When imagining a future that’s faced with greater food shortages, we need to ask how we might adapt our own appetites and lifestyle in the present. In response to this, we created HALF / FULL, a set of tableware designed to alter our everyday diets to future proof our appetites. Each piece in the set utilises mirrors to trick our perception of fullness, thus reducing the amount we eat. Through this we can gradually adapt our appetites to require less of the common foods that the future will compromise.

The design of HALF / FULL is based on current research around our behaviour at the dinner table. A study led by the University of Tokyo revealed that the apparent volume of food can influence one’s satisfaction from a meal. If the quantity of food appears greater, the feeling of satisfaction is greater. Applying these findings, HALF / FULL integrates mirrors into common dining items to trick our visual perception of what we eat, increasing our satisfaction while enabling us to consume less. Although the concept is yet to be formally tested, we believe HALF / FULL is a simple and playful approach that has the potential to change our eating habits for the better, while acting as a visual probe that raises our awareness around the impacts that climate change will have on our food and eating culture.