The role of arts-based intervention in shaping sustainable food consumption : A pilot study
Lead researcher: Parissa Hosseinpour
parissa.hosseinpour@lsbu.ac.uk
Friday 13 November – 10 am to 1 pm
Studio K116, Keyworth Centre, London South Bank University, SE1 6NG
The Storytelling Research Lab is an invitation to explore the stories, memories and traditions we carry through food. Bringing together people from immigrant backgrounds who are interested in arts, food and storytelling, the session will create a space to share experiences, discover connections and learn from one another. Participants will be invited to bring an ingredient, a food-related object or utensil, or a photograph that holds a story about their relationship with food and culture. Through storytelling, conversation and collaborative creative activities, we will bring these contributions together to create a temporary collective installation. Together, we will explore how food traditions evolve across places and generations, how everyday knowledge and practices are shared, and how ideas of sustainability, care and avoiding waste are embedded in our relationships with food. No artistic experience is needed, and you are welcome to share only what you feel comfortable sharing.
This design is informed by the study’s grounding in Social Practice Theory (SPT). Rather than treating sustainable food consumption solely as an individual choice or attitude, the pilot explores food practices as socially situated and shaped through the interaction of materials, competences and meanings. The Research Lab provides a deliberately constructed environment in which these elements can be brought together and observed through collective participation. The arts-based process is therefore used not simply to communicate a sustainability message, but as a means of exploring how food-related meanings, materials and ways of doing may be made visible, questioned or potentially reconfigured.
The Research Lab will act simultaneously as:
- an arts-based intervention;
- a research-created immigrant food culture event;
- a site for data collection; and
- the creation of a research artefact that can be analysed further throughout the PhD.
Watch Sara tell their story:
Materials — What do we use?
Think about the ingredients, objects and materials connected to your everyday food practices. What are they, where do they come from, and what happens to them before, during and after we use them? Are there things you keep, reuse, preserve, share or transform rather than throw away?
Competences — What do we know and how do we do it?
Think about the food-related skills, knowledge and habits you have learned from family, friends or your community. Who taught you these practices? Are there particular ways of preparing, storing, preserving or sharing food that you have carried with you, adapted or learned since moving to a new place?
Meanings — What does it mean to us?
Think about a food, ingredient or practice that holds a special meaning for you. What memories, relationships, traditions or feelings does it carry? Has its meaning changed over time, across places or between generations? What does it tell you about home, belonging, care or making the most of what you have?
