I have spent a good majority of this first half of the semester researching, and trying to figure out how to reach an audience of college students some of whom may not be ready to listen to my message. I have had a difficult time pulling myself away and looking at my project from the perspective of someone who doesn't know anything about the subject. Since I am one who already cooks, and buys from the farmers market, etc, it has been difficult to understand the mindset of those who don't think like I do.
I began my experiments thinking about interaction: where/how is my audience going to see this message, and what are they going to take away from it? These first experiments: a reusable grocery bag, a poster, menu planner, seasonal info cards, seemed like good ideas, if you are into that sort of thing already. But...ultimately there was a disconnect between these experiments and the core of my message: to get college students to cook with fresh, whole ingredients. From a Facebook survey I created, I gathered that the majority of students don't cook due to lack of time and money. The resulting problem is not just lack of time, money, or skill, but lack of readily available information.
I still want to incorporate the menu planner if I can but my "solution" became a cookbook that would showcase the four seasons, everything one would need to know about fruits and vegetables, and quick, healthy recipes to tie it all together. I felt it needed to be more than a book, and so I decided to would also make some short videos on how to make small dishes, or even something as simple as cooking eggs. After I figure out the structure of the book, I am going to begin brainstorming how that structure can inform the format for the videos.
