The Food Product Design

Abstract

This contribution intends to propose elements of research methodology, together with a first proposal of temporal scanning in the Italian context, as regards the history of the food product design.
Frequently becoming all-encompassing, the term Food Design tends to define a very broad scope within which it is difficult to articulate suitable analyzes and insights.
It may therefore be useful to specify and distinguish between design "with food" (for example, a certain way of preparing recipes, dishes or courses), design "for food" (all products or other related to the methods of consumption and service, from cutlery to pot, glasses) and "food" design, food product design, which we deal with here.
The food artefact needs to be investigated as an integral project: from the organoleptic characteristics to its shape; from the technological and organizational systems for production to how it is placed in a context of enhancement, communication and consumption, up to the complete management of the life cycle.
Not only the production aspects (which allow making by hand, by machine, with automated processes; in a single piece, small or large series) but also the necessary components and dynamics that go hand in hand with the production which, among other things, concern factors functional, aesthetic, symbolic and linked to the collective imagination.