera. Once seating in the underground space, diners will be served food, music, visuals and smells that all work to compliment and enhance the dining experience. (Flux Magazine) Projections on plates, the table and the walls - foods presented as tastes, smells and textures - music that compliments flavor, region and locality. It’s dining on a whole new level, that in years to come may well change the way we look at and define a great restaurant experience. Provocation has been a theme among the world’s best restaurants for a long time now with many chefs working on techniques to try and conjure emotional responses from diners such as Heston Blumenthal’s ‘child in a sweet shop.’
Does sound affect the flavour of food? Scientists say yes! Popping the cork off a champagne bottle, sizzling meat on a pan, the crackle of marshmallows roasting over a fire… all of these food experiences are enhanced by the sounds that they produce. That’s according to Charles Spence, a professor of experimental psychology at Oxford University, whose new report explains how we “eat with our ears.” He says that sound - such as the crispness of an apple - can be an indicator of freshness. Even the background music played at a restaurant may affect the flavor of food. “If I’m having Italian food and I’m hearing music of that region, it may make me perceive the food as more authentic,” he says. By synchronising eating sounds with the act of consumption, people’s perceptions on food can be altered highlighting just how important it is for the future food industry to incorporate as many of the senses as possible. (Fine Dining Lovers, 2015) “Eating is the only thing we do that involves all the senses. I don’t think that we realise just how much influence the senses actually have on the way that we process information from mouth to brain.” – Heston Blumenthal, Tasting Menu, The Fat Duck Restaurant.
Tate Britain offers feast for the senses Galleries are overwhelmingly visual. But people are not – the brain understands the world by combining what it receives from all five senses. Can taste, touch, smell and sound change the way we ‘see’ art? Tate Sensorium is an immersive display featuring four paintings from the Tate collection. You can experience sounds, smells, tastes and physical forms inspired by the artworks, and record and review your physiological responses through sophisticated measurement devices. The experience encourages a new approach to interpreting artworks, using technology to stimulate the senses, triggering both memory and imagination. Sensorium is the winner of the IK Prize 2015, awarded annually to projects combining art and technology in a novel way. The brains behind the project are Flying Object, a creative agency whose founder Tom Pursey said that from an artistic point of view… “if we can complement your visual experience with these other four senses (taste, touch, smell and sound) in a meaningful way, then maybe we can change how you feel about the art.” (The Guardian, 2015)
Trend Buzzwords: + Multi-Sensory + Unusual + Visual + Stimulant + Heightened + Entertainment + Atmosphere + Aesthetics
DINING IN THE DARK According to data gathered by Barclaycard, (Consumer Spending, January 2015), restaurants transaction volumes had risen by 23.5% in the year, yet the value of transactions fell by 5%. This suggests that while people in the UK are becoming more enthusiastic about the idea of dining away from home, they’re still being frugal about spending their money. In addition to this, online orders from takeaways saw a massive 52.3% increase in spending, providing an example of more instances where people are choosing not to cook for themselves. This provides restaurants with the challenge of luring consumers out of their homes and providing a sensory experience is one way that they could do this. Primary research conducted through a focus group of six people discovered that people are constantly seeking an experience beyond the kitchen, something that they would not be able to experience from the comfort of their own home. It showed that the interior aesthetics and atmosphere plays a vital role in the success of the dining experience. All six people in the focus group agreed that they would be interested in finding new places that could incorporate the dining experience as a form of entertainment. “I think it’s really interesting where the future of the food industry could go. Small steps could lead to big changes in the restaurant world as we know it, and it’s right on our doorsteps. I can’t wait to experience what the industry has to offer.” – Charlotte Layfield, 20, North East. Dark dining has the ability to create a constant feeling of surprise, based on the delivery of an unusual sensory experience. Many of us like to dine by romantic candlelight, but how about tucking in when it’s impossible even to see your hand in front of your face? Since the opening of the Blindekuh (Blind Cow) restaurant in Zurich in 1999 and the Unsicht (which means invisible) Bar in Cologne, Germany, in 2001, dining in the dark has become popular in the UK, primarily in London, where several restaurants have been established since 2006. The trend has flourished across Europe, North America and parts of Asia, but we are yet to see it happen across other prominent areas of the UK. It’s steady rise in awareness and popularity makes this almost certainly a trend to look out for in the coming years combining the usual dining experience with the senses to make the experience interactive and entertaining. As we begin to see many contemporary restaurants exploiting the five senses to sell ‘the experience,’ dining in the dark, rather than delivering a more stimulating multisensory atmosphere, offers the idea that less intervening sensory input (detachment of sight) can sometimes deliver more in terms of the overall customer experience.
ZERO WASTE RECLAIMING WONKY VEGETABLES In an effort to reduce food waste across the supply chain, supermarket giant Asda have been selling their ‘wonky’ fruit and veg at a 30% discount, alongside the more expensive, regular veg we’re used to. But why do we want crooked carrots and knobbly potatoes on our shelves anyway? Well, a staggering 20-40% of fruit and veg produced by UK farmers ends up wasted; either left for animal feed, ploughed back into the land or sent to landfill, because supermarkets don’t want them. Supermarkets have tried to justify the waste by saying consumers won’t buy it. For years we’ve been used to seeing fruit and veg of a standard shape, size and colour. You compare a blemish-free carrot with its crooked friend, and which are you more likely to choose? The good news is it might be the latter. Sold at a discounted price, the idea of buying fruit and veg that taste just as good as their better-looking peers doesn’t seem like such a bad offer. According to Asda’s consumer research, 65% of customers are open to buying wonky fruit and veg, while 75% are more likely to buy them if they’re sold at a cheaper price. So wonky veg might not get thrown away, and farmers won’t be forced to over-produce to make sure that they meet their targets. (Jamie Oliver)
“When half a million people in the UK are relying on food banks, this waste isn’t just bonkers – it’s bordering on criminal.” - Jamie Oliver 2015
WONKY VEG BOXES
REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE There are many good reasons to reduce, reuse and recycle. Everything we use has to come from somewhere and must go somewhere once we’re finished with it. The environmental cost of an item isn’t just a reflection of what’s needed to make it. It also reflects the energy used in the item’s production and the impact it will have when we use it and throw it away. As waste breaks down in landfill it releases gases that play a part in climate change – and some waste, like certain kinds of plastic, never disappears. By making smart purchase decisions, the amount of waste thrown out per annum could be drastically reduced. Items that break or fall apart can often be fixed to prolong their life. We can also reuse items for the same or a different purpose, giving many of the things that would otherwise be thrown away a second life. And when it is finally time to throw something away, recycling makes sure that the materials are used again. (Greener Scotland)
Healthier Living: Global sales of healthy food products are estimated to reach $1 trillion by 2017, according to Euromonitor. While the health fads and trends have come and gone, this time the category appears to have serious stamina. Consider Nielsen’s 2015 Global Health & Wellness Survey that polled over 30,000 individuals online and suggests consumer mindset about healthy foods has shifted and they are ready to pay more for products that claim to boost health and weight loss. Is this a new beginning for the health sector?
Impact of the sugar tax plans: AG Barr, (maker of Irn-Bru) 6% reducion Nichols, (maker of Vimto) 7.5% reduction Britvic, (makes and distributes Pepsi) 3.3% reduction
Zero Waste: Zero waste has the potential to transform the way that we design and make things in the future. Garbage, and how to eliminate it from our lives, is more interesting than you would guess as it leads to a new way of thinking: Getting to a waste-less world will require nothing less than a total makeover of the global economy, which thinkers such as entrepreneur Paul Hawken, consultant Amory Lovins, and architect William McDonough have called the Next Industrial Revolution. They want industry to mimic biology, where one species’ excrement is another’s food. “We’re not talking here about eliminating waste,” McDonough explains. “We’re talking about eliminating the entire concept of waste.” (Marc Gunther) “Zero Waste is a goal that is both pragmatic and visionary, to guide people to emulate sustainable natural cycles, where all discarded materials are resources for others to use. Zero Waste means designing and managing products and processes to reduce the volume and toxicity of waste and materials, conserve and recover all resources, and not burn or bury them. Implementing Zero Waste will eliminate all discharges to land, water, or air that may be a threat to planetary, human, animal or plant health.” (Zero Waste International Alliance) The ‘zero-waste’ concept establishes a bold vision for the future, a world in which intelligent materials management renders waste extinct. The term is powerful because it describes a desired end-state while also serving as a callto-action, right now, today.
Trend Buzzwords: + Organic + Prepared + Zero Waste + Eco-Friendly + Aspirational + Environment + Awareness + Attitude
A TASTE OF WASTE According to Bloom, “the awareness (about waste) has steadily increased,” noting the 2008 recession had a big impact on people’s attitudes toward food. When individuals, nonprofits, and corporations started finding ways to waste less, chefs also got on board. In an effort to reduce food waste and ease food poverty at the same time, France has banned supermarkets from throwing away or destroying unsold food, making them donate it to charities and food banks. Campaigners hope that others will follow suit. Drought, worries about food waste and other natural phenomena not only affect the worldwide food and drink supply, but influence preparation and production. There’s a growing movement to give “organics” a second life. The Zero Waste movement has taken on food waste and businesses and organizations are embracing this sustainability trend. We’ve become a throwaway society, but as of recent, the public wants to understand the extent of what’s being discarded and how it’s measured. Leftovers from a dinner out get tossed into the trash. Bruised or past due supermarket produce winds up in dumpsters and ultimately in our landfills. All of these factors cause an undeniable demand towards the zero-waste trend. Primary research carried out in the form of an interview with Newcastle based junior doctor, Imogen Lloyd, 20, showed that she would be willing to use wonky vegetables as they contain the same nutritional value as any other ‘ordinary’ vegetables. She added, “the health sector is booming at the moment and people continue to prepare their food choices in advance as part of an extremely busy and health conscious lifestyle. It is fantastic; if you know what you are going to be eating, there is less chance of you buying food that you won’t get around to using before its use by date. It’s a simple concept, but people tend to be stuck in their ways in terms of their buying behaviour and it could drastically reduce the amount of waste we throw out in the UK.” Many waste management professionals have responded to this “charge” over the last decade, but some of the most visible zero waste work related to organics has occurred in food service in recent years. Partnerships have formed between food service operators and waste management professionals to divert pre-consumer and post-consumer food waste. With more than 40 percent of the food produced in America lost or wasted, these are clear steps in the right direction. Zero Waste is a philosophy, a strategy, and a set of practical tools seeking to eliminate waste, not manage it. (Zero Waste Europe) Innovations such as OLIO, a free app which connects neighbours with each other and with local businesses to exchange their edible surplus food, are shaping the eco-friendly future of the food industry. Does leftover food become “out of sight and out of mind” as it heads towards the landfill? Each household may differ, but the one constant is how much food we waste.