Play Food from the Future

Creating an interest in eating more sustainable

Changes in our behavior patterns are essential to achieve a sustainable way of living. ”Play Food from the Future” is a set of 3D-printed toys developed to get kids more familiar with the sustainable foods of the future. Like insects, algae, and powder.

Parents might have a hard time getting children to eat their veggies or try new food, but here’s a whole other challenge: to get both children and their parents interested in eating more sustainably. As part of the Sustainable Development Goals, The United Nations has set a goal to reduce global food waste by 50% by the year 2030. To achieve this one thing is clear: people will have to start eating things that will take some time getting used to.

To broaden the interest and trigger curiosity about sustainable food, we created a new set of play food toys. The menu was developed with support from scientist Ingrid Strid and consists of insects, algae, food waste, powders, and other nutritious and environmentally friendly food.

The toys have a playful, simple design, aimed to spark a discussion around what is considered to be food and not, challenge the “yuck factor” – and hopefully open up both children’s and parents’ minds.

Instead of mass-producing them and shipping them around the world, we choose a more sustainable option. Together with Cheil Nordic, we made all of the toys free to download to 3D-print with a recommendation to use PLA, a carbon-neutral material. Photography by Olivia Jeczmyk and Set Design by Anton Thorsson.