Living Bento: Heartbeat-Driven Noodles for Enriched Dining Dynamics

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel biofeedback-enabled dining system that uses diners' heart rates to dynamically alter food appearance, enhancing focus and social interaction during meals.

Contribution

It presents a new method integrating biofeedback into food presentation to improve dining immersion and socialization, with a prototype system and empirical evaluation.

Findings

Enhanced dining immersion and emotional bonds

Increased awareness and attractiveness of food

Strengthened social connections among diners

Abstract

To enhance focused eating and dining socialization, previous Human-Food Interaction research has indicated that external devices can support these dining objectives and immersion. However, methods that focus on the food itself and the diners themselves have remained underdeveloped. In this study, we integrated biofeedback with food, utilizing diners' heart rates as a source of the food's appearance to promote focused eating and dining socialization. By employing LED lights, we dynamically displayed diners' real-time physiological signals through the transparency of the food. Results revealed significant effects on various aspects of dining immersion, such as awareness perceptions, attractiveness, attentiveness to each bite, and emotional bonds with the food. Furthermore, to promote dining socialization, we established a "Sharing Bio-Sync Food" dining system to strengthen emotional connections between diners. Based on these findings, we developed tableware that integrates biofeedback into the culinary experience.