Food Design for the Real World

Food Design for the Real World explores the transformative potential of design within agri-food systems. Inspired by Victor Papanek’s call to address real human needs, the book adopts a transdisciplinary and situated approach to investigate food as both a medium and an object of design.
Blending theory and practice, it traces the evolution of the food design field and introduces a six-mediation framework for understanding food experience. Drawing on twenty real-world educational case studies, it presents B.E.FOO.D, a model for transformative, place-based learning and design by and for food.
At its core lies the concept of the food designer’s metabolism —the ability to transform cultural values into generative energy.
Like a butterfly effect, small food-centred actions can trigger systemic change.
Through collaborative formats such as Living Labs and Tenuta Labs, the book demonstrates how co-creation can reimagine food systems and empower communities.
Aimed at designers, educators, researchers, and changemakers, this book invites readers to move beyond reductive models and to activate dormant resources and meaningful connections among people, places, and values—towards more just, sustainable, and shared food futures.