Designing Food Cultures: Propagating the consumption of seaweed in the Azores Islands through recipes

This contribution will present and discuss a pilot study that has set out to investigate ways of studying and revitalizing the foraging and consumption of seaweed in the Azores islands. Taking participatory action research (PAR) and its motto of developing forms of ‘knowledge in practice’ and within a community of interest of lay people, this contribution will present this initial study and the researcher’s attempt to establish conversations with local stakeholders regarding issues of sustainability and dietary health and the role that seaweed might play within this milieu. Through a series of cooking sessions and the co- development of recipes with local stakeholders, this study will finally conclude by presenting the key aspects that are here considered to be essential in the development of a communication design led project that is culturally relevant, those being: action, participation and the design of a project that is context sensitive. A necessary strategy in the development of a communication design project that has potential to tackle pressing challenges regarding diet and health and that proposes to revitalize an age old tradition that not only conceals a healthy relationship with food but also with the surrounding environment.