Background The Danish people are a nation of meat-eaters, especially pork. However, whether this popularity of pork continues in the future can be questioned, as the younger generation (age 19-34) is the segment eating the least amount of pork. This can be an economic and structural problem for the Danish pig farmers, butchers and others dependent on the production and sale of pork, however also from a food cultural perspective, the pig has had a major influence in the Danish food cultural history. Introducing Roskilde Festival as a setting, the younger generation attends the festival, where they seek extraordinary experiences. On a strategic level, the festival works with food and food events with a mission of involving their guests in the festival's way of thinking food and drinks. The vision is to create extraordinary food experiences that change their guests’ perception of what festival food is, and in general to create reflection on what they eat. This combined with the festivals wish for innovative solutions, makes it an interesting context for finding a solution to the above stated problem.
Objective This research seeks to investigate how a food experience can be designed for Roskilde Festival that aims to improve food cultural sustainability and affect the guests to eat more pork. It seeks to clarify what characterizes a food experience, food cultural sustainability, the target group and their attitude towards the pig in Denmark, and finally it seeks to clarify which parameters are important in relation to future foods and experiences at Roskilde Festival.
Method This work has applied a list of methods in order to develop the design ideas; (historical) mapping, persona, storyboard and business model canvas. Furthermore, five semi-structured interviews including elements from the urban songline method have been conducted with former Roskilde Festival guests, i.e. potential users of the designed food experience. Furthermore, co-creation has been applied in a workshop setting in order to get inspiration for the development of the design ideas from potential users.
Findings Five conceptual design ideas have been developed; the ‘Pig Me’ experiences. These are: 1) The Show Off, 2) A Place for Passion, 3) The Pig Hotel, 4) Eat Like a Pig! and 5) The Last Journey. Furthermore this thesis provides a theoretical and methodological framework for designing solutions to a wicked problem.
Conclusion The findings provide a solution to the research question; how can a food experience be designed for Roskilde Festival that aims to improve food cultural sustainability for the pig and affects encourages guests to eat more pork? Particularly the use of the theoretical framework of scape combined with the historical mappings were proven valuable in order to explain and understand the two contexts; the pig in Denmark and Roskilde Festival. Furthermore, outside actors with the same aim of encouraging the younger segment to eat more pork could have an interest in the design ideas, i.e. there is potential for future implementation either at Roskilde Festival or in another context.