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Gut Feelings: Social Mindful Eating

by 

Hadas Boni

Design Management and Innovation track

Mentor — 

Dr. Elad Persov

Eating is basic necessity for our survival. The development of the food industry and modern lifestyle have created a distance between humans and the processes of food production. Today, consumers are subjected to various mechanism that affect their nutritional choices: retail chains, living on the fast lane, social and religious influences, the mainstream and social media. There are hardly any mechanisms in our lives that enable investment in and thinking about what we eat. 

Mindful eating is an approach whereby we eat with full attention to the food in our mouth and on our plate, while remaining present in the moment and using our senses and feelings. This approach encourages attention to the hunger and satiety mechanisms, enable us to regain control over the food that enters our body. 

In the course of this design study, I have examined the changes occurring among eaters, from the emotional and social aspects, in a group dinner that combines training in mindful eating. According to the findings, I have designed “Gut Feelings” – a new culinary experience that integrates the principles of mindful eating and reinterprets the Israeli commensality. The dinner included three courses that encouraged the diners to use their senses through the design of the food and serving. Each course encouraged a different use of the diners’ physical senses in order to improve their ability to detect and self-learn about what makes them more attentive to their bodies. 

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Hadas Boni

Hadas Boni is a service designer active in the public sector for the past five years. In her work, she consults on the development of new and existing services in the Jerusalem Municipality and NGOs serving various populations: the third age, early childhood, and individuals with special needs. Hadas takes part in new collaborations among different public systems using design thinking methodologies, human-oriented research and visual tools. 

Hadas has a B.Des in inclusive industrial design at Hadassah Academic College, where she now teaches. 

When not at work, Hadas likes to create and bake in the kitchen. For her, every cake is a new artwork, and she considers food a way to meet people and their story, teach and educate. She wishes to keep designing creative experience for people at home, at the museum, or while waiting at the clinic.

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