Integrating Consumer Food Experience with Health and Sustainability Outcomes: The Critical Role of Design Imperatives

The focus on plant-based meats has increased in recent years as the food industry has engaged in creating new products from plant-based ingredients that mimic many of the attributes traditionally associated with animal-derived foods. Many of the resulting products, however, require highly refined plant fractions that can only be obtained through intensive processing that has environmental impacts and often reduces the potential nutritional benefits. This creates a tension in the narratives being put forth by plant-based meats manufacturers and the real benefits of their products. This paper argues for development of more stringent design imperatives that would bring deep understanding of the customer experience of consuming meats – plant based and otherwise – together with new technological opportunities to create plant-based meats that are both appealing to customers and support sustainability goals as well. In short, it is a call for framing and reframing the plant-based food design challenge and employing design imperatives that clarify the agenda of food design efforts.