Eat Fresh London

Chandni Kumari
Mdes Service Design Innovation
2014
- Sourcing local food in your
international home-

Eat Fresh London is a service concept based on the experiences of food U.K
higher education students have while immersed in new cultural settings.
The crowdsourcing service is aimed at international students who make
the transition from their home countries to the U.K.
The crux of the service lies with the sharing of recipes between students,
passing them down though the student ‘generations’ from those who have
experienced and dealt with life in a new country, to those who have yet to
meet these challenges.
The service aims to respond to the on-going needs of those students who
seek inspiration and knowledge in preparing meals, who have not yet
familiarised themselves with the new city they are in, and those who crave
the taste of home.

Background
Research
Design Process
Concept Development
Service Creation
User Testing
Stakeholder Mapping
Service Blueprint

Stoke Newington Farmers Market Borough Market

Students & Food
A passage of text written by a professor
from the University of Bournemouth,
provided detailed insights into the
emotional and physical transitions
students faced when settling into a new
country and how their experiences of
food are effected.
“The move to a new cultural environment represents one of the
most traumatic events a person can experience, and for most
sojourners, some degree of culture shock is inevitable (Kim,
2001).
Culture shock is defined as anxiety that results from losing the
familiar signs and symbols of social intercourse and substituting
them with other cues that are strange (Hall, 1959).
Many writers liken the shock to a period of mourning for the
home world, characterized by feelings of grief and separation
anxiety (Garza-Guerrero, 1974; Furnham, 1997; Brown and
Holloway, 2008).”

International students make up a large percentage of
students who are currently studying in the U.K. “Since
1997, there has been a steady increase in the number of
international students studying in Higher Education”
(UKCISA, 2009).
• Currently there are 2, 501,295 students in
the U.K. (Campus group, 2014)
• 425, 260 students in the U.K are
international. (UKCISA, 2012-2013)
• This represents 17% of the entire student
U.K population.
The three biggest markets for international students to the UK in the past five
years include: From EU countries - Germany, Republic of Ireland and
France, while China, India and Nigeria represent the top 3 for non – EU
countries. (The Complete University Guide, 2014)
• Creative arts and design degrees are the 4th most popular subject
areas to be studied by the international student market in the U.K.
• 7,416 EU students last academic year came to study these creative
subjects while 7,354 students who were from non-EU countries
followed.
• This brought the collective figure to 14,771 students, with
University of the Arts, London being the most popular place to
study these subjects, maintaining around a 20% share over the
international market.

London College of
Communication
Mdes Service Design
Innovation Students, 2014

Painpoint 4
Painpoint 3
Painpoint 2
Painpoint 1
Travels to the U.K from Thailand. Knows a
basic level of English to communicate clearly.
Travels to her accommodation. Has done
some prior research of the area she will live
in. Is aware that there is a local park.
She unpacks and is hungry.
She needs to fill up her fridge.
She goes exploring in her area and finds a
supermarket. She buys some basic ingredients and
snacks as this place is very different from a Thailand
shopping place. She is also unfamiliar with some of
the ingredients.
On the way home she sees a fast food
outlet. She is so tired and doesn’t want to
cook for herself so she buys a meal which
is quite unhealthy.
Explores her area. Meets
people who live in the
accommodation. Makes
friends.
Starts university. Attends
Fresher's fairs. Gets to know
more people and makes
friends. Joins a society.
Feels a little homesick
and Skypes her family a
few times in the week.
Eats out a lot in the first
week as she is adjusting
and still getting to know
the area ad how to cook
with new ingredients.
Again consumes a lot of
fast food during the
month and becomes quite
homesick, combatting
that by using Skype and
sending home postcards.
Veron does experiment
with food however she
feels that her food is a bit
bland and doesn’t have
enough cooking skills to
cook new food. She still
continues to eat a lot of
fast food.

Painpoint 4Painpoint 3
Painpoint 2Painpoint 1
The frustration with exploring a new area and
not knowing the best place to shop for food and
how to cook with new ingredients, which
resorts to unhealthy eating choices.
Feeling homesick which can be made worse by
not having many natural connections to feelings
of home and culture in an unfamiliar place.
The convenience in consuming fast food again
leads to a poor diet, especially when confidence in
cooking freshly prepared meals are low.
Experimenting with new food with mixed results.
Not all tastes are desired and sometimes things are
under or over cooked.

- I missed my friends from
home a lot when I came here
but that feeling got better as
I made new friends.
- I ate a lot of instant noodles
when I came to the U.K as
they were quite cheap.
- If I’m cooking for myself, my
most favourite thing to cook
is eggplant.
- I Skype my family every
day.
- I have been eating a lot of
pasta since moving to the
U.K, which is strange
because I didn’t use to eat it
as much in South Korea.
- I like cooking with my
flatmate and eating
together.
- I like to eat out,
especially to eat Chinese
food.
- I do go to my local
farmers’ market
sometimes but not all
the time as my local
supermarket is closer.
- I do try and cook
seasonally.
- I don’t know where my
local farmers’ market is.
- My mom used to cook for
me back in Lebanon so it
was difficult cooking for
myself every day.
- When I go to university to
study, I usually buy my
lunch from a supermarket -
that’s usually sandwiches.
- I prefer to shop for food in
my local supermarket as it’s
very close to me
- If I’m cooking something
with specific ingredients, I
look online to find out
where to buy them.
- I like experimenting with
different kinds of food, the
other day I cooked an
Indian dish and I liked the
taste.
- My sister cooks a
lot for me, although
sometimes I cook
too.
- She likes to
experiment with
different types of
food such as
Japanese.
- I used to eat out a
lot back in Thailand
as it was so much
cheaper.
- When I came to the U. K, the
first thing I tired was fish and
chips. It was nice but Thai food is
much better.
- The price of food in London is so
high compared to my country.
- It’s cheaper for me to cook for
myself so I try and do that as
often as I can.
3 Key Things generated from the interviews
Amy Caroline Ayumi Zeina Xue Chuck Fye

(Pawalee) Fye – From Bangkok,
Thailand came to the U.K to study
at London College of
Communication.
Fye was asked to visually record
the types of meals that she
prepared over 2 weeks. During an
in depth discussion, her
relationship with food was
recorded. The discussion also
captured her how her diet had
changed since she moved to the
U.K and her alternative methods
of nourishment. General insights
were:
- Price of food is
much higher than
in Thailand which
at first made her
hesitant to
purchase food at
all.
- She didn’t want to
blow her budget
just on food. She
used to eat rice
based meals and
convenience take
out which were
much cheaper.
- The process of
preparing meals is
quite enjoyable for
Fye.
-She likes to follow
recipes from
Thailand as she
enjoys the taste of
‘home cooked food.’
- She often cooks
food which her
mother used to
prepare in Thailand
Thoughts on supermarkets:
Thoughts on cooking:

Fye on average cooks for herself 2-3 times a
week. The rest of the week she relies on
takeout food whether they are sandwiches to
microwave meals.
She is not generally aware of local markets and
usually makes her food related choices based
on convenience, price and close proximities of
supermarkets.

Festivals and
celebrations are
also a time where
students can feel
specific
painpoints, i.e.:
homesickness.
They are in a new
country
celebrating
traditions which
often used to be
shared at home
with family and
friends.
Xue Yin’s Birthday celebrations
“If I was back home in China I would go out
with my friends during the day and be with
my family in the evening. However I am glad
and happy to be in the U.K celebrating with
my international friends!”

Diwali Celebrations
These images were shared with the test group as they had
never heard of the festival but were curious to find out more
about it since they had seen adverts around London which
read “Happy Diwali” in various supermarkets. They were
taken aback by the variety of food available and how it was
‘quite normal’ for most households celebrating the festival
to light candles for the duration of the festival and prepare
so much food.

• Group of South Korean students have travelled to London to study for the
year.
• Very keen to experience the culture
• They live in shared accommodation
• London is very expensive and would like to eat healthily but don’t want
to spend a lot on cooking for themselves.
• They would often eat healthily in South Korea and don’t want to be
relying on fast food while they are here.
• They want to purchase fresh quality ingredients to cook with.

-
Further thoughts and
ideas generated from
the session

Online Twitter Community
Locating Farmers’ Markets and
general markets apps. Some are
linked with recipe sourcing apps

Eat Fresh Baskets, University Fresher’s Fairs
Inspiration Cards placed in Universities – coffee shops, canteens,
libraries . Other places could include Spice shops, borough
market as well as other markets

Making this light, multi-layered,
rolled omelette might take a little
practice, but the result is mightily
impressive. As you are making it,
don’t worry if some of the layers
break up slightly; they repair
themselves in the final step. The
added mushrooms give the omelette
a rich nutty flavour. Make up to an
hour in advance.
Ingredients
6 shiitake mushrooms
3 tsp vegetable oil
8 organic eggs
125ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp light soy sauce
Japanese Omelette
Ingredients
6 shiitake mushrooms
3 tsp vegetable oil
8 organic eggs
125ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp light soy sauce
Method
Discard the stems of the shiitake
mushrooms and slice very thinly. Heat a
large non-stick pan over a moderate flame
and add 2 tsp oil. Fry the mushrooms until
tinged with gold, then drain on kitchen
paper.
In a pouring jug, beat eggs with remaining
ingredients. Heat the pan with 1 tsp oil
over a low to moderate flame and pour in
just enough egg mixture to cover the
bottom, swirling to coat. Sprinkle with a
few mushrooms. Cook until barely set but..
Sourcing local food in your
international home.
Loading
Sourcing local food in your
international home.

Fridays: 10am-6pm
Saturdays 8am-5pm
Shitake
Mushrooms
m
Traditional fruit and veg
wholesaler and retailer,
run by Fred and Caroline
Foster. Turnips sources
high quality produce
from a network of
independent farms
around Britain and, in
the instance of some
specialist items, Europe
and beyond.
Organic Eggs
m
Exceptional rare-breed
beef from Hillhead Farm
in Chagford, Devon.
Owners Richard and
Elizabeth Vines use
traditional methods to
rear a small herd of
cross-bred Welsh Blacks
and South and North
Devons.
Nearest market:
Borough Market
Wednesday-Thursday: 10am-5pm
Fridays: 1-am-6pm
Saturdays 8am-5pm
Where are you?
London Bridge

MALI
LCC
It is just the root of the coriander
plant. Certainly at least here (UK)
you can buy living coriander plants in
the supermarket; you could pull one
out of the pot and use the root from
that.
Apparently you can also substitute 2
stems of coriander for every piece of
root called for in the recipe, but I've
never tried this.
Thanks Mali, I didn’t
think of this! I will
purchase the coriander
plant.
UBON
LCF
You can buy this in a shop in China
town. I usually buy all my ingredients
from there when I’m making a Thai
green curry. I've shared my location
of the place in case you want to
check it out. Hope it helps!
Thanks Ubon. I will go
to China Town to do
some exploring. May I
ask what ingredients
you use for your Thai
green curry? I haven’t
tried this dish yet and
am curious as to how
to make an authentic
Thai dish.
My mum is a
great cook
and I usually
follow her
recipe. I can
send you a
picture of the
recipe I use.
Can we
connect
through
Facebook and
I can post it to
you through
there?
Sure. My
Facebook
name is Layla
Kass
SUNAN
CSM
According to Thai Supermarket
Online - http://importfood.com/ - 'A
fine quality coriander seed can been
used in various curry pastes and
other condiment recipes as an
excellent substitute for coriander
root'.
Layla I’m looking for root of coriander, can
anybody suggest where I can find it?Search:
Chains of
communication
Posts:Prototyping student
conversations

1. Eat Fresh London is an online
recipe sharing platform
The service is aimed at international
students who make the transition
from their home countries to the
U.K.
2. The service aims to respond to
the on-going needs of those students
who seek inspiration and knowledge
in preparing meals, who have not yet
familiarised themselves with the new
city they are in, and those who crave
the taste of home.
3. The crux of the service lies
with the sharing of recipes
between students, passing them
down though the student
‘generations’ from those who
have experienced and dealt with
life in a new country, to those
who have yet to meet these
challenges.
However the service is also
implicitly inclusive of home
students who have moved into
student halls or alternative
accommodation
This is as the service can readily
be accessed by the inquisitive
student who wishes to try
cooking with alternative and new
ingredients suggested by other
users.
- Sourcing local food in your
international home-

3. Allow recipes to be filtered by
budget, tastes, preparation times,
time taken to source ingredients and
spice levels
1. For users to be inspired to
experiment with food as well as
being able to cook meals that reflect
tastes of home. To access ingredients
which can be purchased locally.
4. To provide a platform where
users can network and make
connections with other users
through food, so that food based
knowledge can be shared easily.- Sourcing local food in your
international home-
2. For users with basic/varied
culinary skill set to be able to
cook good quality meals
regardless of experience.

• Types of dish initially available: Indian, Chinese & British
and can be expanded over time to accommodate other
cultures as the network grows.
• Recipes can filtered by:
Tastes & Spice Levels Budget Preparation Time
Upload recipes from
international communities
on a monthly basis.
• Vegetable of the month, best place to
source and how to prepare meals
using a step by step guide.
• Video tutorial.
Student Community
Eat Fresh Team
a. Previous
Students
b. New Studentso
• (New to U.K) – First year of study
• New to the service, been in the
U.K for over a year.
Upload personal recipes from
their cultural backgrounds, as
well as recipes they enjoy
cooking.
Can access recipes
via the Eat Fresh
platform.
Uploads geographical
information regarding best
places to source
ingredients.
Food based events
taking place in London.
Meet-ups.
Students can post
food related
questions and
answers, including
tips and connect with
each other to share
knowledge.
Platform can also advertise
special ‘seasonal’ (Halloween,
Christmas) events taking place
which are celebrated with food.
This can lead to
students sharing
information on food
based events that are
happening in different
areas of London,
cookery classes,
society events, food
festivals etc.

Student Community
Eat Fresh Team
a. Previous
Students
b. New Studentso
• (New to U.K) – First year of study
• New to the service, been in the
U.K for over a year.
Can access recipes
via the Eat Fresh
platform.
3. Allow recipes to be filtered by
budget, tastes, preparation times,
time taken to source ingredients
and spice levels
4. To provide a platform where
users can network and make
connections with other users
through food, so that food based
knowledge can be shared easily.
2. For users with basic/varied
culinary skill set to be able to cook
good quality meals regardless of
experience.
1. For users to be inspired to
experiment with food as well as being
able to cook meals that reflect tastes
of home. To access ingredients which
can be purchased locally.
Upload recipes from
international communities
on a monthly basis.
• Types of dish initially available: Indian, Chinese & British
and can be expanded over time to accommodate other
cultures as the network grows.
• Recipes can filtered by:
Tastes & Spice Levels Budget Preparation Time
• Vegetable of the month, best place to
source and how to prepare meals
using a step by step guide.
• Video tutorial.
Platform can also advertise
special ‘seasonal’ (Halloween,
Christmas) events taking place
which are celebrated with food.
Food based events
taking place in London.
Meet-ups.
This can lead to
students sharing
information on food
based events that are
happening in different
areas of London,
cookery classes,
society events, food
festivals etc.
Students can post
food related
questions and
answers, including
tips and connect with
each other to share
knowledge.
Upload personal recipes from
their cultural backgrounds, as
well as recipes they enjoy
cooking.
Uploads geographical
information regarding best
places to source
ingredients.

Pre- Service
•Postcards available in home countries,
these include: China. South Korea & India
as well as many more over the coming
months.
•Fresher's Fairs baskets
•Taste Cards placed around universities 
coffee shops, canteens and libraries
During Service
•Website
•App
Post-Service
•Monthly Updates –
Newsletter/Brochure/Email sent digitally or
by post
•The user to pay in virtual currency to
continue using the service, by uploading a
recipe of their own to add to the Eat Fresh
collection

Fye enjoyed cooking the meals and found the service concept
very interesting. She stated that if the service goes live, she
would be very keen to interact with it.
She often used to feel quite homesick when she travelled to the
U.K and she believed that by accessing a service like this, she
would feel a little better as she could make new connections
with students who had similar interests with regards to food.
She would also be able to save money and enjoy cooking by
travelling to various markets to source ingredients while
discovering more of London

Partner Shops –
i.e.: spice shops offering
discounts through being
advertised within the Eat
Fresh platform
Local Markets
Eat Fresh
Team
Student Body
Meet-UpsEvents Promoters

Pre- Service During Service Post-Service
Front End • Potential users to access
postcards of the Eat Fresh
Service before they come to the
U.K  this can be via their
education institutions
• Fresher’s fairs – students to pick
up Eat Fresh promotional
material when they start
university in the U.K
• The user can access the
app and website to
source recipes
• The user can also
connect with other users
with similar interests
• There will also be
options for the user to
join cooking based meet
up groups and attend
food based festivals in
London
• User to be sent monthly
updates regarding new
recipes uploaded as well
as other relevant media
content.
• After a 3 month period,
if the user would like to
continue to use the
service, they must
upload a recipe of their
own to the site.
Back End • Eat Fresh team to create
postcards and send them out to
various international educational
institutions.
• Eat Fresh team to organise stalls
at different university fresher's
fairs as well as developing the
promotional material.
• For the ‘Meet-up’ service
to be linked with the Eat
Fresh platform so that
updates can happen in
real time.
• The Eat Fresh team to
liaise with various events
organisers so that food
based events can be
uploaded to the website.
create the publications
which would be sent out
electronically.
continue to upload
content to the site

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