Food Design is such a young design discipline. It has only really existed since 2014. This new interdisciplinary masters course from the Politecnico di Milano and the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo is designed to take it out into the market.
In order to shift towards a circular economy, particularly with respect to food systems, says Prof. Stefano Maffei, Director of the Polifactory in Milan, there needs to be a more robust and stable infrastructure of production and distribution – from farm to fork. “It is a huge ecosystem in which a lot of actors are involved” and “a lot of people will need help with changing their strategic attitude”. This is why he and his team have devised a professional Masters course that involves and incorporates the industry. “We need more than just design to address this topic” he adds because we are entering an industry where design may not be no. 1 on their list of priorities. Maffei’s portfolio of collaboration begins with the new Design For Food Masters being a joint course between two respected colleges Politecnico di Milano, which focuses on engineering, architecture and design and the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, which is dedicated to the agricultural and gastro industries.
The aim of the course is to generate transversal expertise, producing graduates capable of strategically integrating design, food engineering, technological, gastronomical skills. It combines the design and food engineering competences, characteristic of the Politecnico di Milano, with humanities, gastronomic sciences and food technologies, that are typical domains of the University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo.
The Design For Food Masters course integrates teaching with internships with companies, agencies and institutions. The first iteration is set to begin in October 2021.
