Trying new foods

Begin with a self-reflection activity where students begin to think about the types of foods they do and do not like. You might like to provide an array of foods to stimulate ideas.

Have students place each food item onto the  Appetasty Matrix which helps students consider the difference between something that is appetising and something that is tasty.

Tell students about either steak tartare (raw meat) or tamago gohan (rice with raw egg). Both dishes are meals with ingredients that students should be familiar with but may not have experienced as a meal itself. They are also likely to illicit an initial "yuk" factor.

Ask students to record their initial thoughts about the meal in the top right corner, rating the meal on a scale of 1 to 5 for the following attributes: appearance, familiarity, sound, texture, smell, and taste.

Working in partners, students conduct an empathy interview. The interviewer should ask questions to understand what aspects of the dish the interviewee does or does not like, with the goal of improving the dish for the interviewee. Use the scored attributes as a starting point for conversation. For example the interviewee could ask "I noticed you scored tamago gohan very low on texture. Why is that?" Allow two rounds of 2 minute interviews for rich data collection.

Following the interview, ask students to modify either steak tartare or tamago gohan to make it more paletable for their partner.