A Participatory Mise en Place
A tool for creating greater equity and resilience in the food system
TL;DR
To address the US food system crisis, we must prioritize the input and leadership of those directly impacted by hunger. However, practitioners often lack a practical understanding of how to do this effectively. To bridge this gap, our team has created a participatory "mise en place" tool to help food system leaders center the wisdom of the community. Building off research done at MIT, the tool is inspired by the elements needed to cook a meal and provides essential ingredients and tips for driving effective change.
Developed by a small team of design strategists and food security experts, this tool was informed by designers and authorities in the food system. Our goal is to support food system leaders and their organizations to focus lived expertise by providing a straightforward, actionable resource that simplifies complex community engagement practices. To stay up to date on this work and receive your “mise en place” when it’s published this year, please join our waitlist. If you’re interested in helping shape this tool, we'd love to have you join our advisory team.
01
The Tool
To transform the food system, we need to think critically and creatively, moving away from the status quo. That's why we created a prototype called the participatory "mise en place" that includes 15 essential ingredients for equity-based participatory design in the food system. These ingredients are the basics that food system and design leaders can incorporate into their work to cook up change.
This tool is currently a prototype that originates from my Master’s thesis research at MIT. In partnership with Andréanne Chu Breton-Carbonneau, Founder & Principal of ACBC Consulting, and Designer and Strategist, Angélica Chíncaro, we are further shaping the concept and bringing it to life.
The ingredients were chosen based on the frequency they appeared in research interviews and literature and their significance to community design. The goal of this tool is to inspire change agents to adopt new mindsets as they navigate complex challenges.
Our hope is that this tool will make it easier for practitioners to navigate the complex food system by connecting key concepts in a digestible and easy-to-use way. It also symbolizes the intention chef put into their craft before the cooking begins, without prescribing any one recipe. By thoughtfully preparing these ingredients, practitioners can create and navigate a more equitable and impactful participatory process.
Participation is extremely important to us. We welcome input and feedback from anyone interested in testing the prototype or joining our advisory team. Once published, the tool will be sold to food organizations, and all proceeds (after production costs) will be donated to a community-initiated and community-led food organization.
02
Background & Research
To address food insecurity, it is crucial to center those who have experienced hunger. However, many food leaders struggle to engage communities in meaningful ways, without causing additional harm.
Sherry Arnstein famously said in the late 1960s, “Citizen participation is like eating spinach. We know it is good for us, but it’s not done all that often.” This is often because there are few resources that move beyond theory and provide practical guidance on how to be more participatory. People shared “getting it in theory” but then felt intimidated or overwhelmed when trying to begin.
This lack of an instruction manual can be a major hurdle that keeps many organizations from doing the hard but necessary work to seek community input. As a Partner and Chief Innovation Officer at an urban design studio said, “people don't do it [engaging people with lived expertise] because it's hard. You look and sound like you don't know what you're talking about. Cause you don't, and it's complex at the end of the day.”
To address these challenges, our team has created a participatory "mise en place" that provides essential ingredients for co-creating equitable food system solutions with the community. True participatory design must fit the unique needs and contexts of local communities, and cannot be met by a universal recipe. Once the ingredients have been gathered into a “mise en place,” it's up to the community to determine what else is needed.
To learn more about the research that informed this approach, check out the research snapshot or download the full publication.
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Audience
The primary target for this tool are food system leaders and food organizations seeking new ways of integrating equity as a critical component of their work.
Community engagement was the one area that food leaders reported being the most excited about, yet there's no clear blueprint for doing it, and definitions of participation vary among groups.
This resource aims to illuminate the most effective engagement approaches for (re)designing the food system, providing hard-working reformers a straightforward and actionable tool to shift power within their communities and involve more lived expertise in their work.
Before leaders can effectively support those who are experiencing hunger, they must first look inward and evaluate their own methods. This resource is intended for them.
04
The Team
Cierra Martin
Cierra is a passionate strategist, designer, and storyteller with a passion for helping others. She has spent the past decade designing and leading programs, partnerships, and initiatives across a range of non-profit and social impact organizations.
Currently, she is a Senior Culture Science Engineer at Gapingvoid Culture Design Group where she works at the intersection of the consulting and creative teams, helping a diversity of clients find greater meaning and purpose at work. Prior to joining Gapingvoid, Cierra worked at the intersection of food security, human-centered design, and community, leading initiatives at the Crop Trust, Feeding America, the MIT Media Lab, and an early-stage food hub.
Cierra holds a Master’s of Science in Engineering and Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a Bachelor of Arts in Commerce and Business from Rhodes College. She has been awarded fellowships for social impact, agriculture, and environmental work in Cambridge, Dublin, Bonn, Memphis, and Valdez. She has a passion for hosting family and friends around good food and is an advocate for local food systems change and economic development in Memphis, TN where she lives with her partner and Dalmatian, Herman.
Andréanne Chu Breton-Carbonneau
Andréanne is a health equity advocate who has devoted her skills and knowledge in research, participatory methods, and urban planning to center the needs and dreams of society’s most marginalized groups. She has spent over 6 years assembling inclusive community networks and securing $2.8M+ in grant funding for projects in food justice, community resilience, and trauma-informed substance use prevention.
Currently, she is the Principal of her own boutique consulting firm, ACBC Consulting, where she works with municipal public health leaders to improve long-term community health and resilience using a participatory and equity-centered approach. Before founding ACBC Consulting, Andreanne worked at the intersection of health equity planning, systems design, and community building, leading several grant initiatives on equitable food access and climate resilience funded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Andréane is also a Ph.D. candidate with the Barcelona Lab for Urban Environmental Justice & Sustainability. She holds a Master’s of Public Health from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural & Environmental Science from McGill University. She has been awarded grants and fellowships for her research on equitable climate adaptation, health equity planning, and participatory action research from the Government of Catalonia and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP). Andréanne lives in Barcelona, Spain, with her husband and rescue dog, Kenlee.
Angélica Chíncaro
Angelica Chincaro is a Senior Design Strategist at IA Collaborative, a global design and innovation consultancy that specializes in creating transformative products, services, and experiences for businesses and organizations. Holding a Master of Science in Integrated Design and Management from MIT, Angelica combines her education with her years of professional experience to create innovative design strategies that drive business growth.
With her strong background in e-commerce, user research, and digital marketing, Angelica has helped products of different sizes establish a strong online presence, increase conversions, and boost sales. One of her proudest achievements was creating the first multidisciplinary team with shared leadership to manage the digital assets of Peru's largest movie theatre chain. As a skilled communicator and team player, she is known for her ability to collaborate with others to deliver exceptional results.
In addition to her professional work, Angelica has conducted motivational presentations for different levels of educational entities, ranging from K-12 to undergraduate, even partnering with Lego Education. Her passion for education has also led her to volunteer as a mentor and tutor for underprivileged students, making a positive impact on her community.
05
Stay tuned!
We value your input for this participatory project. If you’d like to test an early prototype or provide feedback, please get in touch. We are building an advisory team of food leaders to help shape the tool.
We expect the participatory “mise-en-place” to launch in the Fall of 2023. It will be sold to food organizations, and all proceeds (after production costs) will be donated to a community-initiated and community-led food organization. If you would like to nominate a deserving organization to receive the funding, please reach out!