FOOD takes a provocative and unconventional look at areas that could have a profound effect on the way we eat and source our food 15-20 years from now.

These investigations, like other probe projects, examine the possible consequences of various (long-range) social trends and 'weak signals' emerging from the margins of society. In the case of food, this involved tracking and interpreting issues like the shift in emphasis from curative to preventative medicine, the growth in popularity of organic produce, implications of genetic modification, land use patterns in growing what we eat, the threat of serious shortages, and rising food prices. The result was an extension to Philips Design's ongoing design probes program with three new projects; Diagnostic Kitchen, Food Creation and Home Farming.

Diagnostic Kitchen, allows people to take a much more accurate and personally relevant look at what they eat. By using the nutrition monitor, consisting of a scanning ‘wand’ and swallowable sensor, you could determine exactly what and how much you should eat to match your digestive health and nutritional requirements at that moment in time.

Home Farming explores growing at least part of your daily calorific requirement inside your house. This biosphere home farm has been designed to occupy a minimum of floor space and instead to stack the various mini-ecosystems on top of each other. It contains fish, crustaceans, algae and edible plants, all interdependent and in balance with each other. Water filtration, recycling of nutrients and optimum use of sunlight are all central to its appeal.

Multisensorial Gastronomy  explores how the eating experience can be enhanced or altered by stimulating the senses using the integration of electronics, light and other stimuli. Developed in collaboration with Michelin chef Juan Marie Arzak, the four design concepts of interactive tableware  design concepts – Lunar Eclipse (bowl), Fama (long plate) and Bocado de Luz (serving plate) and the Eye of the Beholder (platter) – react to food placed on the plates or to liquid poured into the bowl.

Far-future design concepts
FOOD is a Probe, a far-future design concept. It is not intended as a production prototype nor will it be sold as a Philips product. Like past Probe design concepts that have stimulated discussion around a range of issues, this concept is testing a possible future – not prescribing one.

December 2008, Multisensorial Gastronomy was added on January 2010, Eye of the Beholder January 2011