Edible earth: dining on seasonal and local ingredients

ABSTRACT

College students are primarily concerned with the price and convenience of the food they choose to eat. Environmental impact is not a consideration in their food decisions. We present a web-based solution that simplifies meal choices and addresses the perception that home-prepared meals are inconvenient and expensive. The solution provides a web service that suggests convenient recipes that use local and seasonal ingredients tailored to the user's location. This promotes sustainable food purchasing habits. The solution uses a location-aware mobile device as an example platform. The study presents the participatory design process that informed the development of this solution.

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Index Terms

• Human-centered computing

  • Interaction design

    • Interaction design process and methods

      • Interface design prototyping

      • User centered design