The Future of Human-Food Interaction

There is an increasing interest in food within the HCI discipline, with many interactive prototypes emerging that augment, extend and challenge the various ways people engage with food, ranging from growing plants, cooking ingredients, serving dishes and eating together. Grounding theory is also emerging that in particular draws from embodied interactions, highlighting the need to consider not only instrumental, but also experiential factors specific to human-food interactions. Considering this, we are provided with an opportunity to extend human-food interactions through knowledge gained from designing novel systems emerging through technical advances. This workshop aims to explore the possibility of bringing practitioners, researchers and theorists together to discuss the future of human-food interaction with a particular highlight on the design of experiential aspects of human-food interactions beyond the instrumental. This workshop extends prior community building efforts in this area and hence explicitly invites submissions concerning the empirically-informed knowledge of how technologies can enrich eating experiences. In doing so, people will benefit not only from new technologies around food, but also incorporate the many rich benefits that are associated with eating, especially when eating with others

Mapping FoodHCI Futures

Recognizing the significant potential impact that HCI has on food practices and experiences, researchers and practitioners are undertaking a growing number of explorations of novel computing technology and food combinations. These explorations have so far primarily emphasized technology-driven systems and taken a human-centric perspective. We propose a Special Interest Group (SIG) in "foodHCI futures"that creates a space for researchers to discuss the boundaries of food incorporating HCI, and with the simultaneous aims of reconciling food with technology and extending our visions for human-food interactions towards anthropocentrism. Specifically, the SIG will be a beginning of developing a structured conceptual map of the possibilities for future technology interventions in food systems. In developing this map, we hope to encourage democratized debate, provoke new and divergent thoughts on the opportunities for foodHCI, and ultimately gain unique insights that contribute to preferable food futures