Obtaining food and handling food are basic needs that occupy every human being several times a day. Food serves to maintain bodily functions and is therefore of vital importance. It represents an indispensably high good that should by no means be taken for granted or treated wastefully.

This statement is reinforced by the fact that access to food is not equally guaranteed for all people worldwide. According to the FAO, in 2022 around 10 percent of the world's population did not have free access to food and suffered from malnutrition (cf. FAO, 2022; cf. Destatis, 2022).

In contrast, 922 tons of food were thrown away by traders, restaurants and consumers worldwide in 2019 (cf. Destatis, 2022).

This wasteful and profligate use of food is particularly evident in industrialized countries, as people do not have to fear hunger and can enjoy unrestricted access to a wide variety of foods (cf. Federal Statistical Office, 2017, pp.33, 76, 357; GfK and BVE, 2017, p. 81). In this context, the way people handle food varies not only due to different locations, but also due to the associated cultural influences (cf. Tolksdorf, 1976, p.81). This is because eating habits and practices are influenced by larger social and cultural changes (cf. Douglas, 1972, pp. 61-80). In Western countries, the changes brought about by the Green Revolution, modernization, pluralization, industrialization, and digitalization have impacted how food is grown, sourced, and provided (cf. Brunner et al., 2007, p. 32). This can be described as an outsourcing of food production to industry, which ensures the constant accessibility, availability and affordability of food in Europe.

At the same time, increasingly fast-paced lifestyles demand easy and quick food intake. The industry responds to this with ever more advanced preservation methods and delivery methods for food, increasing the supply of convenience products and making ready-made meals constantly available in supermarkets, fast food chains and snack bars (cf. Brunner et al., 2007, p. 9; cf. Brombach/Duensing, 2021, pp. 11, 17; cf. Löwenstein, 2013, p. 9). Thus, an increased consumption of saturated fats, meat, convenience products, high amounts of salt, sugar and alcohol can be observed. At the same time, vegetables, nuts and legumes are neglected (cf. Brombach/Duensing, 2021, p. 11).

All these factors have led to a careless, wasteful and self-evident use of food and can be described as a disturbance of our relationship to food and eating (cf. Löwenstein, 2013, p. 9; cf. Brombach/Duensing, 2021, p. 11).

This disturbance can be recognized already in the way we deal with food. To illustrate my personal interest in this topic, I would like to cite a story that was formative for me.

My father told me about a first date in his youth. He invited the woman to his home for dinner. He spent hours in the kitchen cooking the perfect dish. After all, he wanted to make a good impression!

My father is an excellent cook and could easily impress with his cooking skills. His date liked it so much that she had two more refills. She could not put her finger on what was so good about the dish, but it tasted better than anything else she had eaten before. She started asking questions about each ingredient. When my dad opened up to her that the sauce was peanut sauce, she looked up, pushed her plate away and said, "Ugh, I hate peanut butter." So the date could have gone better, but that's a story my parents always tell me with a smile on their faces.

This story underscores my suspicion that there is a dysfunctional relationship between people and their food. Routinized choices help people eat quickly. But they also make it difficult to engage directly with food and examine one's connection to it.

My motivation for my project is to use a playful approach to give people an opportunity to learn, strengthen their connection to food, break routines, and reflect on cooking decisions.

Therefore, I wonder how to rethink the trend of an unsustainable and unhealthy relationship between people and food. How could the interaction between people and food be reshaped and influenced to break consumption patterns and promote a careful and appreciative approach to food?