Tattfoo Tan
New Earth MRE
Tattfoo Studio
New Earth MRE
New Earth MRE
New Earth MRE (Meals-Ready-to-Eat) is a dehydrated food for disaster preparation that was cook from raw ingredients saved from the food system due to their imperfection and odd shape.
2. The Brief: Summarize the problem you set out to solve. What was the context for the project, and what was the challenge posed to you?Discovering History. Preparing for the Future. For centuries, dehydrating food has been seen as a survival necessity. Many believe this preservation method is the safest, most affordable and best way to preserve flavors of foods. The dehydration process removes moisture from the food so that bacteria, yeast and mold cannot grow. It also minimally effects the nutritional content of the food. Traditional knowledge on food preservation is key to reduce food waste. The raw ingredients of this MRE was rescued from the stream of discarded food in the system due to their blemishes and uneven shape. Identifying food waste and saving them is critical in supporting our life and the health of our planet as a whole. This will prevent clean nutrients from ending up toxic landfills. It also save up more water and oil to produce and transport them from farm to table, reducing it carbon footprint. They may not be aesthetically pleasing and something they might be available in quantity that can be overwhelming and man hours is needed to peel away the bad part and prepare the ingredients to be shelves stable, but the reward is a food item that is long lasting and light weight.
3. The Intent: What point of view did you bring to the project, and were there additional criteria that you added to the brief?Preparing for climate change is not just about prevention but include disaster preparation like MRE (meal, ready to eat). Each of these package is specially dehydrated by the artist/designer to make them shelf stable. MRE should be kept away from sunlight, moisture and should last for a year from the date in front. You can rehydrate by adding boiling water and cover with a lid for 20-30 minutes to expedite the process and continue cooking until the desire texture.
4. The Process: Describe the rigor that informed your project. (Research, ethnography, subject matter experts, materials exploration, technology, iteration, testing, etc., as applicable.) What stakeholder interests did you consider? (Audience, business, organization, labor, manufacturing, distribution, etc., as applicable)A lot of research goes into developing the recipe and testing the best ingredients that is best to be dehydrated.
5. The Value: How does your project earn its keep in the world? What is its value? What is its impact? (Social, educational, economic, paradigm-shifting, sustainable, environmental, cultural, gladdening, etc.)The aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, here in New York City, food supplies are cut off. The local supermarket was flooded and food was destroyed and had to be thrown away. The National Guards was handling out food ration in some places and the queue was long and time waiting inline can be better spend. If everyone can take some efforts to stock up their own emergency food ration, it will help the authority in their recovery efforts. The modern society are so used acquire their food from supermarket, deli or from restaurant by a phone call or click away. We had to have provision for time of emergency both for ourselves or our community at large. This is a wake up call. When disaster happen, there will be no food, and no road, no petrol, no car to buy any food anywhere. Why place ourselves in a position of helplessness. We should not be despair, but be prepare.
6. Did the context of your project change throughout its development? If so, how did your understanding of the project change?The only culture that I'm working for is the culture of self sustaining, culture of preparation, culture of not wasting food.
7. Does your project have nutritional elements? If so, are these elements available and affordable on a global or local level?Campers and hikers are used to purchase store bought dehydrated food without knowing the actual contents and chemicals ingredients that goes into the production of these packages. New Earth MRE advocates that each individual can take control of the food that they consume, paying utmost details and care to the needs of their body. This group of customers already spending time doing healthy activity like hiking, camping and trekking, why counter all those efforts by putting junk food into their body? New Earth MRE can be a model how everyone can prepare their own dehydrated food before their trips.
“A project that combines well one of the most difficult design challenge: designing macroscope and microscope at the same time. It draws inspiration from the global topic (food supply during natural catastrophes and emergency situations) and proposes a simple, almost elementary but clever solution. An example of what design could mean within a complex world.
A very smart idea and a brave concept. It combines design, food and reality.”