Smash it or crack it

Abstract

All human beings eat food, but not always with the same intention. For many people, food can bring a feeling of comfort, at least in the short-term. As a result, some people turn to food in an attempt to heal emotional problems. The term ‘emotional eating’ has been defined as eating in response to emotional cues, often as a coping response to negative emotions like stress, boredom, loneliness, chronic anger, anxiety, frustration, and so on. Emotional eating behavior can affect the overall healthiness of a person in both the short and the long-term. If untreated, it may lead to food addictions and even obesity. The aim of this project is to transform the current mindless and impulsive eating practice into an experience that cultivates awareness regarding emotional responses and eating behavior. The human-centered design approach will lead to come up with design interventions creating attitudinal and behavioral change on emotional eaters. As a result of this self-initiated research & design project, two interventions were designed to tackle emotional eating behavior; Smash & Crack. These are special snack containers which work as mediators between impulsiveness and food by bringing a physical interaction. They aim to enable emotional eaters to express/alleviate current emotional distress before reaching craved food via behavioral expressions. Thanks to interactions, impulsiveness is transformed into mindfulness. As a conclusion, 'a mindful moment of indulging' prevents overeating of comfort foods and eliminates accompanying negative feelings.