The Eat Me! Project in Conferences

The Talk Nature Research Group presented the Eat Me! project in two different conferences held in March 2024.

The project was first presented as “Edible Futures: Design Activism, Fighting Plant Blindness” in The Eighteenth International Conference on Design Principles & Practices at Universitat Politècnica de València.
The presentation highlighted similarities between design activism and guerrilla communication techniques. The former originated from design academics while the latter has its roots in marketing traditions.
The "Eat Me!" project aims to surprise the audience by marking edible plants with names and information in the fields. The intention is to inspire greater knowledge and understanding of the many uses of edible plants in Norway.
Analysis so far has shown that a combination of activities, taste tests, and researchers' presence at events are important factors in raising awareness.

The project was also presented as “Eat me! - An interaction between analogue and digital communication” at the International Ar@k Symposium in Kristiania, Oslo.
This presentation emphasized how to use the media habits of the target audience to create interest and understanding in the subject of edible plants found in nature. Or rather - to make something as analogue as a plant interesting in a digital world. Marking edible plants in nature with information and QR codes gives the plants a digital voice. By scanning the QR codes, the public gets information about each plant and exciting recipes right in their hands.
Again, it was emphasized that a combination of activities, such as having an elegantly set dining table outdoors in nature with tastings and recipes while researchers talked with the public about edible plants, strengthened the design activism.

The "Eat Me!" project aims to enhance our understanding of people's relationship with plants and to sustain Norwegian plant traditions for the future.
The Talk Nature Research Group is collaborating with The Norwegian Association for Mycology and Foraging (NSNF), the Museum of Natural History (UiO) and Viltgodt.no.