This article is a moving example of how HCI has the potential to tackle some of the biggest problems facing the globe by framing these challenges as socio-technical design problems that must be met at the social, cultural, individual, and yes, technological levels.
At present most people’s food practices are mundane and often routine, but as particularly the ‘food pioneers’ probed by this study demonstrate, there are ample insights to be gained from existing practices that could inform the ‘user experience’ of obtaining and preparing sustainable food. And indeed, what ‘sustainable food’ itself entails is a complex interplay of ideas and concerns about what we eat and where it comes from. This is a complex design problem that encompasses everything from the in-store experience, packaging design, on-line shopping, social and family pressures, and awareness of the provenance of food, to name just a few issues unpacked by this far-ranging investigation.
