Research on the Application of Design Thinking in Sustainable Food Design—Taking the Afternoon Tea on Earth Day as an Example

This research focuses on the food crisis and examines how sustainable food design, an emerging discipline, can impact public food consumption behavior and help to re-establish food values. This study presents a research framework for sustainable food design based on the theory of the ‘Four Orders of Design’. It analyzes and discusses the design practice of ‘Earth Day Afternoon Tea’ through a case study approach. The study concludes that the sustainable food design event involves four action steps: cognition, behavior, experience, and sympathy. It enables participants to stimulate the desire to explore in the process of eating, not only to obtain the satisfaction of tasting food, but also to develop a new view of food, to reflect on the relationship between people and food, and to establish new food values. This study proposes a model for fostering sustainability awareness through new eating behaviors under sustainable food design. The experience gained from this model can serve as a reference for other sustainable food design practices.