Empty Your Wardrobe has been partnering these months with Food:RE:Formers – a community of social activists whose aim is to challenge and inform the citizens of Kolding about food waste and broaden the knowledge about green responsibility. The mission is to encourage citizens to take action against food waste and over-consumption.
Diana, who is a volunteer at Food:RE:Formers, decided to share with us her story about being a part and organizing a playful food workshop called Build Your Dessert. We have been invited by MOVE // Design, hosting 2-days creative experience at a secret location near Kolding.
The camp has gathered students and design thinkers who are curious, want to learn and be challenged. In cooperation with a design studio in Aarhus, they have created a weekend with an interplay between our physical and mental movements. During the camp the 30 participants joined three workshops, that questioned: “How might we move”. The camp ended with a community dinner and a dessert – a food waste challenge, “the cherry of the cake”, hosted by Food:RE:Formers.
What is “Build Your Dessert”?
We have created an experience where the participants in the camp were challenged in their approach to food waste. The activity aimed to evoke our creativity and imagination, to open up the trust of our common senses and to inform about the environmental cost of our behaviour.
The 3 steps towards building your dessert
- Choose your base (creativity)
- Choose your crunchy stuff (move)
- Choose your topping (smell)
We designed a space for the participants enabling them to create their own dessert. The activity was spread into 3 rooms – each representing different motion.
- The participants entered a room in two. In the room, there were samples with different options for a base. By blindfolded one of the participants, the couple was encouraged to test the samples, only by touching and pick a base. From there on, they had to proceed to the next step.
- In the second room, the same couple had to choose different add-ons for the dessert (small fruits, muesli, sprinkles, etc – surplus food). To be able to get the filling for the dessert, the couple had to overcome a challenge – we increased the dynamic in order to make them aware of the energy cost created and lost from food waste.
- At the final step, the other person was blindfolded and had to select the topping for the dessert, again made of food waste. Here, the participants need to trust their senses and only by smelling to choose their favourite among the different topping options.
Diana´s Story
Our workshop at MOVE Design camp can be defined in words as unique, challenging and fun. The idea for this workshop was created one week before the camp, on a sunny Saturday when we all gathered at Bygning 5 – Nicolai for a Social Workday.
Social Workday at Bygning 5
… The day started with a cosy breakfast together and continued with teamwork and with a lot of creativity and enthusiasm. At the end of the day, we had a great idea for the Move Designcamp – a workshop that not only would challenge the participants but also us in finding the best way and make it happen. The evening before the event we collected surplus food, sort it and wash it so that everything can be ready for the next day adventure outside Kolding.
The next day came and for 5 food fighters, the adventure began. We arrived at the location and start preparing the food. We need to confess that we were a little nervous about how people will enjoy this kind of workshop, better-called experience and if our ideas and efforts were successfully met. We really wanted people to understand that you can be creative with your food and that maybe some leftovers that they usually would throw away can be transformed into great and yummy recipes. Because the most important aspect when we are talking about food waste at an individual level is the way we look at our food and think about it so the solution is to change our perceptions and start thinking out of what we have been taught or used with.
The workshop was built as a 3-rooms experience in which the participants would face 3 different challenges to build their dessert. In the first room, they had to choose the base for their dessert, but not that simple. They were organized in pairs of two so one of the team members were blindfolded and had to touch our base samples and decide which one to use only by feeling the food texture. The next challenge was a movement and a balance challenge where they needed to coordinate with others in order to keep the dessert intact and choose their crunchy ingredients. And the last room was about choosing their toppings by only using their smell.
It was really great to see people enjoying this experience, laughing and having a great time while creating a dessert from food that otherwise would have been thrown away. The diversity of their desserts reflected the diversity in our lives, regarding people, preferences, food but also in the way we can make a difference and living more sustainable.
There are ways, and we all are creative, it just takes motivation and a little effort to look at things from another perspective. 🙂
