Opportunities and Challenges of Designing for Mindful Eating : Integrating HCI Research on Mindfulness, Human-Food Interaction and Somaesthetics

Given its sensory and emotional qualities, food as a rich resource for design has been much explored in Human-Food Interaction research. Besides such positive aspects of food and food experiences, other scholars have focused on problematic and disordered eating, as well as technologies’ negative impact on the growing number of people living with these conditions. Drawing from mindfulness-based interventions, health research has explored effective interventions for mindful eating, which, however, have been limitedly harnessed in interaction design, despite the growing body of HCI research on mindfulness technologies, emphasising also the role of the human body in mindfulness practices. This half-day workshop aims to address this gap, by bringing together designers, practitioners, and HCI researchers from human-food interaction, mindfulness, and somaesthetics to explore the design space of technologies for mindful eating interventions, with a focus on five goals targeting (i) support for the role of the body in mindful eating, (ii) design exploration of technologies supporting mindful eating interventions, (iii) develop theoretical and methodological foundations for designing for mindful eating, (iv) explore ethical aspects of designing for mindful eating interventions, and (v) position mindful eating technology-based interventions within a broader, more sustainable food cycle.