Dish R&D and Design Program by Food Design Studio of TASA Launched
As an emerging and cutting-edge discipline, the concept of "food design" in its modern sense has a global history of less than three decades. What will happen when design encounters food? In China, CHI Wei, Director of the Food Design Studio of Tsinghua (Qingdao) Academy of Arts and Science Innovation Research (TASA), serves as a key promoter of food design and has focused on it as a primary task since 2019. In 2023, the first domestic book to comprehensively introduce global explorations in food design, Designer 100 Food Design, which CHI edited, was printed and published. He expects to "promote the meaning and significance of food design, as well as interesting explorations conducted by food designers" to the public through this book. To date, such exploration continues, with the Dish R&D and Design Program representing the latest research and endeavor of the Food Design Studio.
《Designer 100 Food Design》
Food Design: Design X Industry
The food design discipline is an exploration and attempt to combine design with industry. In the traditional catering industry, chefs play the roles of "operators." A majority of them have undergone vocational training, mastering professional skills for specific dishes. However, they often lack R&D and design capabilities, with space for improvement in their cognitive levels. One of the goals of food design is to empower this group of chefs, transforming them from traditional operators to chefs with R&D, design and aesthetic capabilities, thereby enhancing the systematicness and modernization upgrades of China's catering industry. The Dish R&D and Design Program exactly reflects the collaboration between designers and chefs and fulfills the intrinsic needs of the food design discipline, whether from the point of disciplinary research or practical implementation to empower the catering industry. It aligns with the studio's vision: to provide people with higher-quality food and healthier lives, and make society fairer and more sustainable.
From "operators" to chefs with R&D and aesthetic capabilities, the transformation and upgrading of their roles is one of the surprises brought by food design's empowerment to the catering industry.
Dish R&D and Design: Empowering the Catering Industry through Food Design
Different fields covered by food design
Food design spans different design fields, including food product design, design for food, design with food, food space design, eating design, food service design, critical food design, food system design, and more. This program centers on dish R&D and design, delving into and practicing dish innovation through scientific and systematic food design methods. With flavor experimentation as its core, the program integrates culinary skills, food science, and aesthetic design to create dishes that are both artistically appealing and commercially valuable. Additionally, we carry out systematic design from ingredient combination and process improvement to plating aesthetics, balancing taste layers, nutritional structure, and visual presentation, thus participating in the entire process from concept to execution. This process incorporates multiple factors such as culinary techniques, food science, market trends, and consumer psychology.
R&D and design of innovative dishes
In the traditional catering industry, dish R&D and design rely on master-apprentice inheritance or regional cuisine norms. The decision-making is based on chefs' personal preferences, innovation paths are incremental improvements, and the presentation logic also emphasizes technique demonstration (carving, sophisticated knife skills, etc.). From a food design perspective, dish R&D and design are not merely the realization of cooking techniques but an interdisciplinary systematic project involving numerous dimensions such as sensory experience, cultural narrative, sustainability, and social value. As Mr. CHI puts it, "Food design carries values."
Dish R&D and Design: Value and Significance
Successful dish R&D requires a comprehensive consideration of innovation, feasibility, profitability, and market demand, making it a crucial component of a catering enterprise's core competitiveness. The Dish R&D and Design Program integrates the systematic thinking of food design with the professional technical advantages of chefs, driving value upgrades in the catering industry through design thinking. For catering enterprises, unique dishes enable differentiated competitiveness, while signature dishes strengthen brand recognition. Dish combinations can improve overall profitability, and scientific R&D can optimize ingredient utilization and preparation efficiency, generally assisting enterprises in cost reduction and efficiency enhancement.
R&D and design of innovative dishes
For consumers, distinctive and delicious food upgrades their eating experiences, scientifically designed dishes better meet health needs, and innovative dishes can offer a channel for them to learn about different dietary cultures. For the entire catering industry, dish R&D and design facilitate the development of culinary techniques, lead catering trends, foster innovative applications of ingredients, and inherit and innovate dietary cultures.
For the food design itself, design as a discipline is undergoing profound transformations. The practice of design involved in social innovation is a response to and an exploration of this challenge. Only by deeply engaging with the industry can food design truly empower systematic innovation within the industry.
Design makes food a carrier for a more imaginative lifestyle.
In a significant article, Accelerating the Building of an Agricultural Powerhouse and Advancing the Modernization of Agriculture and Rural Areas, published in Issue 6, 2023, Qiushi magazine, President Xi Jinping vividly elaborated on the concept of "an all-encompassing approach to food." Of all things, eating matters most, and food is the most basic necessity of the people. Our wonderful life is not only embodied in having enough meals but also in eating quality and aesthetic food. To deepen and implement the concept of all-encompassing approach to food, which highlights that "the country takes people as the root, and food comes first in people's lives," to meet people's health and spiritual needs for food, and to address the need for enhancing the systematicness and modernization upgrades of China's catering industry, the food design discipline will continue its in-depth exploration and profound integration with industry. As Mr. CHI said, "For me, food design is not a business, and not just switching from industrial design to producing products for food companies. It is a movement. Let's work together to change the world via food design, promoting a healthier, fairer, and more sustainable development of society."
