“People not quite understanding what I do is the story of my life,” says Dutch food designer Katja Gruijters. “It’s not easy to explain because it’s so varied, but it’s not about being a chef, or a food stylist. It’s about using design to make the many complex topics around food more approachable. As a discipline it’s only just finding its feet now, but food design is taking off”.
From the universities of Reims in France and Ulster in Ireland, to the Elisava School of Design and Engineering in Barcelona and the Polytechnic School of Design in Milan – where Gruijters teaches – food design is now a hot topic in academia, after two decades of bubbling away in the background.
Businesses as diverse as the accounting giant Deloitte and beauty brand L’Oreal increasingly turn to its practitioners both for fresh ideas and to understand what the next big thing in food could and perhaps should be.
Indeed, if the idea that food isn’t just prepared and packaged but designed – like a chair or a car – sounds fanciful, consider our apparent desire for constant innovation.
According to one study by international food trade show, Sial Paris, while, remarkably, just 12 crops and five animal species account for three quarters of global food intake, it’s nonetheless commonplace for 50 per cent of the products on our supermarket shelves not to have existed about five years ago. Such is the rapid turnover of ideas, some of which stick, some or which don’t.
Last year’s Sial event saw the launch of snack bars made of hummus, chickpea and mushroom spreads, and various proposals for upcycling food waste (that is, turning the waste produced in making foods into something edible).
Recent years, of course, have seen the advent of alt-dairy products, cronuts, activated charcoal drinks and all manner of foods with added fibre or protein, all of which seem to be staying. Foods that were once considered exotic – quinoa, kimchi and kale, among others – have been reconsidered, repackaged and gone mainstream.
According to Amir Mousavi, founder of the London food design consultancy Good Food Studio – which has explored ideas such as how to extend the shelf-life of cheesecake through to the appeal of re-hydratable powdered yoghurt for major brands and small start-ups. Many food trends are initially led by consumers, with food producers monitoring online sentiment and then amplifying demand.”
“So, yes, alongside efforts to make food, say, longer lasting, more palatable or healthier, there’s certainly a cynical, commercial side [to food design] too – people don’t realise how much their food choices are manipulated through it,” he concedes. “But the fact is that the pace of development in food products is only getting faster as consumers demand more innovation.”
“Food designers certainly help the big multinationals drive that innovation in food – making it hard for start-ups to scale – and it’s certainly hard to keep up with the products that they think people want,” Gruijters explains.
“But I think in parallel, food design is also driving more consciousness with regards to food – moves towards more sustainable, as well as healthier systems – and the friction between those two approaches is what’s going to be behind its next transformative phase”.
While newness in food stuffs alone can drive sales, food design is also about responding to the changing needs of society. Currently, the lines are blurred between work and leisure, and changing family dynamics means that we’re less likely to eat together at regular times.
We’re more mobile and eat on the go, and thanks to social media, food is increasingly subject to fast-moving fashions. The fact that we’re an ageing society means we may need food to be more digestible. The connection between food and memory is already being explored in geriatric care.
Obesity is also a huge problem in developed nations but, as Gruijters points out, “food design can help us explore the idea that in order to be eaten regularly, healthy food also has to be seductive”. In 2023, one of her projects, Snackery Street, used research into the psychology of satiety to explore whether the kind of fast foods commonly dispensed from vending machines in the Netherlands could be reimagined to this end.
She came up with a pizza made from a cauliflower-based dough, a burger with a doughnut shaped patty that made it look bigger than its calorific value would suggest, and the Bigger Ball, a snack filled with tangled courgette strings. All proved popular.
Certainly some products launched over recent years push at the boundaries of taste and sci-fi – from snail sausages to fish skin salt, from 3D-printed artificial fruits, to Fabri Candy – which turns waste natural textiles into sweets by using the enzyme cellulase to break down their cellulose content into glucose – to the launch of a kitchen tabletop cricket farm.
Other, more conceptual ideas – such as designer Leyu Li’s Mush chicken or Peaf, hybrids of vegetables and lab-grown meats – ask us to think anew about what we eat. Yet others have investigated the notion that food is a kind of “smart material” – how, for example, might pasta’s ability to expand through added water be applied to, say, cereals?
“But this kind of speculative thinking in food design, a more experimental, as well as a more practical or commercial approach that explores what and how we might eat in the future, is important too,” argues Marije Vogelzang.
Vogelzang was a professor of food design at the University of Kassel, Germany, for the past couple of years, and later this summer, she will open a 700 square metre lab-meets-theatre space, Food Design Playground, in Dordrecht, Netherlands. One of her more recent projects blended the experience of eating with audio and meditation. The experience was so emotional that many of her subjects cried.
“Food is so abundant, we often have a rather mindless attitude towards it, but food design can help reestablish our connection to its sensory qualities,” Vogelzang adds.
“That food is tangible, alive, part of nature all make it something we crave in an increasingly digital world too, which is why I think we’re seeing more and more institutions looking for creative ways to deal with food, which also suggests a huge opportunity. This is as much about ‘eating design’ as ‘food design’.”
Dr Francesca Zampollo, food designer, editor of the International Journal of Food Design and arguably the leading public intellectual of food design, suggests examining topics such as “spirituality in food design” and “food design activism”.
“Food design isn’t just about making new products,” she says. “As with design, more broadly, it’s a process of deliberate and reasoned choices. We use the discipline of design thinking in so many other ways and the outcomes are consequently better. So why not apply that to food too?”
Not that the young discipline of food design is without its particular challenges, not least that, as Vogelzang points out, for many of us the attachment to the foods we’re used to is both deeply cultural and deep-seated.
We’re hard-wired to be suspicious of completely unfamiliar ideas in foods, after all. Edouard Malbois, head of the Paris food design agency Enivrance, which has worked with brands such as McDonald’s and Nestle, also argues that, right now, the food sector and consumers are locked into a vicious circle. It’s one that food design might rescue us from.
“The former is still following an industrial model of delivering cheap, easy and unhealthy foods and that makes it hard for us consumers to have the same excitement about food, and to make the same quality demands of it, and the same investment into it, as we do of, say, technology or transport,” reckons Malbois, who has even launched his own product, Grand Jardins – a variety of cold-infused exotic teas that are sold in wine bottles and selected with the same attention to terroir and provenance.
“What we need next is the right kind of food design,” he insists. “Bubble tea is, in a way, a perfect example of 100% food design now – new, easy to eat through a straw, liquid, but also chewy, colourful, graphic and entertaining, but ultimately crap.
“We need to decide if, instead, we want the kind of food design that can bring empowering, impactful solutions for how we need to live, because that’s what it can also give us.”
Spain drain
CONVICTED
Lionel Messi Found guilty in 2016 of of using companies in Belize, Britain, Switzerland and Uruguay to avoid paying €4.1m in taxes on income earned from image rights. Sentenced to 21 months in jail and fined more than €2m. But prison sentence has since been replaced by another fine of €252,000.
Javier Mascherano Accepted one-year suspended sentence in January 2016 for tax fraud after found guilty of failing to pay €1.5m in taxes for 2011 and 2012. Unlike Messi he avoided trial by admitting to tax evasion.
Angel di Maria Argentina and Paris Saint-Germain star Angel di Maria was fined and given a 16-month prison sentence for tax fraud during his time at Real Madrid. But he is unlikely to go to prison as is normal in Spain for first offences for non-violent crimes carrying sentence of less than two years.
SUSPECTED
Cristiano Ronaldo Real Madrid's star striker, accused of evading €14.7m in taxes, appears in court on Monday. Portuguese star faces four charges of fraud through offshore companies.
Jose Mourinho Manchester United manager accused of evading €3.3m in tax in 2011 and 2012, during time in charge at Real Madrid. But Gestifute, which represents him, says he has already settled matter with Spanish tax authorities.
Samuel Eto'o In November 2016, Spanish prosecutors sought jail sentence of 10 years and fines totalling €18m for Cameroonian, accused of failing to pay €3.9m in taxes during time at Barcelona from 2004 to 2009.
Radamel Falcao Colombian striker Falcao suspected of failing to correctly declare €7.4m of income earned from image rights between 2012 and 2013 while at Atletico Madrid. He has since paid €8.2m to Spanish tax authorities, a sum that includes interest on the original amount.
Jorge Mendes Portuguese super-agent put under official investigation last month by Spanish court investigating alleged tax evasion by Falcao, a client of his. He defended himself, telling closed-door hearing he "never" advised players in tax matters.
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
HOW TO WATCH
Facebook: TheNationalNews
Twitter: @thenationalnews
Instagram: @thenationalnews.com
TikTok: @thenationalnews
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Favourite book: ‘The Art of Learning’ by Josh Waitzkin
Favourite film: Marvel movies
Favourite parkour spot in Dubai: Residence towers in Jumeirah Beach Residence
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
What went into the film
25 visual effects (VFX) studios
2,150 VFX shots in a film with 2,500 shots
1,000 VFX artists
3,000 technicians
10 Concept artists, 25 3D designers
New sound technology, named 4D SRL
PAST 10 BRITISH GRAND PRIX WINNERS
2016 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-GP)
2015 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-GP)
2014 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes-GP)
2013 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes-GP)
2012 - Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing)
2011 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)
2010 - Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing)
2009 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing)
2008 - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
2007 - Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Dengue%20fever%20symptoms
%3Cp%3EHigh%20fever%20(40%C2%B0C%2F104%C2%B0F)%3Cbr%3ESevere%20headache%3Cbr%3EPain%20behind%20the%20eyes%3Cbr%3EMuscle%20and%20joint%20pains%3Cbr%3ENausea%3Cbr%3EVomiting%3Cbr%3ESwollen%20glands%3Cbr%3ERash%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Three tips from La Perle's performers
1 The kind of water athletes drink is important. Gwilym Hooson, a 28-year-old British performer who is currently recovering from knee surgery, found that out when the company was still in Studio City, training for 12 hours a day. “The physio team was like: ‘Why is everyone getting cramps?’ And then they realised we had to add salt and sugar to the water,” he says.
2 A little chocolate is a good thing. “It’s emergency energy,” says Craig Paul Smith, La Perle’s head coach and former Cirque du Soleil performer, gesturing to an almost-empty open box of mini chocolate bars on his desk backstage.
3 Take chances, says Young, who has worked all over the world, including most recently at Dragone’s show in China. “Every time we go out of our comfort zone, we learn a lot about ourselves,” she says.
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
RESULTS
Time; race; prize; distance
4pm: Maiden; (D) Dh150,000; 1,200m
Winner: General Line, Xavier Ziani (jockey), Omar Daraj (trainer)
4.35pm: Maiden (T); Dh150,000; 1,600m
Winner: Travis County, Adrie de Vries, Ismail Mohammed
5.10pm: Handicap (D); Dh175,000; 1,200m
Winner: Scrutineer, Tadhg O’Shea, Ali Rashid Al Raihe
5.45pm: Maiden (D); Dh150,000; 1,600m
Winner: Yulong Warrior, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar
6.20pm: Maiden (D); Dh150,000; 1,600m
Winner: Ejaaby, Jim Crowley, Doug Watson
6.55pm: Handicap (D); Dh160,000; 1,600m
Winner: Storyboard, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar
7.30pm: Handicap (D); Dh150,000; 2,200m
Winner: Grand Dauphin, Gerald Mosse, Ahmed Al Shemaili
8.05pm: Handicap (T); Dh190,000; 1,800m
Winner: Good Trip, Tadhg O’Shea, Ali Rashid Al Raihe
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
More on Quran memorisation:
In 2018, the ICRC received 27,756 trace requests in the Middle East alone. The global total was 45,507.
There are 139,018 global trace requests that have not been resolved yet, 55,672 of these are in the Middle East region.
More than 540,000 individuals approached the ICRC in the Middle East asking to be reunited with missing loved ones in 2018.
The total figure for the entire world was 654,000 in 2018.
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Astra%20Tech%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EMarch%202022%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EAbdallah%20Abu%20Sheikh%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20technology%20investment%20and%20development%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%20size%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%24500m%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Last-16 Europa League fixtures
Wednesday (Kick-offs UAE)
FC Copenhagen (0) v Istanbul Basaksehir (1) 8.55pm
Shakhtar Donetsk (2) v Wolfsburg (1) 8.55pm
Inter Milan v Getafe (one leg only) 11pm
Manchester United (5) v LASK (0) 11pm
Thursday
Bayer Leverkusen (3) v Rangers (1) 8.55pm
Sevilla v Roma (one leg only) 8.55pm
FC Basel (3) v Eintracht Frankfurt (0) 11pm
Wolves (1) Olympiakos (1) 11pm
How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
TRAP
Starring: Josh Hartnett, Saleka Shyamalan, Ariel Donaghue
Director: M Night Shyamalan
Rating: 3/5
The biog
Full name: Aisha Abdulqader Saeed
Age: 34
Emirate: Dubai
Favourite quote: "No one has ever become poor by giving"
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Andor
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECreator%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Tony%20Gilroy%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDiego%20Luna%2C%20Genevieve%20O'Reilly%2C%20Alex%20Ferns%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%205%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Most wanted allegations
- Benjamin Macann, 32: involvement in cocaine smuggling gang.
- Jack Mayle, 30: sold drugs from a phone line called the Flavour Quest.
- Callum Halpin, 27: over the 2018 murder of a rival drug dealer.
- Asim Naveed, 29: accused of being the leader of a gang that imported cocaine.
- Calvin Parris, 32: accused of buying cocaine from Naveed and selling it on.
- John James Jones, 31: allegedly stabbed two people causing serious injuries.
- Callum Michael Allan, 23: alleged drug dealing and assaulting an emergency worker.
- Dean Garforth, 29: part of a crime gang that sold drugs and guns.
- Joshua Dillon Hendry, 30: accused of trafficking heroin and crack cocain.
- Mark Francis Roberts, 28: grievous bodily harm after a bungled attempt to steal a £60,000 watch.
- James ‘Jamie’ Stevenson, 56: for arson and over the seizure of a tonne of cocaine.
- Nana Oppong, 41: shot a man eight times in a suspected gangland reprisal attack.
