In recent decades, it is observed that the wave of standardization has taken account of the habits of urban dwellers. Traditional products have lost their place, but can be redeemed via the re-education of taste, the knowledge of food, respect for culture and the knowledge of ancestors. Faced with this, the BH DESIS Lab created a proposal that seeks solutions in Food Design, which makes native foods more attractive, optimizing local resources, creating easily executed revenues and contributing to local tourism.
The project was approved in 2012 and, at the same time, the head teacher was approved for a post doctorate abroad. Arrangements were made for the project to be carried out even if the creator of the project’s teacher was out of the country. However, other teachers who were also responsible for the original project had to shut it down for various reasons. Nevertheless, they had more staff in the project than was originally and the new team decided to go ahead with the project anyway, but reformatting it so that these professionals could act within the theme in areas that had not been attended and where they had already performed projects, so they would feel safer in developing a better project.
Thus, using the methodology of social design, workshops were held to observe the relationship of the Matosinhos community (where the team was working) with the proposal.
This project is a CTP because throughout its execution many impediments and difficulties appeared. The coordinator of the project was abroad and the whole project was reformulated with a new team, which in turn promoted group cohesion and a very large overrun for the whole team. Other than that, the institutional relation of the lab with the university was difficult because the project needed to purchase equipment that would be installed in the university and the university chief did not have a good relation with the people in charge of the project, which almost made them lose they limit deadline to spend the money the project receives. The absence of the coordinator made everything harder for the team, both in developing the project and in arranging things with the university. This was a moment of growth for the team and of maturation of institutional relations for the LAB. Besides that, the original project aimed to work with a specific community and because of changes within the team and bureaucratic difficulties with the former community, they decided to change the project focus and the community they would be working with, that was a huge change for the project methodology and outcomes. At the end of the project a line of cakes was developed, which could be produced for local marketing, fairs and cultural events and a book that reports the traditional baking and tells its story in the community. The studies selected the most popular and low cost ingredients, relating them to the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of the region. In Food Design they sought to bind the ingredients, form the aesthetics and the packaging usage possibilities to stimulate marketing.
The teacher responsible for the project entered the Food design to promote a project that linked two of his passions: design and cuisine.
The project had no defined public when was announced so the theme and methodology had to be developed.
When the teacher was approved for her post doctorate abroad, the project began to take a different course in the hands of the researchers who had agreed to take it. Because of divergences and interests, the project changed it focus, even though it was food-related, and furthermore, it was decided that they would work with a different community, so it became co-produced with the Matosinhos community.
This co-production owes much to the fact that focused design projects in territory require, by definition, the inclusion of the community that will receive the project in the planning. Without knowing the specific needs and characteristics of the community, it would be impossible for researchers to do a good job. The community received the proposal very well and engaged in project development.
2012 – DESIS received FAPEMIG financial support for the Food Design project - The Foundation of research support from Minas Gerais supported the Food Design Project with financial resources.
2013 – Change in the space and the public of the project - Due to internal and political issues in the School of Design, the project changed its public to the Matosinhos community and the researchers decided to conduct the workshops and laboratory experiments in the community.
2014 – Launch of the book “Flavors of Generations: a proposal in Food Design” - The book covers the development of proposals that promote the historical and cultural revival of local traditions, valuing the food, knowledge and flavors of the region of Matosinhos. Some recipes for cakes were prepared with the introduction of new ingredients, preparation techniques and names of historical and cultural heritage of the region. The results are highlighted in; the use of ingredients and fruits from the region, making them economically sustainable; simplifying the preparation of recipes for added convenience; and popularization of the names of cultural heritage materials from the region - support for local tourism.
In principle the project will occur in the grounds of the design school with money from the project (gained through public calls for social projects) that would be used to purchase kitchen equipment and set up an experimental cooking laboratory. Due to political clashes, the University board did not authorize the purchase of material goods, even if the money was available, nor did they provide the space for mounting the laboratory.
This conflict with the University Principal completely changed the course of the project, which could no longer occupy the school grounds as it did not have an available cooking lab.
Thus, the contact that researchers had with the Matosinhos community was essential for the project to happen. One of the researchers knew the community association but had never worked with them. Given the difficulties, it was agreed that the researchers would go to the community and they would hold workshops and immersions using the neighborhood association headquarter as a laboratory.
This design change was viewed negatively due to the expectations that were involved in the construction of a laboratory as well as the possibilities for exploring new projects that this would have brought. But at the same time, researchers recognized that local immersion in the Matosinhos community promoted unexpected results and a much greater community involvement. In a way, the clash with the University board contributed to the success of the project and strengthened the group.
“Nothing in this project occurred as expected”, said the interviewee.
Since the beginning theyhave faced difficulties considering the project methodology (because of the cooking lab), staff consolidation (because the head teacher was abroad) and the objective of the project also changed along the way.
Those issues were taken care of, but not without a struggle. The changes in the project were deep and involved logistics, environment, and theme… The interviewee said, “it was a hard moment, we had to change everything to make it work”.
And she continues: “But there were good things that we had not anticipated that happened because of those changes”. They had great results considering the territorial enhancement and community building capacities. At the end of the project the inhabitants of Matosinhos were conducting workshops and making things happen by themselves. That was a great surprise. They were using the methodology to solve other issues that concerned the community. “We did not see it coming, but it was a great surprise to see that they really care about the learning process and that it was something useful to them”, said the interviewee.
The obstacles made the group stronger and went even further than project objectives. Internally, the project was very important because it gave students and teachers experience with food design, which led to several subsequent projects within the same theme, and even thematic work that was produced by the group.
In relation to projective learning, they understood that the community shift to a laboratory located within the school might have harmed the project regarding a sense of belonging. It was also understood that the socio-cultural mapping of the region, with a record of tangible and intangible heritage, allowed the identification of typical products that required new presentation, making them unique both in preparation, in aesthetics and in the identity of the products.
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