ADMISSION IS FREE, BUT YOU MUST PRE-REGISTER BY EMAILING FOOD@CONCORDIA.CA 

THIS WORKSHOP IS LIMITED TO THIRTY PARTICIPANTS

Please join us for the next meeting of the

CENTRE FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES IN SOCIETY AND CULTURE

CRITICAL FOOD STUDIES EVENT

How to add more mmmm to your chocolate:

a “mindful eating” design workshop

Monday, March 20, 6:00 to 8:30 p.m.

Engineering, Computer Science and Visual Arts Integrated Complex,  EV6.720

featuring

Jordan LeBel (Marketing, JMSB, Concordia)

Rhona Richman Kenneally (Design + Computation Arts, Concordia)

Arrien Weeks (chapeauvert.ca; BFA Design, Concordia)

We often ignore or take for granted the impact of our environment—the spaces in which we buy, eat, store, or grow food; the objects we use to display or serve it—on our food choices and eating behaviour. The Critical Food Studies research team consequently invites you to a workshop that will enable participants to use their own creativity and expertise, to explore ways in which the built environment could be redesigned to dramatically alter—in positive ways—the very nature of the relationship they have with food. Consistent with the goals of the CISSC, this exploration of eating experiences and pleasures will begin at the convergence between marketing, and social design, and move outward to engage diverse areas of research and practice.

Details: 

We will begin with a food already associated with pleasure, namely chocolate, one of the most popular comfort foods. Participants will first receive a brief overview of the history of chocolate, its production process, and tasting tips (including an actual tasting) of different types of chocolate. They will then be presented with various concepts to help them analyze their experiences involving chocolate, and will be exposed to techniques to examine and re-design elements of their environments. Finally, participants will have the opportunity to participate in a design session to create prototypes of objects or spaces that facilitate a more mindful appreciation of chocolate. Toward that end, we will ask that you bring to the workshop a range of materials from your storage and/or recycling bins—cardboard or plastic materials, toilet paper rolls, fabric remnants, etc., as well as tools to cut, draw, fasten or otherwise create prototypes that will support mindful chocolate eating. We will then document, share, and discuss the different designs. In this way, participants will be able to uncover the various factors and variables that shape their food choices and eating behaviours.

SNACKS WILL BE SERVED.  ALL ARE WELCOME.