Experiencing Food, Designing Dialogues ― Designing Dialogues

Food and interdisciplinary research are the central focus of the proceedings of the 1^st International Conference on Food Design and Food Studies (EFOOD 2017) Experiencing Food, Designing Dialogues, reflecting on interdisciplinarity as not limited to the design of objects or services, but seeking awareness towards new lifestyles and innovative approaches to food. Albeit the social sciences, through Food Studies researchers, have continuously looked for how food influences and shapes society, there is a growing interdisciplinary interest in Gastronomy, similarly to Design, where more projects try to solve problems related to different food systems. Worldwide academia and media are currently discussing examples of these Design processes around food and this emerging phenomenon: Food Design. Design, Gastronomy and Culture interact at different levels and shape the food production, communication and distribution by valuing and bringing to life aspects much wider than the mere question of feeding as an act of survival. Food systems are at their maximum resource capacity and designing new ways of thinking about food will possibly bring a different approach to generate sustainable solutions. Accordingly, food production professionals have developed a desire to share knowledge about food, creating new communication networks open and accessible to everyone, where ideas can be freely expressed through creativity, innovation, experimentation and dissemination.

Ricardo Bonacho is an Assistant professor in Food Design at Estoril Higher Institute for Tourism and Hotel Studies in MsC of Innovation in Culinary Arts, an Assistant Professor in Design Applied to Culinary Arts at School of Tourism and Maritime Technology, Higher Institute of Leiria, an Invited Professor at University of Beira Interior and a researcher at CIAUD - Research Center for Architecture, Urbanism and Design, Faculty of Architecture - University of Lisbon. His main research interests are the relationship between Design and Gastronomy and the possible contributions to the teaching of Design in Culinary Arts.

Alcinda Pinheiro de Sousa has been teaching the introductory level course "Visual Culture" at Faculdade de Letras, Universidade de Lisboa, since 2007. She is interested in the intersection between this field of studies and Food Design. Alcinda is an Associate Professor of English, having written a PhD dissertation on the poet and visual artist William Blake, specifically on his views of art and science. Although particularly interested in Digital Humanities since the late 1990s, she has recently developed with colleagues a research project in Digital Humanities, and the first results were published in The International Journal of the Book (Common Ground, 2013, 2014, 2016).

Claudia Viegas is Assistant Professor at Estoril Higher Institute for Tourism and Hotel Studies. She teaches courses in Health and Food, Food Physiology, Nutrition, and Dietetics, and Food Safety and Nutrition. Her main research interests are related to Public Health concerning Food, Nutrition and Lifestyles, specifically the strategies that allow people to engage in good real food, in order do promote good nutrition and health. As a nutritionist she started her career in ICA (2000-2005), a catering company, as a member of the Quality Department.

Joao Paulo Martins obtained his PhD in Architecture by Universidade Tecnica de Lisboa (2006). He is principal investigator in the research project "Modern furnishing. The work of the Furniture Acquisition Commission in the scope of the Directorate-General of Buildings and National Monuments. 1940-1974" and investigator in the research project "Design in Portugal (1960-1974): the actions, actors and repercussions of the Art, Industrial Architecture and Industrial Design Nuclei of the National Institute of Industrial Research (INII)".

Maria Jose Pires is presently Adjunct Professor at Estoril Higher Institute for Tourism and Hotel Studies (ESHTE), Portugal, where she coordinates the MSc course in Innovation and Culinary Arts. She is also a researcher at the University of Lisbon Centre for English Studies, where she received her Ph.D. in Literature and Culture Studies/Food Studies. Besides having worked with the Group Making Sense of Food, she now co-coordinates the most recent interdisciplinary projects "Receiving | Perceiving English Literature in the Digital Age" and "Gastronomic and Literary Tourism | Performance, Communication and Culture". Her current research interests are literature, culture, food studies and tourism.

Sara Velez Estevao is an Assistant Professor in design at the Faculty of Arts and Letters of the University of Beira Interior and researcher with the LABCOM.IFP, Communication, Philosophy, and Humanities Research Unit at the same university. She holds a PhD in communication design from the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Lisboa. Her current research focus is the author Vilem Flusser and his possible contributions to a communication design theory. Her main research interests are design theory, mediation of design objects, design and politics and the social impacts and ethical issues of design.