SCOPE:
SERVICE DESIGN, RESEARCH, SOCIAL DESIGN
COMPANY:
INHOUSE RECORDS
YEAR:
2021
ROLE:
SERVICE & UX DESIGNER
The Good Plate
Context.
Poverty in London affects nearly 28% of the population (2.5 million), leaving many households food insecure despite the city’s wealth. One in six children (400,000) and one in five adults (1.5 million) experience food insecurity, with single parents (36%) and Black Londoners (32%) disproportionately affected. Among these families, 16% of parents struggle to provide balanced meals, 9% report children not always having enough to eat, and 49% face social isolation (GLA, 2019).
I began this project aiming to make healthy food more affordable but soon realized food insecurity extends beyond income. It is a systemic issue: multiple societal and structural factors intersect to limit access to nutritious food, shifting responsibility from individuals to the wider community and systems that support them.
Outcome.
Testing showed that the interventions designed sparked interest, were easy to use, and fostered emotional and social connections.
While these alone won’t end hunger and malnutrition, these interventions were designed for the relationships and behaviors they foster, rather than the product itself, helping build communal interdependence in a sustainable, and empathy-driven way. By strengthening relationships, community members can support each other and tackle shared challenges, building collective resilience, knowledge, and resources.
Challenge.
Recognizing the systemic challenges around food access, this project explored how existing avenues could be amplified to improve healthy food accessibility for low-income families in London. This project asked:
How might we amplify avenues to improve access to healthy food for low-income families in London?
This statement highlights 3 key factors that my research will look into:
By amplifying avenues, we acknowledge that there are existing resources and knowledge within the community that can be leveraged. It places the power to facilitate change with the community and removes the researcher/designer as a central part of this change.
By improving accessibility to healthy food, we know that issue of food security is not simply a lack of financial affordance but an issue of accessibility.
The research would specifically look at low income families in London and will explore the issue in a context most relevant to them.
Methods.
STEEP analysis, Stakeholder map, Ethnographic Study, Journey Mapping, Service Blueprinting, Research Interviews, Intercept Interviews, Observational Research, Focus Groups, User Personas, Theory of Change, Prioritization, Prototyping, Wireframing, Testing.
Secondary Research
I began the process with a STEEP analysis (Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political) to understand the wider context of the issue. This was a quick exercise where I captured initial findings through secondary research, which in turn highlighted further directions to explore.
From there, I conducted research into food insecurity in London, looking into its causes and its impact on adults, children, and families. Using an affinity map, I organized my findings and observed that the challenges clustered into three key domains: home, school, and community. This revealed a useful framework for understanding where interventions could take place.
To build a deeper picture, I then created a stakeholder map to identify the groups of people and organizations operating within this system. This not only clarified the ecosystem but also guided who I might approach for primary research.
Primary Research.
Supermarket Maps
To explore the relationship between food access and diet, I created supermarket maps for four London boroughs: two of the richest (Bromley, Kensington & Chelsea) and two with the highest levels of poverty (Tower Hamlets, Westminster, with poverty levels of 39% and 30% respectively).
I began by categorising London’s most common supermarkets into four tiers, from most to least expensive, based on a national price comparison study. Using Google Maps, I then counted the number of each supermarket type across the four boroughs. From this, I calculated percentages to understand distribution patterns.
The results highlighted a clear divide:
Richer boroughs like Bromley and Kensington & Chelsea had a higher proportion of Type A supermarkets (21.4% and 32.6% respectively).
Deprived boroughs like Tower Hamlets and Westminster were dominated by Type D convenience stores (66.7% and 58.9% respectively).
This confirmed secondary research: low-income areas are disproportionately served by corner shops with limited fresh produce, and where canned and processed foods are most predominantly available, making affordable, healthy food less accessible.
Supermarket Tours
To understand everyday food choices without directly asking sensitive or potentially triggering questions, I conducted supermarket tours. I approached shoppers with the simple question: “What’s in your shopping today?”
This opened natural conversations about the foods people buy, why they make certain choices, and their attitudes towards healthy eating. I also asked about the government’s Eatwell Guide, and how realistic or relevant it felt in their lives. The conversations gave me insights into both barriers and strategies people use to eat better.
Interviews
I conducted four sets of interviews to gain a broader view of London’s food system:
Set 1 – Teachers (x2): Explored free school meals, food education, and child food insecurity. (One teacher in Tower Hamlets, one in Surrey for comparison.)
Set 2 – Amateur Food Growers (x2): Learned about year-round growing processes, challenges, and motivations for personal food cultivation.
Set 3 – Corner Shop Owners (x4, Tower Hamlets): Discussed popular products, supply limitations, and barriers to offering affordable fresh food.
Set 4 – FoodCycle Regional Manager: Gained insights into the realities faced by families experiencing food poverty and social isolation, and how surplus food redistribution attempts to meet those needs.
Volunteering at FoodCycle
To deepen my understanding, I volunteered for three weeks at FoodCycle Tower Hamlets, a charity that combines surplus food, spare kitchen spaces, and volunteers to provide free community meals. Their mission also emphasises reducing social isolation by encouraging guests to eat together.
FoodCycle volunteers serve as either cooks or hosts. I chose to be a host, as it allowed me to interact directly with guests. Hosts are trained to approach conversations with sensitivity, equipped with guidelines on what to say (and not say), along with suggested conversation starters.
As a host, I took on two roles:
Packing grocery kits from donated food, often inconsistent in type and quantity. This meant that while some guests received essentials like milk or cereal, others only received a single potato or chilli—highlighting the fragility of surplus-based systems.
Talking with guests. Conversations ranged from lighthearted topics, like one guest proudly sharing their Harry Potter collection, to deeply personal discussions around mental health and family challenges. Importantly, I also learned that not every guest wanted to engage socially; for some, the meal itself was enough.
This immersive experience gave me a first-hand understanding of both the strengths and limitations of community food initiatives, showing how they can build dignity and connection, but also how inconsistent food supply and systemic gaps remain major barriers.
Analysis.
Next, I externalized my research, and sorted them into themes and studied them further for deeper insights.
I also consolidated my research insights by creating user journey maps to situate findings in a wider context and highlight the different spaces in people’s lives, along with the relationships they navigate in each space. To bring this to life, I mapped a hypothetical day-in-the-life for three different individuals: a 39-year-old salesperson, a 6-year-old primary school student, and a 34-year-old mother of two. These journeys helped me visualize the touchpoints, barriers, and opportunities around food access across home, school, and community settings.
Insights.
Key insights from research were as follows:
Ideation.
I began ideation by drawing out a theory of change map, to summarize the issues found so far and beginning to think about what my long and short terms goals for the project are.
SHORT-TERM GOALS
Improve knowledge and interest around food and nutrition
Improve avenues and ease for accessing healthy food and nutrition
Increase connect and empathy between people, community and food
LONG-TERM GOALS
Moving away from crisis management solutions and towards sustainable alternates for accessing food
Increase connect and empathy between people and reduce social isolation & feeling of shame
Creating spaces for people to take ownership & pride over their unique cultural experiences and knowledge
Extend support around mental health challenges, addiction challenges, housing challenges, job searches and other needs to families instead of simply hunger relief
Reduced hunger and malnutrition
Breaking the goals down alongside my research insights created a clear framework for ideation. This allowed me to begin brainstorming potential interventions, out of which three concepts were shortlisted and prototyped.
Concepts.
1. The Good Plate: A Recipe Book + Website
Key Insights:
Canned foods are highly popular as an affordable option.
Cultural food knowledge is rich: Families across communities use traditions of preservation, stretching meals, and making the most of available ingredients.
Cost is a critical barrier: A healthy balanced diet for a family of four living on benefits averages £162 per week (46% of household income), leaving just £2.89 per portion, twice a day.
The Good Plate is a community-driven recipe book designed to make healthy eating affordable, practical, and culturally inclusive. Every recipe is created with a focus on zero or minimal-waste cooking, ensuring that families can make the most of the produce available to them. The meals are nutritionally balanced, simple to prepare, and smartly use canned or convenience foods to create wholesome dishes without adding cost or complexity. Importantly, each recipe costs under £1.50 per portion, making them accessible for families living on tight budgets.
Unlike a typical cookbook, The Good Plate is not the work of a single author or organization, but a collective archive of cultural food knowledge. Families from across London were invited to contribute their personal recipes and food hacks, many of which are rooted in tradition and passed down through generations. The first edition contains 12 such recipes, each credited to its contributor, and is designed to expand over time as more community members add their own.
To make unfamiliar dishes less intimidating, the cookbook uses ingredient-based illustrations that break meals down into familiar, recognizable components. This design choice helps cultural foods feel approachable to people from different backgrounds while celebrating their diversity.
The project is also evolving into a digital space. A companion website is in development where people will be able to upload and share their own recipes and photos, search for meals based on the ingredients they already have at home, and contribute to a continuously growing archive of affordable, community-owned food knowledge.
2. Growing Boxes
Key Insights:
Fresh fruit and vegetables are often expensive and not always easily accessible.
Growing food is perceived as too time-consuming and too technical for many families.
Food banks and existing food organizations provide short-term relief but do not offer sustainable, long-term solutions.
Feelings of shame can prevent people from accessing available resources and support.
The growing boxes were designed to help families cultivate their own fresh food at home, improving nutrition while providing a small measure of financial relief by reducing weekly food costs. Built as compact planters suitable for small indoor spaces, they make growing food accessible to people without gardens or balconies. Each box comes complete with seeds, soil, and simple instructions, outlining water, sunlight, and care needs to support even first-time growers. Families can also scale the planters depending on space and the types of foods they wish to grow, ensuring flexibility and adaptability.
A key feature of the design was its sharing concept. Each planter was compartmentalized into smaller units that could be detached, traded, and added to a neighbor’s planter, encouraging community exchange, expanding food variety, and strengthening social connections. This not only fosters collective resilience but also reduces feelings of isolation by building bonds around shared food practices.
The planters also create opportunities for family bonding across generations. Research shows that when children participate in growing food, they are more likely to eat and enjoy it. Involving children in planting and nurturing vegetables gives them a sense of ownership and curiosity, ultimately making them more open to healthier diets.
Beyond the household, the planters can extend into schools as part of nutrition education, or be incorporated into community organizations like FoodCycle. Here, families could grow food at home and bring it to shared sites, contributing to communal meals. This approach transforms the act of receiving free food into a collective effort, replacing feelings of shame with pride and participation, while also strengthening community morale and mental health.
Three prototype designs were developed:
Self-watering planter for leafy vegetables – designed with a cotton wick system and water tray, allowing plants to self-hydrate and reducing the need for daily watering for bust families.
Three-part sharing planter for micro-herbs – built to be dismantled into separate compartments, encouraging neighbors to exchange portions and grow diverse foods together.
Scalable ground planters for larger vegetables – portable containers with handles, designed for crops like potatoes, carrots, and onions, adaptable for home use or transport to larger community growing sites.
These prototypes were crafted in birch plywood at the LCC 3D workshop, grounding the concept in practical, functional forms ready for testing in real-world contexts.
3. Community Sessions
Key Insights:
Social isolation is widespread: Nearly half (49%) of parents with children experiencing food insecurity reported feeling socially isolated, with few support networks to rely on.
Mental health is a major challenge: Many parents face ongoing stress, anxiety, or depression, compounded by the daily struggle of providing for their families.
Shame creates barriers: Feelings of stigma and embarrassment often prevent adults from reaching out for support or engaging with available services.
Untapped cultural knowledge: Despite these challenges, families bring with them a wealth of cultural food practices, from recipes, preservation methods, and cooking techniques, that are often overlooked but hold valuable potential for strengthening food resilience.
The Community Sessions were designed as safe, supportive spaces where families experiencing food insecurity could come together to build stronger networks and share resources. More than just food-sharing events, these sessions function as hubs for connection, learning, and empowerment.
At their core, the sessions focus on sharing cultural knowledge around food, such as recipes, cooking practices, and preservation techniques that have been passed down through generations. By encouraging families to experiment and grow their food knowledge together, the sessions help make healthy, affordable meals feel more achievable.
The sessions also provide opportunities for resource sharing, whether that’s surplus ingredients, homegrown produce, or tips on reducing food waste. Beyond food, they act as a gateway to wider forms of support through talks and outreach from support organizations, extending into areas like mental health, employment, addiction recovery, and housing support, helping families access services they may otherwise struggle to reach.
Importantly, the sessions are about building community resilience. They create a sense of belonging and reduce the isolation often felt by those facing food insecurity. By combining practical skills with social support, the Community Sessions empower families not only to improve their food security, but also to strengthen their overall wellbeing.
Testing.
To evaluate the impact and usability of the interventions, I tested both the Growing Boxes and The Good Plate recipe book with participants. Testing was guided by short-term goals (STGs) from my Theory of Change, with measurable outcomes defined around interest, usability, communication clarity, and community connection.
1. Growing Boxes
The growing boxes were designed as scalable, long-term interventions that could start at home and expand into schools and community spaces. To test their feasibility, I created three prototypes and gave them to participants with no prior growing experience. Each participant received a journal to document their experience, alongside pre- and post-surveys.
Interest in growing food: Before testing, only 1 of 3 participants (33%) expressed interest in growing food. After the 14-day trial, all three (100%) reported increased interest and said they would like to experiment further.
Ease of use: All participants (100%) found the planters easy to understand and manage.
Clarity of instructions: While instructions were generally effective, one participant’s plant did not survive due to insufficient sunlight. This highlighted the need for clearer guidance around placement and light requirements.
Emotional connection: 2 of 3 participants (66%) reported a sense of joy and pride in growing, while all three (100%) felt some level of connection to their plant—indicating that even a short engagement can foster attachment and motivation.
2. Recipe Book
The recipe book was tested through a zero-waste cooking workshop, co-hosted with Project Samsara. Eight participants cooked four recipes from the book, with outcomes measured against affordability, comprehension, and group experience.
Feelings towards zero-waste cooking: Initially, participants were skeptical about using peels and scraps (e.g., potato skins, broccoli stems, banana peels). By the end, all (100%) were pleasantly surprised at the taste and normalcy of the dishes. However, only 63% said they would feel comfortable experimenting with these techniques in daily cooking.
Affordability: The four recipes tested cost £0.54, £0.62, £0.61, and £0.35 per portion - well below the £1.50 target, proving the economic viability of the concept.
Recipe clarity: All participants successfully completed the recipes without difficulty. The illustrated ingredients were highlighted as especially helpful in making the book engaging and easy to navigate.
Group dynamics: The cooking session fostered high energy, laughter, and sharing. Participants expressed pride in their dishes, with 75% noting that it was a great bonding activity and stress reliever.
Impact.
Testing revealed that both interventions successfully generated interest, were easy to use, and fostered emotional and social connections. Key improvements included providing clearer growing instructions, especially regarding sunlight and other growing factors, and encouraging adoption of zero-waste practices beyond workshops.
While TGP planters and recipe books alone cannot eradicate hunger and malnutrition in low-income London families, they play a vital role in building communal relationships and interdependence, a core part of my theory of change. By strengthening these connections, community members can collectively support each other and address shared challenges.
The future vision for The Good Plate envisions a vibrant landscape of community activities: members cooking and eating together, transplanting planters in communal spaces, and nurturing these resources collectively. These sessions could also provide broader support, across aspects like mental health and wellness programs, guidance on housing, jobs, and grants, or skill-sharing workshops led by members themselves. Over time, such shared, positive experiences create natural, sustainable bonds, building safe spaces and resilient support networks that grow alongside the community.
