Provocative Questions:
The purpose of this project was to understand and absorb the ever evolving food cultures by getting to the grassroots of the whole system, i.e. investigating the food production system in the semi rural India and understanding the ecology and demographics of a particular location on a timeline. This iterated timeline mapping eventually led to speculation of the food ingredients, therefore highlighting the whole farm-to-table journey. The main focus was on the way the anthropocene is being transformed and how modern methods of food production are taking over the traditionally designed production practices in different cultures over the years. This present day scenario gives rise to following enquiries about the coming age of food agriculture which will be a result of the chain reactions taking place in the economic, demographic & geographical systems.
- What will the food systems for the near future be?
- How are the Food production systems of today morphing and evolving for tomorrow?
- Can these systems be traced and speculated for the near future?
- Can there be a sustainable approach towards designing healthy food systems and their sub cultures for tomorrow?

Specialist Area:
As Tony Ho Tran says in his article ‘Speculative design: 3 examples of design fiction’ (April 8, 2019) - Speculative design tries to imagine what it would be like to design without the current limitations of technology, culture, and politics in mind. With this being said, it is extremely important to note that speculation does not mean ‘prediction’. Raby and Dunne say in the book Speculative Everything (2013), ‘those who try to predict the future often end up being wrong. Instead, speculative design intends to imagine all the possible futures that ‘could’ be.’ As it is evolving with time, the anthropological dominance over the production methods have been taking a toll on a lot of stakeholders. The journey of food from fields to the table has a number stages and the stage at the base, i.e. the food production stage is often ignored. While food farming has been a part of agriculture since the beginning of humanity, it is necessary to understand what goes on behind the branding and packaging of the food products that we eat today, along with the consequences of these persistent systems on the future of the food. The chosen platform theme Materiality and Post Real correlates with the idea of reimagining possible futures for food production systems in a rural village in India – Dongaon, and their evolution with time. Since the time this era has been defined as ‘Anthropocene’, the planet has experienced irreversible changes which were driven by an anthropocentric approach. The food system of today not only makes us think about possible futures for food items, but also about the economy of the food, resources on the planet, supply structure, sustainability, food technology, etc. In today’s world, what we eat is perhaps more important than how and why we eat. This strange relationship between food and planet is being morphed by humans and is making a way for Techno–food. Such factors play a major role in pushing the limits of imagination to figure out the possibilities about how future generations are going to design their food systems, or whether the food systems will be formed not by choice but the available resources on the planet. As Bee Wilson notes in The Way We Eat Now>, “Even our desires for food are shaped by the world around us – by the quantity of foods that are supplied to us, by their cost, and by the stories we are fed about them, often through Advertising.” With this in consideration, our future systems can be reshaped by using design as a tool and a possible better way of producing food can be reformed. As a designer, the main role would be to reimagine food-making cultures of the future and its subsystems by creating a timeline of narratives based upon the marriage between field research and studio practice. The goal is to initiate a dialogue about food-farming which is the most basic level of the huge food system by using real time maps, their iterations and documenting the actions of biggest and most significant stakeholders – Farmers.

Research theory:
In the beginning of 20th century, the food systems all over the globe were affected by the world war and industrialization. Famines and starvation were much more high during those times and made an influence on the pattern of food farming. Since then, we have been adapting to new food habits according to the availability and yield of the food produce, development of technology as well as supply systems.

SPACE 10 is a research and design lab whose work involves figuring out new ways of eating food. Their recent cookbook, ‘Future Food Today’ is a collection of recipes designed on the basis of future food trends. The recipe designs express SPACE 10’s beliefs around food, it’s consumption and production. The dogless hotdogs, algae chips, bug burgers and microgreen popsicles are a few dishes which could one day be consumed normally by the generations to come. Additionally their approach towards food is not just healthy and good food for the planet, but making the food delicious as well. The overall speculative, although laboratory tasted approach of this cookbook helps to establish the relationship between three important factors for designing a gastronomical experience - Sustainability, Health and Taste. Acknowledging this philosophy, it is important to understand the underlying systemic alterations and the purpose behind designing these recipes which have contributed to the food systems for the ever increasing global population.

A design experiment to determine the current position of humans in correlation with our food systems is very important to understand the chronology and therefore respond to it. Since the subject regards designing for the coming times, the idea of speculative design jumps in. Irrespective of limitations posed by the situations of today, a path can be made for tomorrow’s systems. A foundation of future food can be laid by establishing the ground rules and investigating further into the depth which would be helpful in building these systems. Today, technology is proving to be a boon for humankind, and at the same time it is enabling us to explore beyond our natural capabilities. According to the excerpts on future of humankind, there might come a time when non-edible materials of today will be a staple diet for tomorrow with the help of biotechnology. Even further, there might even not be any resources left, and humans will start feeding on plastic. With these being extreme thoughts on the future for food by the experts, a few designers of today are responding to this issue by designing experiences to showcase the glimpse of the future.

Another critical/speculative design response to the emerging crisis of food insecurity by Superflux captivates the visitors and provokes them to rethink the concept of Climate Change. ‘Mitigation of Shock’ is an installation showcasing a radically adapted future London apartment to survive in the world which is worst hit by climate change eventually resulting in scarcity of resources and depletion of natural environments. Backed by scientific research and data collection, this project is a tangible experience which immerses the audience into the critical futures and demonstrates various tools and hacks to survive there. Their intention of creating an ‘actionable hope’ in the minds of the audience by showing a glimpse into the future proves the effective communication in the form of critical presentation of the future followed by proposing a solution to the problem. Drawing the future possibilities is in a way useful to start preparing for it. Having said that, it is not always necessary that speculative designs give a solution. At times, it just functions as an alarm to make us aware of what we don’t want. The permutations and combinations of scenarios would be an option to go about in speculating the coming times. The approach of this kind would facilitate the radical food systems for future and help in generating a range of options for different kinds of Future-food-situations.

Design and food systems:
The overall scenographic and ecological journey of the project starts with the film as an entry point where the audience gets to know and understand the perspective of the food producers. This communication helps them to get insights of the population in the agricultural areas and the chain reaction starting with climate change and extreme consumption. Given the current environmental, social and economical situations, the future of what we eat is undefined. The practitioners from peripheries of Graphic Design are developing a systemic approach towards these food systems where a few of them go to the grassroot levels to investigate the whereabouts of food producers.

The process for the film started with a friendly interaction with Vanmala, a local farmer living in Dongaon. While speaking about her own food producing practice, she referred to other farmers and their agricultural practices. A few more interactions followed, which turned into interview sessions where the farmers spoke about food agriculture as an occupation, evolving systems and the future of food farming. The film gives an insight into the world of these farmers and their cultures, language and occupation. One gets to know the other side of food systems where these communities face several challenges in the occupation. They are well aware about global changes, market shifts, climate change and everything else which helps them keep making money and take right ʻagriculturalʼ decisions. The film was stitched together to give answers by the farmers to the questions raised by an urban consumer who has merely interacted with a farmer who grows the food that they eat. It speaks for the community by amplifying their voices, and tells the urban audience about what they think of the food systems as the primary stakeholders.

Film:
Along with being able to live and work within the farmer community in Dongaon, the film gave an opportunity to amplify the voice of these people in a raw format. While interacting with a few of them, a lot of precautions were taken to avoid making them camera conscious. Indulging in a friendly conversation with them while still not disturbing their farm work meant going along with them on the fields. The film features a lot of background sounds of wind, machines, people working etc. just to keep the communication real and give insights about their daily working conditions. As they speak in their language, the viewer understands them through the translation and their tone of speaking. The film does the work of giving real time information and making the viewer aware of the facts instead of passing on a dystopian message. However challenging their lives may seem to us, they feel that it is their destiny and are happy to face it. They are trying to convey the message to the world about changing climate conditions, chemical overuse and biodiversity loss through this film by telling their own stories about food cultivation. They know that it is high time to take major backward steps, but cannot do it because it is just not affordable to them. Shifting FoodCultures is a message to the world to rethink about the planet and make conscious decisions.

The publication design started with an idea of communicating with different stakeholders of the food system by providing them with a designed form of data and facts on Dongaon. This often ignored small village in India had a very interesting story to tell which could not be just conveyed through a film. ʻShifting FoodCulturesʼ is a compilation of the primary data collected on-field which helps to establish a timeline of iterated maps of this place. The language of this publication comes from a disseminated part of the project - Virtual Dinner Party. With a strong backbone of research, this publication speaks about the community, their views, and takes the viewer into a speculative world where the story of a place is told through maps and data.