International Journal of Food Design - Volume 3, Issue 1, 2018

This article discusses the intimate sensory relations between humans and fruit. It articulates a view that the dynamically interrelated characteristics of microstructural complexity, sweetness and extreme malleability make the experiential dimensions of fruit distinctive in anthropological experience. The article draws on the work of Steven Connor for theoretical support. Particular focus is given to his concept of ‘senstance’, which emphasizes the important role substances have in the human imagination, and inversely, the way imagination allows humans to make explicit the seductive but often obscure properties of substances. It proposes Connor is a worthy inheritor of the place held by thinkers such as Roland Barthes and Gaston Bachelard, whose work has been an enduring influence for design theorists and historians. Fruit-focused examples from poetry, art and design are discussed with the view of elaborating a suitably rich and multifaceted account of the anthropological importance of this mundane but pervasive thing.

This article describes the apple as a designed product, while the process of sorting apples is viewed as design: In this process, an unclear mix of apples is turned into categories of neatly describable homogeneous apples. The course of action of apple sorting in an automated site is described, where digital datasets of images of the fruit are analysed automatically and serve as the basis for categorizing the fruit into sorting groups. The aim is to determine the underlying values that shape the process of apple sorting, comparing the requirements of the EU marketing standards to the more differentiated and demanding sorting groups observable in practice. Sorting as a control step becomes necessary to assign the contingent fruit taken from the plant into precisely specified categories. The analysis of the visual appearance of the fruit leads to conclusions about their quality and economic value. Here, apple sorting is viewed as a case of the design of living things in order to investigate the values that guide human intervention in living organisms. Additionally, apple sorting is also a case of Food Design that shows how even the most ‘natural’ food products are designed.

We report two experiments designed to extend the well-known Bouba/Kiki effect to the case of an unusual set of commercially produced plateware, and further to assess the influences of these plates on the expected taste of a dessert based on the theory of crossmodal correspondences. The results demonstrate that plates having a smoother circumference are more likely to be matched to ‘Bouba’, while those with a pointier circumference are more likely to be matched to ‘Kiki’ instead, thus demonstrating the typical Bouba/Kiki effect. Importantly, the shape and colour of the plates modulated people’s ratings of the expected taste and liking of the ice cream/sorbet displayed on them. Specifically, the colour of the plate induced a general effect on the expected tastes that were consistent with the white-sweet and black-bitter associations, and the higher expected liking of the ice cream/sorbet was attributed to the higher colour contrast between the food and plate. The shape of the plate modulated ratings of expected liking for the chocolate ice cream and the expected sweetness of the lemon sorbet. Finally, colour and shape conjointly modulated how sour the lemon sorbet was expected to taste. These results provide relevant insights for those chefs, restaurateurs and Instagrammers wishing to optimize the plateware for specific dishes.

Katja Gruijters Food Design: Exploring the Future of Food, Ed van Hinte (2016)

Houten, the Netherlands: Uitgeverij Terra, 216 pp.,

ISBN: 9789089896889, p/bk, €40

Food and Architecture: At the Table, Samantha L. Martin-McAuliffe (ed.) (2016)

London and New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 304 pp.,

ISBN: 9780857857347, p/bk, £24.99

Food Democracy: Critical Lessons in Food, Communication, Design and Art, Oliver Vodeb (ed.) (2017)

Bristol: Intellect, 500 pp.,

ISBN: 9781783207961, p/bk, £30