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Advisor: Prof. Dina Shahar
Many existing technological solutions are designed to reduce food loss and waste, from food sharing apps to platforms that scan fruit and vegetables to get ripening data and help plan consumption. With so many solutions on offer, why are we still throwing away and wasting huge quantities of food?
Data has shown that a comprehensive change is required to shift habits and progress to sustainable living. Food loss occurs at every stage of the food supply chain, from processing, manufacture, packaging, storage, retail, and consumption. In a 2011 study conducted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization reported that the economic value of food loss is estimated at 940 billion dollars each year.
Following in-depth research, I concluded that the solution lies in education, meaning how we educate ourselves, shape our perceptions and those of the next generations about food waste. Children are the consumers of the future and our agents of change in our homes, they have the power to effect changes at home and in communities.
Research
I have created an educational framework that begins in schools and ripples out to families and communities with children constituting agents of change. Food Jesta was designed to change views about food and understand food is a resource vulnerable to climate and geopolitical changes.
Interface design
Through interactive play, children learn how to identify agricultural produce and become deeply familiar with and newly appreciative about fruit and vegetables. The educational activities include interviews and meetings with farmers from different regions and applying the acquired knowledge through computer games based on values of sharing and solidarity. In schools, food salvation tours are conducted in which children can see the huge quantities of food wasted and the actions they can take to save it. This hands-on experience creates an emotional connection that promotes personal responsibility and changing habits. A booklet for home use allows children to also instigate changes at home. Along with family members, they can track home consumption patterns, how much food is prepared, and how it is stored. The project also includes recommendation for activities any child or adult can take independently, encouraging everyone to make practical progress towards food salvation.
About me
Tehilla Vagner
I have had the privilege of seeing the power of design to create equality and connect people from different ends of the earth. In my view, the spiritual power of design lies in how it functions in reality and in a given field, and the way it exposes emerging phenomena and humanity.
I believe that spirit and body are interconnected and my role as a designer is to strike the balance that addresses real human needs. In my actions, I tend to cross cultural boundaries to create hybrid models that promote a heterogeneous reality.
In every design process I was asked to participate in, research provided the foundation for the design concept, and it was intuition and emotion that guided me to the experience I wanted to provide users. I am curious to learn many more levels of physical and mental needs of people in their environment. Along with a changing my surroundings, I aspire to create more solutions for improving quality of life.