Pick your Foodiebuddy: Travelers' Reflection on a Personal Taste Exploration Gadget

Designing artifacts and interactions to influence everyday food interactions positively is gaining attention in the Human-Food Interaction (HFI) field. Prior HFI research has not yet deeply investigated the complex interactions among travelers in the context of eating while traveling, limiting the knowledge of how to design technologies for this setting. In response, we shift the perspective toward the travel context and reveal design opportunities through a study with 21 travelers. We designed "Foodiebuddy" as a research artifact - a personal mobile gadget that facilitates exploring new tastes - and organized eight walk, talk, and eat tours to investigate the experiential dynamics of eating while traveling. Our study yielded six insights and four design considerations for designing travel food technologies. Our work aspires to form an initial basis for designing artifacts for food exploration while traveling, paving the way for future HFI innovations.