The Good Plate
The Good Plate (TGP) is my MA Thesis project that explores how existing avenues can be amplified to improve access to healthy food in Low-Income families in London. The project included research, ideation of design interventions and their testing and analysis.
Client: NA
Scope: Research, Product Design, Publication Design, Design Testing & Analysis
Year: 2021
Read Time: 20 minutes
RESEARCH METHOD MATRIX
Next, in an attempt to better understand the research methods I could employ while collecting primary data my project, I listed out potential relevant methods and their advantages and disadvantages. In an effort to understand which of these methods were practically doable, taking into consideration the time I had for the projects, and my limitations as a researcher and designer, I also listed out challenges with the methods and made my choice of methods accordingly.
Weighing out the benefits and the challenges with these methods, and considering the time I had available, I chose to go ahead with the Supermarket Maps, Interviews, Volunteering Participatory Research, Supermarket Tours and Growing Experiments.
Poverty continues to be the highest in London, affecting nearly 28% (2.5 million) of the capital’s population, as compared to any other UK city. High rates of poverty in London leave many families living in food insecure environments, despite the city being the 5th richest in the world (Elkins, K. 2020). Being food insecure means that at any moment in time, a person’s food intake is reduced and their eating patterns are disrupted because of a lack of money and other resources for obtaining food (Mayors Fund for London, 2019).
According to a study by City Intelligence and The Mayor of London (2019), One in six (400,000) children in the capital experience food insecurity, along with one in five adults (1.5 million), 36% of single parents and 32% of black Londoners. 16% of parents from food insecure households reported being unable to provide balanced meals for their children, and 9% said their children did not always have enough to eat. 49% of parents with children experiencing food insecurity were found to be socially isolated. (GLA, 2019)
I began this project by thinking that I would explore ways to make healthy food more affordable, for when we talk about food insecurity, and people not being able to eat well or eat enough, the most popular perception is that it is an issue of an individual’s financial affordance. But I slowly realised that while economic conditions definitely play a major role in contributing to the issue, the problem of food insecurity is a much more complex, and abstruse matter that cannot be credited to solely one factor. The issue itself exists within a complicated system, who’s many parts at multiple junctures contribute to the overall reduced access to healthy eating that goes well beyond an individual’s income and simply being able to afford the food. This moves the issue of food security from a space of individual responsibility to a wider societal, systemic issue.
INTERVIEWS
Four sets of interviews were conducted as follows to understand various parts of the prevalent food system:
SET 1
Set 1 included 2 Teachers who were asked about free school meals, food and nutrition education and food insecurity. One teacher was public school teachers working in the Tower Hamlets Region. 1 teacher worked at a public school in Surrey.
VOLUNTEERING AT FOODCYCLE
Next, I decided to volunteer at Food Cycle, in the burough of tower Hamlets for three weeks. Food cycle is a food crisis organisation, that conducts weekly community dining sessions, where members can come in for a warm, freshly cooked, 3-course meal. The organization lays emphasis on the community aspect in hopes to reduce social isolation amongst vulnerable people. Food cycle also receives donations of food products from local supermarkets, cafés and restaurants, which they then divide into grocery kits that they hand out to guests at the end of the day.
Food Cycle volunteers can choose between two roles - cooks and hosts. While the cooks help prepare meals, the hosts are responsible for greeting and seating members, whom the organization called “guests”. The hosts also sit down with guests and share meals and conversations with them. All hosts, before volunteering, are required to undergo an online training where we are taught about appropriate things to say and not say to guests, and are given a list of conversation starters if we may ever need them.
So when I decided to volunteer at Food Cycle, I decided to be a host, as I thought it would give me an opportunity to interact with the guests and maybe better understand their concerns if the conversational space allowed for it.
As a host it was also my responsibility to take all the donated food products and pack them into grocery kits as seen alongside. The grocery kits usually contained milk, juice, breads, potatoes, potato chips, cereals, random assortment of vegetables, etc. However, the produce donated was never constant and of varying quantities - sometimes kits got a milk carton each, but only half the kits could get a cereal box, and as the goal was to equally distribute whatever produce received, sometimes bags got one potato or one chilli each, which probably would not help the families much at all.
I spent a lot of time as a host talking to guests, about whatever they wanted to talk about - one guest spoke to me about their love for Harry Potter, and would show me their extensive collection of HP memorabilia that they would carry with them to each lunch session, while others would talk to me about their mental health challenges or tell me stories about their kids. The conversations were usually driven by the guests, for this was their space, and as hosts, we were there to
make them feel comfortable and give them company, if they wanted it. Not all guests wanted to be talked to, some were there for just the meals and were not comfortable socializing.
Some of my observations were as follows:
1. 20 - 25 People come in for meals on an average each week
2. Some come for the company, while most just come for the meals and the grocery kits handed out after meals
3. Some guests discussed their mental health and physical health struggles with the volunteers. They seemed maybe comforted or less burdened in having someone to talk to.
4. Small number of guests were extremely enthusiastic in talking to the hosts and fellow guests and thoroughly enjoyed the social interaction the session gave them access to
5. Most guests were quiet, seemed to want to keep to themselves. Some even appeared uncomfortable being there at Food Cycle and did not want to interact much with either the hosts or fellow guests.
6.The grocery kits are filled with whatever is donated from local restaurants and supermarkets. They usually included things like bread, naan bread, small amounts of fruits and vegetables, eggs, milk, juice and cereals.
7. The grocery kits were not extremely useful to some by design. All donated produce was to be divided equally amongst all kits. This meant that sometimes kits contained one potato, or one tomato, which isn’t of much use to big families who would need larger quantities. Grocery bags were standardized instead of considering number of living members and needs
8. Most guests were enthusiastic about the grocery kits, some even took extras for their families and other friends who they knew did not have access to enough food, and who were not comfortable coming to such establishments.
9. Some guests removed naan breads and certain vegetables like Hyacinth beans from their kits and did not take them as they were not a part of their usual diets and were not sure what to do with them. They however kept vegetables like tomatoes, potatoes and even took extras.
10. Many guests took extra kits for friends they knew needed them but didn’t want to come to the centre. They seemed to have their own support networks amongst each other where they felt comfort.
THEORY OF CHANGE
I then drew out a theory of change map, to summarize the issues found so far and beginning to think about what my long and short terms goals for the project are.
DESIGN OUTCOMES
For the purpose and duration of this project, I chose to start with 3 levels of interventions. These interventions were designed to be able to travel through different spaces in the problem ecosystem and were conceptualized as processes aiming to building relationship and interactions capable of transformation in the long term, rather than acting as individual objects of change themselves.
The three design outcomes are as follows:
GROWING BOXES
The growing boxes were designed with the idea of helping families and people grow their own food. This would not only help low income families establish another source of food but improve nutritional intake and provide a small amount of financial relief by reducing spending on buying food. The growing boxes would ensure a small amount of fresh vegetables and herbs and were designed as planters appropriate for indoor growing in small spaces and homes so as to be accessible to people without large outdoor spaces or balconies. The planters were designed as scalable products, where families could decide on the quantity and types of food they wish to grow depending on the space available to them. The growing boxes also came with all the supplies required like seeds and soil, and even a set of easy instructions, clearly outlining the amount of water, sunlight and other variables required for the plant, making it easier for even people with no prior growing experience to grow their own food.
An important aspect of the planters was the sharing concept behind it. The planters were built as structures that were compartmentalized into smaller planters which could be dismantled and shared. One could begin to grow plants in their planter, and trade one section of it with their neighbours, and add the new traded part to their own planter and grow a different variety of food from the one they began growing. This not only encourages community sharing and growing of various types of foods, but also helps families feel connected to members of their community and reduce feelings of social isolation.
The planters also have the potential of involving family members of all ages and becoming spaces of family bonding. Children could also be involved in the growing process which research has shown makes children more interested in and accepting of healthy foods (Spencer, 2015). Since they are closely involved in growing these foods and building a relationship with them as the plants grow, they might be more motivated to eat them, ultimately eating healthier.
The planters can also travel through various spaces in people’s lifestyles. The planters could be grown at home, and even integrated into school activities to get young children more involved in food and nutrition and help them build a sense of responsibility and initiative towards their food and health.
Community Organisations like Food Cycle could also incorporate these growing boxes into their activities. Members and guests could begin to grow these boxes at home, and plant them at bigger sites at the organizations. This would help give families a sense of pride and contribution to the system, and help relieve feelings of shame. These foods grown in the community could be used to cook food at the food banks, making the receiving of free food feel less like charity and more like a communal effort where everybody participates and adds value. These activities would also help people form connections with other members and reduce social isolation and improve overall morale and mental health.
I decided to make 3 planters:
1. Self-watering planter for medium sized leafy vegetables. This planter was designed with provisions to pass cotton ropes through the body of the planter, that will acts as wicks and transport water to the plants. The planter has a bottom tray, that will hold water, and cotton ropes that will transport this water upwards to the plant, allowing people to simply refill the bottom tray once a week, instead of watering the plant everyday.
2. 3-Sharing planter for micro-herbs. This planter was designed to be able to separate the 3 planters are trade and share grown plants with neighbours or community members, who can then add the new piece into their own planter.
3. Scalable planters for bigger vegetables. The third planter was designed to grow larger vegetables like potatoes, onions, or carrots. These planters can be placed on the ground, in patterns and numbers of choice depending on the amount of space available. They come with handles so that they can be easily transported to larger growing site if required.
I made prototypes of these planters out of birch-ply wood at the LCC 3D workshop.
RECIPE BOOKS + WEBSITE
The next intervention is The Good Plate recipe book. The recipe book focuses on 3 main aspects - low cost meals, zero or low waste cooking and low-effort, nutritionally balanced meals.
The average cost of eating a healthy balanced diet for a family of four living on state offered benefits with two adults and two children is £162 a week (nearly 46% of their household income) (The Consumer Council. 2021) This means that families have on an average around £2.89 per portion per person, twice a day to spend on food. Hence, the cook book focuses on meals that are nutritionally balanced, and cost under £1.50 per portion to make. The cookbook also hopes to highlight zero waste or low waste cooking so as to help families make the most out of the produce available to them.
The cookbook was designed as a product whose ownership belongs to the community rather than one particular individual or organization, and to act as a medium to allow people to share their vast cultural knowledge with each other. The cookbook was co-designed with members from across London who contributed by sending in their special food hacks and recipes. Today, the first edition of the cookbook is a work-in-progress archive holding 12 recipes credited to various members from different cultural backgrounds, and is quickly and continuously growing in number.
An online website with the same recipes is also in the works, which will enable people to instantly add their own recipes and pictures to the site, credited to them. The site will also allow people to search for recipes based on ingredients they have on hand.
The cookbook was also designed with illustrations of the key ingredients in the dish, in order to make different cultural foods less intimidating and more inviting to people who may not be used to them by breaking down these foods into common and familiar ingredients the majority identifies.
I knew I wanted the recipe book to be contributed and owned by members of the community, for it was their cultural food knowledge that I hoped the book would highlight. I also wanted the cook book to be expandable, with people being able to add their own recipes over time, and build a large archive of personal food experiences.
The recipes been contributes by members in London, whom I reached out to through facebook groups. Members were kind enough to contribute their own low-cost recipes with their own magical hints of personalizations developed over time
SUPERMARKET TOURS
Next, I wanted to understand the issues people had with accessing healthy food and the strategies they employed in order to eat better and enough. However, I understood that this was a sensitive question that had to be dealt with carefully. It was inappropriate to simply ask people if they didn’t have enough access to food and how they dealt with it as this was extremely personal and could be triggering. So instead of asking people directly about the struggles they face, I thought I would go to supermarkets and corner stores and ask them “What’s in your shopping today?”. This would allow me to understand the kinds of food people were purchasing and eating, and could also open a line of communication where I could ask them why they made the choices they made, which could be another way of understanding their problems without directly putting them on the spot to answer difficult questions.
The conversations were left open ended. I started by asking people what was in their shopping today. These conversations usually ended with people listing a couple of the general foods they bought; meats, veggies, snacks, drinks, etc. I then asked them how they picked what foods to buy, and how important adding fresh fruits and veg to their everyday meals was to them. I even asked people about what they thought of the governments Eatwell guide, and how realistically achievable it was. Responses were noted in a notebook as follows:
STAKEHOLDER MAP
Next I drew out a stakeholder map, in order to understand the groups of people that existed within the system of my problem area. It also helped me identify who I could potentially get in touch with to conduct my primary research.
Some of the Key identified stakeholders were as follows:
Individuals: Low-Income families, daily wage workers, parents, children, teachers, NHS Staff, Growers etc.
Communities: Activists, Mutual Aid, Volunteers, Schools, NGOs, Gardens, etc.
Organisations: Supermarkets, Charities, Food Banks, Shelters, Food Manufacturers, etc.
I even added non-human stakeholders, who influence food systems, and are an integral part of the issue. Some of these included social media, housing, money, and the object of food itself
After my secondary research outlined in the previous chapter, and my affinity diagram, I set out to define my research statement. I identified the key areas I wanted to look at - how can low-income families eat better within existing limitations, how can they draw from existing knowledge and their own lived experiences and assets available to them and their communities, how can people be made aware of what foods are healthy and help in making better food choices. My initial research statement was as follows:
How might we encourage and improve access to better eating habits in low-income families and children.
However, after conversations with my supervisor, I understood that my problem statement did not highlight many of the aspects I wanted it to, and maybe even unintentionally implied things I wasn’t implying. For example, when I said “encourage better eating habits”, it implied that low-income families do not want to eat healthy or are not concerned about eating healthy and need external motivation to do so, which was definitely not the conjecture I was making. Low-income families had reduced access to healthy eating for various systemic reasons, and reasons that were not their responsibility alone, and these reasons had nothing to do with their motivation to eat healthy. Further, a major part of what I wanted to look at was how people could leverage resources already available to them and knowledge they already held to help improve their food accessibility, which was not brought out in my initial draft. I then set out to re-look at the language I was using, and tried to better align my statement with the exact intent I was trying to explore and came to my final research question.
FOOD INSECURITY IN LONDON
I then looked into food insecurity in London; it’s causes and the impact it has on adults, children and families. I mapped out key findings, and noticed that the issues impacting food security could be segregated into 3 main spaces that they exist within - issues at home level, school level and community level. This observation was made by mapping out my findings on an affinity map, and trying to find commonalities within the various aspects of my research (see below image). Highlights of my research are as follows:
I started my process by drawing out a quick STEEP analysis in order to understand the socio-cultural-political context of the issue. It looked at 5 main areas - social, technological, economic, environmental, and political. The steep analysis was a quick exercise, which I filled in any information found through a short initial research. This exercise, opened up further directions to conduct more secondary research in.
THE HOME:
High Cost of Living
- The avg cost of eating a healthy balanced diet for a family of four living on benefits with two adults and two children in primary and secondary school is £162 per week (46% of their household income) (Consumer Council. 2021)
- High housing costs have also led to nearly 4 in 10 (41%) of Londoners having insufficient finances to achieve an acceptable standard of living, which is assessed by many indicators measuring health, safety, financial stability and overall living quality of people (Sevinc, D. 2017).
- In-work poverty has also been on the rise, where 74% (1,050,000) of people living in poverty in London are working families (Trust for London, 2020).
- Wages have flat-lined and failed to keep pace with the capital’s soaring living costs In 2017, 1 in 5 people (730,000) were actually paid below the London Living Wage. (Child Poverty Action Group. 2017)
- Flexible part-time jobs are not easily available, childcare is also 28% more expensive in London than any other city in the UK. This makes it difficult for people acting as primary caregivers for children at homes, and people with limited working capacity to contribute to earning income in their households (Child Poverty Action Group. 2017).
High Visibility of Junk Food
- Junk food is generally cheap and often irresistible to young children even though they knew it was bad for them.
- Low-income youth and adults are exposed to disproportionately more marketing and advertising for obesity-promoting products that encourage the consumption of unhealthy foods and discourage physical activity (e.g., fast food, sugary beverages, television shows, video games) (Food Research and Action Centre. 2011).
Lack of Support for Breastfeeding
- Breastfeeding is a more cost-effective way to feed a baby than buying infant formula. However many women who want to breastfeed do not get the support they need at home and the workplace and the impact of this on poor households who struggle to afford costly formula milks is greater.
- Weak legislation controlling the promotion of formula milks and supporting breastfeeding at work has made breastfeeding an exception rather than the norm across the UK. (Food Foundation. 2021).
Policies not reaching those in need
- The UK government has many policies to support parents and children in low-Income households in accessing food and nutrition. However, many of these policies have low coverage, and have not been updated to match current economic and financial climates, leaving out many families in need.
- The Healthy Start Scheme, a helping low-income families afford vitamins and food for their newborns, has been capped at £3.10 a week, and has not been adjusted since 2009 in spite of drastic increases in food prices over the years (Food Foundation. 2021).
THE SCHOOL
Free School Meals
- Up to age 7, children in England receive free school meals
- The free fruit and veg scheme also available to primary school children ensures that each child receives one piece of fruit or veg a day
- From the age of 7, free school meals are only provided to children whose families earn less than £7,400 per year. This leaves many low-income families at a disadvantage
- Children reported that they felt there was a negative stigma around receiving free school meals owing to the way it was branded and talked about.
- Migrant children were also left out from accessing free school meals as migrant families had no recourse to public funds (NRPF) (Food Foundation. 2021).
Food Allowances in Schools
- Low income families are also eligible to apply for school allowance. However many children revealed that the free school meal allowance of £2.30 was insufficient to buy a meal which usually costs anywhere between £2-2.60 per meal (Food Foundation. 2021).
Food Desserts during School Holidays
- Only 6 of the 13 weeks of school holidays over the academic year are supported with free school meals, leaving seven weeks unfunded. In addition, local authorities are not mandated to draw down this funding so councils could opt-out, leaving children in those areas vulnerable and without any support during school holidays. This increases financial pressure on families as the cost of childcare and food increases during these times (Mayors Fund for London. 2021)
THE COMMUNITY
Food Desserts
- Poverty, poor public transport, and a lack of big supermarkets severely limit one’s consistent access to affordable fresh fruits and vegetables in such areas. These areas are mostly served by corner shops that have extremely limited fresh produce (Butler, P. 2018).
- Convenience foods like frozen and canned foods are extremely popular in low income neighbourhoods as opposed to fresh fruits and veg. Canned foods offer longer shelf life, are easier to cook, and are often cheaper than fresh foods which helps families save time and resources, both of which they are short on (Palmer et al., 2020).
High Prevalence of fast food outlets
- Provision of fast food joints are generally greater in more deprived areas and their low, affordable costs, makes them popular meal options. (Jones et al., n.d.)
- Foods purchased from fast-food outlets are associated with lower nutritional value and evidence shows that individuals who regularly consume these types of foods are heavier than others, contributing to rise in obesity.
Food Banks and Emergency Crisis Management
- Charities, organizations, food banks, and community groups aid people living in food poverty, by providing them with meals and food supplies that are usually obtained through donations from restaurants and supermarkets.
- Food banks and emergency food aid provide temporary solutions that are not consistent and sustainable long term, and do not address the root cause of the issue (Roberts, 2020).
Revised Research Statement:
How might we amplify avenues to improve accessibility to healthy food for Low-Income families in London.
The revised statement highlights 3 key factors that my research will look into:
- By amplifying avenues, we acknowledge that there are existing resources and knowledge within the community that can be leveraged. It places the power to facilitate change with the community and removes the designer as a central part of this change.
- By improving accessibility to healthy food, we know that issue of food security is not simply a lack of financial affordance but an issue of accessibility.
- The research specifically look at low income families in London and will explore the issue in a context most relevant to them.
SUPERMARKET MAPS
To further understand how prevalent food desserts are, and to understand the correlation between people’s access to food and the types of food they eat, I decided to draw supermarket maps. For these maps, I studied 4 boroughs in London. I wanted to explore the difference in access to foods between 2 of London’s richest boroughs, and 2 of its poorest. The 4 boroughs chosen were - Bromley and Kensington & Chelsea (London’s richest boroughs) and Tower Hamlets and Westminster (Boroughs with highest levels of Poverty in London with a poverty level of 39% and 30% respectively) (Peracha, Q. 2020)
I began by identifying the most popularly existing supermarkets in London, and categorised them into 4 categories from most to least expensive, as per a new price comparison study. (Munbodh, E. 2021) The categories were as follows:
Next, with the help of google maps, I counted the number of each kind of supermarket in each of the boroughs. The numbers can be seen in the image below. Then, the percentage of each category of stores was calculated in terms of the total number of supermarkets available in the borough.
Richer boroughs like Bromley and Kensington & Chelsea showed a higher number of Type A supermarkets as compared to the other categories with a percentage of 21.43% in Bromley and 32.56% in Kensington & Chelsea. This number was fairly small in Tower Hamlets, with only 4% of the total supermarkets available belonging to Type A. In more deprived boroughs like Tower Hamlets and Westminster, it can be seen that Type D supermarkets, or smaller convenience stores are more prevalent with this category amounting to 66.66% and 58.90% of the total available supermarkets in the respective boroughs.
This, along with the earlier secondary research shows that these low-income areas have less access to fresh fruits and vegetables, as they are served by primarily corner shops that have limited fresh produce, where canned and frozen convenience foods are most popular.
KEY FINDINGS
Popular Foods:
Milk, Bread, Eggs, Chicken, Pasta, Onions, Tomatoes, Carrot, Tinned Tomatoes, Tinned Chickpeas, Juice, Soup
How do you pick what foods to buy?:
- Based on what was bought the previous week, ensuring variety.
- Based on budget
- Look for foods that will last long; long shelf life
- Shopping list, shops based on what’s running out
- Spread out monthly essentials across the month instead of buying them all at once. Buys perishables once a week.
- Foods that are quick to prepare because short on time.
To you, how important is eating healthy and including fresh fruits and veg in your diet?:
- Eating healthy is a priority for most
- Some aim to eat healthy, but time constraints make it challenging
- One said they don’t really think about food that way, they eat what they feel like, which could go to show a lack of understanding about nutrition
The government’s Eatwell Guide recommends 5 portion of fresh fruit or veg a day. How realistic and attainable does this sound to you?:
- Some said guide has to be made for different types of people, taking into consideration income levels and available time
- Some said there kid’s are picky when it comes to vegetables so 5 might be a stretch
- Some said five seems unrealistic though they try eating healthy
Key Findings:
- Free school meals don’t have as much stigma as they did before. Schools, children and people are growing sensitive and more accepting towards people receiving these benefits and there is less negative association.
- Some schools act as food banks, giving out food donated by the community to families in need.
- Lack of nutrition has a direct relationship with children’s academic performance, overall health. Many are malnourished or obese due to not eating enough or eating the wrong foods.
- Knowledge around healthy food and how healthy foods can be made affordable is important.
- Different areas have different proportion of children needing benefits. It is highest in Tower Hamlets.
SET 2
Set 2 included 2 amateur food growers based in London who grew foods across the year for their own self consumption. Conversations were aimed at understanding food growing processes around the year, their experiences with growing, and the challenges involved.
Key Findings:
- Growing has a lot of logistical aspects to consider - like water, sun, season, pests, etc
- Growing together can be therapeutic and improve bonding, improve feeling of satisfaction and is mentally rewarding
- Growing food may not be able to substitute buying vegetables from the market, but compliment it
- Growing can be an intimate activity as you develop an emotional connect with the plants
SET 3
Set 3 included 4 owners of corner shops in Tower Hamlets. These interviews were aimed towards understanding the most popular foods sold and the limitations smaller corner shops had in providing affordable fresh foods.
Key Findings:
- Convenience foods like canned foods, frozen foods, snack foods, and candy are popular.
- Small amounts of fresh foods are sold due to high transport and sourcing costs, and high cost of maintenance.
- For some people, these smaller shops are the only easily assessable store in nearby vicinity.
- Bigger supermarkets can sell fresh foods and some goods for cheaper because they buy in bulk, straight from the manufacturer
SET 4
Set 4 included 1 interview with the South and East London Regional Manager of Food Cycle, a charity that combines surplus food, spare kitchen spaces and volunteers to provide fresh cooked meals for people at risk of food poverty and social isolation. This interaction provided useful insights about the challenges of many families suffering from food poverty and their backgrounds and concerns.
Key Findings:
- There exists an element of shame amongst the guests that come in for free meals.
- Majority of the people that come in are from the refugee community, immigrant community, and even some from the homeless community.
- People can have reservations about food that is not their own cultural food due to lack of exposure.
- People in different buroughs have different cultures and messaging has to be adapted accordingly.
- Some people come to these sessions just for the socialising aspect
- Some of the guests even suffer from mental health and addiction challenges
- There is an extremely high need; some gusts are willing to go extreme measures like travel across the city to make it to a food cycle meal.
USER JOURNEY MAP
Next, taking into consideration all the insights gathered through secondary and primary research, I decided to draw user journey maps in order to map my findings together in a wider context, and help identify better the different spaces in people’s lives and the relationships shared at each of these spaces. The user journey map followed a hypothetical day in the lives of 3 individuals, a 39 years old sales person, a 6 year old primary school student, and a 34 year old mother of two.
SHORT-TERM GOALS
- Improve knowledge and interest around food and nutrition
- Improve avenues and ease for accessing healthy food
and nutrition
- Increase connect and empathy between people, community and food
LONG-TERM GOALS
- Moving away from crisis management solutions and towards sustainable alternates for accessing food
- Increase connect and empathy between people and reduce social isolation & feeling of shame
- Creating spaces for people to take ownership & pride over their unique cultural experiences and knowledge
- Extend support around mental health challenges, addiction challenges, housing challenges, job searches and other needs to families instead of simply hunger relief
- Reduced hunger and malnutrition
