Creativity is a critical prerequisite to innovation, which in turn is a major contributor to organisational success and survival. To date, analysis of creativity and innovation in culinary practice has been limited, with identified research gaps relating to drivers, barriers, sources and diffusion of innovation. Further, as an everyday activity, understanding creative culinary practices has the potential to promote creative thinking more generally. Creative chefs are able to create new dishes and food-related experiences using a blend of personal predisposition, knowledge and reflective practice. However, chefs struggle to describe what is happening in their minds during the creative process. If we could unlock the chef’s creative processes and develop them in others it could promote success in restaurant businesses, enable the general public to make optimal food choices and may benefit flexible thinking processes and creativity more generally.
The workshop will cover:
Sessions will comprise keynote presentations, oral presentations from selected researchers, practical sessions exploring creativity and time for discussion.
CONFIRMED SPEAKERS
James Kauffman – University of Connecticut
Ron Beghetto – University of Oregon / Connecticut
Mark Stierand – Laussane Hotel School
Nuria May Masnou – El Bulli Foundation (who will run a practical workshop)
ORGANISERS
Dr Anita Eves, Hospitality and Food Management, University of Surrey
Prof Monique Raats (Food, Consumer Behaviour and Health Research Centre)
Dr Paul Sowden, Director of ILLUME: The Faculty Centre for Creativity
The workshop is a collaboration between the University of Surrey’s multidisciplinary Food, Consumer Behaviour and Health Research Centre (FCBH) and the University’s newly established ILLUME multi-disciplinary creativity research centre. ILLUME’s mission is to explore, understand and develop the creative process, with the aim of developing cutting edge, evidence-based approaches to facilitate creative thinking, including in schools and businesses. The FCBH undertakes studies of influences on food choice, including for instance, labelling, policy and education. It aims to provide evidence to promote the consumption of a safe, nutritionally adequate and sustainable diet.
POST-EVENT PUBLICATION
Publication of a special issue on Creativity and Food, 'A Feast of Creativity' ,the Journal of Creative Behavior, the original and longest-standing journal in the field of creativity (DOI: 10.1002/jocb.124)
