From Plating to Tasting: Towards Understanding the Choreography of Computational Food

The emerging concept of “computational food” focusing on the material affordances when designing food interactions is gaining traction in Human-Food Interaction (HFI). However, prior HFI research has not yet substantively investigated the dynamic nature of computational food from its creation to consumption, limiting our understanding of the complex interactions among creators, computational food, and consumers. In response, our paper shifts the perspective towards the dynamics of computational food interactions through a study in cooperation with chefs and gastronomists. Utilizing “Dancing Delicacies” as a research artifact – a system that facilitates dynamic dining trajectories – we adopted the concept of “choreography” to unravel the experiential dynamics of computational food. Our study resulted in six themes concerning computational food experiences and detailed four design implications central to culinary choreography. Our work aspires to leverage the choreographic potential of computational food design, paving the way for future HFI innovations.