Eating and playing: exploring playful interactions with food around the dinner table.

Abstract: This research proposes the exploration of intertwining eating and playing in social eating situations. Play theory and literature research in related fields build the theoretical background for exploring how play can unfold in different eating situations. Ethnography, Research through Design and the playcentric design approach are the chosen methods for the practical exploration of the design space. There emerged two sets of experiments. The first set of experiments is concerned with provoking playfulness in different eating situations. The second set of experiments is based on Caillois four types of games and uses flavor as a game design material. Findings suggest further research in the underexplored field and show first ideas on how to intertwine eating and playing through two flavor exploration games.