FOOD DESIGN (DESIGN AND FOOD) AS A DISCIPLINARY FIELD IN FORMATION AND CONSOLIDATION: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND CONFIGURATIVE ANALYSIS (2013–2025)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33324/daya.vi20.1174Keywords:
food systems, sustainability, experience design, academic institutionalization, design theoryAbstract
This systematic review article examines the current state of Food Design as a disciplinary field based on scientific literature published between 2013 and 2025. Its objective is to map its theoretical foundations, processes of academic institutionalization, methodological developments, and systemic expansions to analyze the indicators that explain its configuration and consolidation within the academic field of design. The research was conducted using the PICOC model to formulate the research question and the PRISMA protocol to identify, screen, and select studies in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. After applying rigorous inclusion and exclusion criteria, a final corpus of 46 selected studies was established and subjected to in-depth, analytical, and comparative reading. Additionally, interpretive triangulation was carried out using Consensus AI to contrast emerging patterns. The results allow the identification of five configurative axes of the field: theoretical and definitional foundations; education and institutionalization; methodologies and tools; experiential and aesthetic dimension; and systemic expansion and sustainability. The findings show a progressive configuration of the field, characterized by sustained theoretical production and increasing academic formalization, particularly in European and Latin American contexts, although epistemological tensions persist over its conceptual boundaries relative to adjacent disciplines. It is concluded that Food Design presents recognizable structural features as a disciplinary field of design, although its consolidation remains an open and debated process.
Keywords: food systems, sustainability, experience design, academic institutionalization, design theory.
Downloads
References
Addis, M., Batat, W., Atakan, S. S., Austin, C. G., Manika, D., Peter, P. C. & Peterson, L. (2022). Food experience design to prevent unintended consequences and improve well-being. Journal of Service Research, 25(1), 143–159. https://doi.org/10.1177/10946705211057593 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/10946705211057593
Akner, C., Billing, M. & Göran Rodell, A. (2024). Developing haptic attribute models as creative instruments for a hybrid food design community. International Journal of Food Design, 9(2), 145–176. https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd_00073_1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd_00073_1
Austin, C. G. (2021). The history of design thinking and its contributions to food experiences and well-being. En W. Batat (Ed.), Design Thinking for Food Well-Being (pp. 19–33). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54296-2_2 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54296-2_2
Bennett, A. G. & Vokoun, J. A. (2023). Critical Mapping for Sustainable Food Design: Food Security, Equity, and Justice (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003222026 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003222026-1
Biderman, J. L. (2017). Embracing complexity in food, design and food design. International Journal of Food Design, 2(1), 27–44. https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd.2.1.27_1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd.2.1.27_1
Bonacho, R. (2021). Design Bites—Design in Culinary Arts: The Case Study of the MSc in Innovation in Science and Culinary Arts. En S. Massari (Ed.), Transdisciplinary Case Studies on Design for Food and Sustainability (pp. 217–231). Woodhead Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-817821-8.00008-4
Campagnaro, C., Passaro, R. & Curtabbi, G. (2023). Alimenta: A design-led systemic action against homelessness-related food poverty. International Journal of Food Design, 8(2), 227–257. https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd_00063_1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd_00063_1
Colucci, A. & Sganzetta, L. M. (2021). Polimi para Rocinha urban regeneration process: The role of “food design” for the sustainability of the Rocinha Favela in Rio de Janeiro. En S. Massari (Ed.), Transdisciplinary Case Studies on Design for Food and Sustainability (pp. 263–281). Woodhead Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-817821-8.00002-3
De Francisco, S. & Ayala-Garcia, C. (2020). Émotions à la carte: Exploring emotional paradoxes through edible DIY-materials for product design. International Journal of Food Design, 4(2), 139–153. https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd_00002_1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd_00002_1
Fassio, F. (2017). Systemic Food Design.it: A website that narrates food supply chains from a systemic perspective. The Design Journal, 20(sup1), S1355–S1366. https://doi.org/10.1080/14606925.2017.1352662 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14606925.2017.1352662
Gayler, T. & Sas, C. (2017). An exploration of taste-emotion mappings from the perspective of food design practitioners. En Proceedings of the 2nd International Workshop on Multisensory Approaches to Human-Food Interaction (MHFI ’17) (pp. 23–28). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3141788.3141793 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3141788.3141793
Hedegaard, L. & Hémar-Nicolas, V. (2020). Rethinking food well-being as reconciliation between pleasure and sustainability. International Journal of Food Design, 5(1–2), 157–166. https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd_00019_3 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd_00019_3
Jing, S. (2024). Sustainable food design: A four-dimensional transformation of theory and methodology towards post carbon era. En C. Stephanidis, M. Antona, S. Ntoa & G. Salvendy (Eds.), HCI International 2023 – Late Breaking Posters (pp. 310–323). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-49215-0_37 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-49215-0_37
Juri, S., Massari, S. & Reissig, P. (2022). Editorial: Food+Design - transformations via transversal and transdisciplinary approaches. En D. Lockton, S. Lenzi, P. Hekkert, A. Oak, J. Sádaba & P. Lloyd (Eds.), DRS2022: Bilbao, 25 June - 3 July, Bilbao, Spain. Design Research Society. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2022.1060 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2022.1060
Lee, Y., Breuer, C. & Schifferstein, H. N. J. (2020). Supporting food design processes: Development of food design cards. International Journal of Design, 14(2), 51–64.
Leer, J. (2020). Designing sustainable food experiences: Rethinking sustainable food tourism. International Journal of Food Design, 5(1–2), 65–82. https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd_00010_1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd_00010_1
Lemke, M., Boon, B. & Schifferstein, H. N. J. (2021). Between attraction and aversion: How designers can use the concept of disgust to influence food consumption. International Journal of Food Design, 6(1), 67–101. https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd_00025_1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd_00025_1
Lemke, M. & de Boer, B. (2022). Setting the stage: Disgust as an aesthetic food experience. Design Issues, 38(3), 20–33. https://doi.org/10.1162/desi_a_00689 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/desi_a_00689
Lowley, J. D. & Skjerven, A. (2018). Edited aesthetics of taste. In DS 93: Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design Education (E&PDE 2018) (pp. 277–281). The Design Society.
Mangano, D. (2015). The sense of good: Ten theses on a theory of food design. Lexia, 19–20, 49–63. https://doi.org/10.4399/97888548857144
Mangano, D. (2016). Food design chez Bras. Semiótica, 2016(211), 341–353. https://doi.org/10.1515/sem-2016-0090 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/sem-2016-0090
Massari, S. (2017). Food design and food studies: Discussing creativity and critical thinking. International Journal of Food Design, 2(1), 117–132. https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd.2.1.117_1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd.2.1.117_1
Massari, S. (2025). Food design. En L. Holloway, M. K. Goodman, D. Maye, M. Kneafsey, A. Sexton & A. Moragues-Faus (Eds.), Elgar Encyclopedia of Food and Society (p. 213). Edward Elgar Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800887435.00059
Page, M. J., McKenzie, J. E., Bossuyt, P. M., Boutron, I., Hoffmann, T. C., Mulrow, C. D., Shamseer, L., Tetzlaff, J. M., Akl, E. A., Brennan, S. E., Chou, R., Glanville, J., Grimshaw, J. M., Hróbjartsson, A., Lalu, M. M., Li, T., Loder, E. W., Mayo-Wilson, E., McDonald, S. ... Moher, D. (2021). The PRISMA 2020 statement: An updated guideline for reporting systematic reviews. BMJ, 372, n71. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n71 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n71
Parasecoli, F. (2017). Food, research, design: What can food studies bring to food design education? International Journal of Food Design, 2(1), 15–25. https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd.2.1.15_1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd.2.1.15_1
Parasecoli, F. (2022). Food design, nutrition, and innovation. Frontiers in Public Health, 10, 1039795. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1039795 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1039795
Perrone, R. & Fuster, A. (2017). Food as a system and a material for the creative process in design education. International Journal of Food Design, 2(1), 65–81. https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd.2.1.65_1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd.2.1.65_1
Reissig, P. (2017). Food design education. International Journal of Food Design, 2(1), 3–13. https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd.2.1.3_2 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd.2.1.3_2
Reissig, P. & Lebendiker, A. (2021). Transitioning from food systems toward food ecosystems. En Transdisciplinary Case Studies on Design for Food and Sustainability. Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-817821-8.00017-5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-817821-8.00017-5
Schifferstein, H. N. J. (2021). Designing food experiences: A multisensory approach. En Transdisciplinary Case Studies on Design for Food and Sustainability. Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-817821-8.00015-1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-817821-8.00015-1
Schifferstein, H. N. J. (2023). Supporting food design with consumer research: From inspiration and validation to participation and integration. Current Opinion in Food Science, 51, 101020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cofs.2023.101020 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cofs.2023.101020
Schifferstein, H. N. J. (2024). Stakeholders’ awareness and perception of food design in the Netherlands. International Journal of Food Design, 9(2), 139–144. https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd_00074_2 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd_00074_2
Sijtsema, S. J. & Snoek, H. M. (2023). Involving consumers in food product development: Perspectives on the application of circular food design. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 7, 1069278. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1069278 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2023.1069278
Snow, N. (2021). Food design: Innovation in Canadian graphic design education. En S. Massari (Ed.), Transdisciplinary Case Studies on Design for Food and Sustainability (pp. 249–260). Woodhead Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-817821-8.00022-9 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-817821-8.00022-9
Tseng, M.-Y. (2017). Primary metaphors and multimodal metaphors of food: Examples from an intercultural food design event. Metaphor and Symbol, 32(3), 211–229. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2017.1338027 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2017.1338027
van Boeijen, A. G. C. & Schifferstein, H. N. J. (2024). How to include the sociocultural context in food design: Insights, tools and strategies. International Journal of Food Design, 9(1), 73–99. https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd_00061_1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd_00061_1
Wilde, D. & Altarriba, F. (2019). Participatory research through gastronomy design: A designerly move towards more playful gastronomy. International Journal of Food Design, 4(1), 3–37. https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd.4.1.3_1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd.4.1.3_1
Wrigley, C. & McKecknie, R. (2016). Emotional food design: From designing food products to designing food experiences. International Journal of Food Design, 1(1), 11–24. https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd.1.1.11_1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd.1.1.11_1
Zampollo, F. & Peacock, M. (2016). Food design thinking: A branch of design thinking specific to food design. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 50(3), 203–210. https://doi.org/10.1002/jocb.148 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/jocb.148
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 info:eu-repo/semantic/openAccess

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.




