Dish the Dirt - Branding & Design
Dish the Dirt is a multi-sensory tasting experience connecting the food we eat to the land it is grown in. At the event, diners taste foods grown in different places and through sound, storytelling, taste and scent, are emotionally connected to the soil. This is about subtle learning through the engagement of the senses.
Dish the Dirt is a multi-sensory tasting experience connecting the food we eat to the land it is grown in. At the event, diners taste foods grown in different places and through sound, storytelling, taste and scent, are emotionally connected to the soil. This is about subtle learning through the engagement of the senses.
Using experience design techniques and gastrophysics for inspiration around the sensory experience of food, Dish the Dirt offers a different way to connect people to the systemic problems of the food system and soil degradation. It highlights how conventional agriculture degrades the flavour and nutritional profile of food. Rather than a workshop or lecture, Dish the Dirt taps into people's emotions and creates a visceral experience that means they develop memories or think and feel something different when eating food and experiencing soil together.
This experience was designed following research both for this project and my dissertation. This showed that most people do not understand the complexity of the food system and how this relates to human and environmental health. I also realised people don't want to feel bad when learning about these issues. We need new ways to provoke change and engagement through experience design.
The Dish the Dirt experience is about showing food and soil side-by-side in a completely innovative way. It uses bespoke hand-made earth derived ceramics to change the way we eat and brings together producers, consumers, farmers and citizens to have conversations around the table