Designing for human – food interaction: An introduction to the special issue on ‘ food and interaction design ’

While food has appeared in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) research to some extent from the turn to everyday activities, in its own right HCI research on food, or ‘Human–Food Interaction’ (HFI), has emerged as an area of significant interest in the HCI community in the last few years (see for example Choi et al., 2012; Choi et al. 2013; Comber et al., 2012a, 2012b). In these few years, ‘food’ and what is loosely referred to as ‘food practices’ – for example, shopping, eating, cooking, growing, and disposal – have grown out of the periphery of HCI research to become a central topic of interest in and of themselves. To date, research endeavours have cut across HCI, where there are significant technical and computational challenges in fields such as vision (Martin et al., 2013, 2009; Mankoff et al., 2002; Narumi et al., 2012; Kitamura et al., 2009), ubiquitous computing (Black et al., 2009; Chi et al., 2008; Gao et al., 2012; Hooper et al. 2012; Kalnikaite et al., 2011; Kranz et al., 2007; Päßler et al., 2011), 3D fabrication (Wei et al., 2011b), human-computation (Linehan et al., 2010; Noronha et al., 2011), and physiological computing (Ranasinghe et al., 2011; Narumi et al., 2011). Such a growing body of work has also been co-evolving with interests in understanding food practices as a socio-cultural artefact: food plays a central role in our health (Comber et al., 2013a; Maitland et al., 2009; Parker et al., 2013; Orji et al., 2013), well being (Grimes and Harper, 2008), social lives (Barden et al., 2012; Hupfeld and Rodden, 2012; O'Hara et al., 2012; Wei et al., 2011a, 2011b), and in environmental sustainability (Choi and Blevis, 2010; DiSalvo et al., 2010; Clear et al., 2013) in the production (Lyle et al., 2013; Odom, 2010), transportation and distribution (Ilic et al., 2009), consumption (Clear et al., 2013), and waste of food (Farr-Wharton et al., 2012; Ganglbauer et al., 2013; Thieme et al., 2012; Comber et al., 2013a, 2013b). HCI research on human–food interaction is now leading research and development in other related fields such as psychology (cf. Spence and Piqueras-Fiszman, 2013). Human health and wellbeing, in particular, has been an area that has seen a proliferation of interest within HCI. Food related disease and malnutrition, including obesity, contributes significantly to increased risks of cardio-vascular disease, various cancers, diabetes, and overweight (Donaldson and Scally, 2009). Precise figures are difficult to calculate. However, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reports that simply not eating enough fruit and vegetables alone is estimated to contribution to 1.7 million deaths each year (WHO, n.d.) and cumulative figures for the contribution of food related disease to risks such as CVD, increased cancer risk, diabetes and overweight, could account for well over 50% of deaths worldwide. In response, HCI has begun to investigate novel interfaces to support traditional nutrition assessment, such as portion estimation for diet intake (e.g. Chaudry et al., 2012; Comber et al., 2012a, 2012b), while also looking to extend personal and public health interventions. To this end, the wealth of HCI research on behaviour change and persuasive technology (e.g. Orji and Mandryk, 2013), virtual reality and perceptual cues (Narumi et al., 2012), socio-cultural food practices (e.g. Comber et al., 2013a, 2013b; Choi et al., 2011; Maitland, 2011; Grimes and Grinter, 2013), have begun to shape a HCI agenda on healthy lifestyle, diet and nutrition. Equally Nutrition researchers have begun to turn their attention to HCI when developing assessment tools and interventions (e.g. Arab et al., 2011; Foster et al., 2013; Murali et al., 2013) with promising results at the population level. Energy use and food waste across the food lifecycle also significantly contributes to environmental issues, and is estimated to be producing, for example, 27% of green house gas emissions in the UK alone (Clear et al., 2013). Alongside uses of technologies for monitoring and managing energy and water use, sustainable human–food interaction has a considerable potential to contribute to environmental sustainability. HCI research already contributes to this endeavour through pervasive systems (e.g. Thieme et al., 2012), through new methods and systems to understand food practices (e.g. Ganglbauer et al., 2013; Ilic et al., 2009), and through persuasive technology design (e.g. Farr-Wharton et al., 2012). In short, food, and our interactions with it, is one of the most significant factors in our own and the environment's health. Yet food should not only be seen as a problem. Grimes and Harper (2008), for example, points to the possibility and necessity to see technology and design interventions in this space as more than simply corrective. Food is, and always will be, something that connects people together and which has the potential to inspire and engage us in new and exciting experiences (see Spence and Piqueras-Fiszman (2013) for some discussion of the future of dining experiences). Thus, in the last few years, new discourses of food and alternative food cultures have grown in numbers and prominence. In the face of the globalisation and homogenisation of food markets, public awareness of food experiences as a source of identity, health and well-being has taken root in mass and new media communication (Lee et al., 2013). While the golden arches of Macdonalds may be recognised by more people around the world, gastronomic tourism has also grown in popularity to be considered to both support economic and cultural sustainability (Hjalager and Richards, 2004). Thus while food has always been a significant element in community to global cultures, new forms of communication and mobility offer opportunities for extended food expressions and experiences (Lee et al., 2013). Considering the possibilities to design for positive, social and engaging experiences, points to the synergistic potential of cross-disciplinary endeavours between HCI and other domains of scholarship such as humanities and arts.