Save food from the refrigerator

posted on November 26 by DesignAddict.

Jihyun Ryou, Design Academy Eindhoven graduate, did his Master Thesis about food preservation. By accumulating traditional oral knowledge, he looked at a feasible way to bring the knowledge into everyday life.

"Through the research about the current situation of food preservation, I’ve learned that we hand over the responsibility of taking care of food to the technology, refrigerator. We don’t observe the food any more and don’t understand how to treat it.

Therefore my design looks at re-introducing and re-evaluating traditional oral knowledge of food, which is closer to nature. Furthermore, it aims to bring back the connection between different level of living beings, us as human beings and food ingredients as other living beings."

Verticality of Root Vegetables -carrot, raddish, leek...etc.
Keeping roots in a vertical position allows the organism save energy and remain fresh for longer time. This shelf gives a place for them to stand easily, using sand. At the same time, sand helps to keep proper humidity.

Dryness of Spices
Rice absorbs the humidity easily. The spice container with rice inside helps spices stay dry without forming into a mass.

Humidity of Fruit Vegetables -zucchini, aubergine, pepper...etc.
We tend to think zucchini, aubergine, cucumber, etc. as vegetables. But they are biologically fruits. This shelf gives them a space to be outside the fridge. Also through the ritual to water them everyday, they will stay fresh.

Breathing of Egg
Egg has millions of holes on its skin. It absorbs the odor and substance around very easily. This creates a bad taste if it’s kept in the fridge with other food ingredient. This shelf gives a place for eggs to be outside the fridge. Also the freshness of egg can be tested in the water. The fresher, the more they sink horizontally.

Symbiosis of Potato+Apple
Apples emit a lot of ethylene gas. It has the effect of speeding up the ripen process of fruits and vegetables kept together with apples. When combined with potatoes instead, apples prevent them from sprouting.

"Observing the food and therefore changing the notion of food preservation, we could find the answer of current situation such as overuse of energy and waste of food. My design is a tool to implement that knowledge in a tangible way and slowly it changes the bigger picture of society. I believe that once people are given a tool that triggers their minds and requires a mental effort to use it, new traditions and new rituals can be introduced in our culture."

tags: accessories, food, sustainable, project, glass, kitchen, wood

29 comments so far:

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Olive, on December 1:

LOVE THIS! I grew up in a farming town and I was taught not to put many things in the fridge. Potatoes, tomatoes, corn, onions, beets, garlic, most fruits, etc. Having an intelligent system to accomodate all these foods, rather than having them scattered all over my kitchen would be great!er

tee, on December 1:

I would love to be able to purchase these shelves.

Kaydee, on December 4:

These are amazing! I hope that Jihyun is able to turn them into products, the spice jars seem like something smart and marketable... I want some!

heidi, on December 12:

I think this is absolutely genius! I am forever talking about refrigerators in my line of work and for once it's nice to see a way to keep produce without one. BRAVO!

koen, on December 12:

Fortunately the majority seems to like it. I think it's a blatent show of useless opportunism. Using the interest for lower energy consumption to make a lousy product is not good design. To allow the user to have a vague idea of the freshness of the eggs is not going to keep them fresh. The moment you use it and have to brake it, you know by the shape of the yolk if the egg is fresh. Try also to imagine the use of the small water container on the side that allows you to replenish the tray underneed the vegatables. What is the scenario here. After one day of evaporation you replenish the lost water go to the tap and fill the small container? What is wrong with any other water can that you have already? by the way I hope the evaporation is more than that small tube otherwise your vegetables are not going to last long. Bee wax is not a very good protection agains wet sand by the way. Finally, because I could go on and on, this is simply bad and energy consuming wood construction. Why would one buy a product to safe energy when the product itself does not show the slightest evidence of an effort to reduce energy in the manufacturing of the product.. Honestly, I find this discouraging and yet another exemple that designers do not seem to get it.

Heath, on December 13:

I find the joinery quite attractive but thats beside the point.

I seriously doubt this will go into production, its not convenient, perhaps
if each shelf and storage method were combined into one larger
cohesive unit it might have a better chance, however perhaps it should
just be viewed as a consciousness raising exercise,
an advertisement for another way of thinking about how we store food.

I deliberatley lived without a fridge for a few months this year and it really wasn't
much trouble at all, truly fresh food lasts a lot longer than the
supermarekt food that could have been sitting in storage for many months
and if you are prepared to go to a market (I ride my bike, no driving) two
or three times a week and cut right back on dairy products its very much
an option.

By the way Patrick or Alix could a 'word wrap' be applied to this text box?

AshR12, on January 4:

Very interesting and educational. I give this a "Thumbs Up".

Notheathorkoen, on July 5:

these are awesome and I think the people who dislike them don't get it. Good thinking, the disconnection of humans from the energy sources we consume is NOT a good thing.

Christopher Vassallo, on July 6:

These are great, found them on stumbleupon. Do you have the full schematics anywhere for DIY projects. They look very nice.

Peter, on July 9:

I thought the designer was a woman?
Saw a documentary on TV about Milan and sustainable design a few weeks ago where the designer was interviewed.

brad, on July 14:

This is of poor design, these are basically just useless shelves, the eggs are a terrible idea, keep the eggs in the fridge in the container you bought them in, that keeps them fresh and it even has a date to let you know when they should be used.

all the peace loving, bike riding hippies like it because they thing its so natural, but in reality its just a shelve, several shelves, put the eggs in the fridge, the potatoes in the pantry (dark), spices in a spice rack, apples in a basket.... if you want it fresh go to the local farmers market, get it, and use it before it goes bad.

Mark Jewery G. Lozano, on July 15:

wow!!! this is amazing...this could help save a lot of energy...kudos to you!!!

Dave, on July 19:

Very cool shelves. Would love to make these myself or buy them from somewhere.

Ph3on1x, on July 19:

The apple and potato thing might work but the rest is useless. Just read what the non hippies wrote and you will not waste your money. Besides, the wood is not very expensive at your nearby hardware store, so if you want to waste your money, at least you will be able to ride there on your bike, buy some wood, build it, then realize what you have done: wasted your own energy.

Ian, on July 20:

You should say "A fresh egg stays submerged in the water." Sinked sounds weird. Other than that I like the outside the coldbox thinking.

Alexis Black, on July 23:

I am not a fan of the shelves themselves, because they would not be practical for me, but I am very much a fan of the philosophy behind them. The basic principles could easily be applied using objects found abound the house. I don't think many people would have even read this article if the shelves didn't look like something from Ikea, so the fact that the artist put thought and effort into the design and presentation served it's purpose by getting us to read it.
For those criticizing the text, my assumption was that the artist/innovator is not a native English speaker, and that maybe we should stop to consider that before slamming someone for poor grammar.
Although I would not buy these shelves, this project has prompted me to think more about how we traditionally store food and how we could improve upon it by learning more about the food and how people stored food before we came to use refrigeration as a crutch.
Ideally, it's best to grow your own food or buy it and eat it as fresh as possible, rather than storing it at all, but in the modern world, that's a stretch for many. People are lazy and set in their ways.
I found this to be though-provoking though. It prompted me to want to do more research on alternatives to refrigeration. We are taught to just toss everything in the fridge. Most people don't eat much fresh food at all, so they avoid the problem of storage altogether. We really should take a look at things like this though. We take fridges for granted, and there are a lot of foods that just don't do well in those conditions. Although there are a lot of problems with the design and implementation of these particular shelves, let's not scrap the ideas behind them or fail to look beyond the obvious. The artist presents a great spring board for further innovation and contemplation.

Fred Jones, on July 23:

Looks like homes for mold.

tuan, on July 30:

dayum this is clever

Robert, on August 9:

Wow, lot's of really bitter wanna be designers here. Explain to me how you can be a designer and be that closed minded?

Kellie Dobbie, on August 10:

Have these concepts undergone scientific testing and evaluation or is it just the designers' idea of food preservation? If the preservation aspect works... fine, otherwise we could take advantage of these designs for its decorative value.

Sandra, on August 17:

It seems like a great idea except do you think it would attract flies? That would be my only concern. On hot summer days if I have fruit in a bowl i find tinny flies appear so i end up placing the fruit in the fridge to avoid this problem.

the short lady, on August 17:

In a humid climate these would not help with the mildew and mold problem that would result even more quickly in those that require water.

RagingR2, on August 19:

Looks nice, but the thing about saving energy won't really work since most people will still need a fridge for a lot of products. Furthermore, I am wondering is the research based only on oral knowledge, or also on empirical testing? Everyone always "says" cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce are best kept outside of the fridge, but my "empirical testing" still shows they stay fresh longer when kept *in* the fridge. As for keeping eggs, I have found that simply keeping them in the cardboard container that the store supplied them in, will do the job. That way they stay upright, the cardboard will absorb any condensation, and the eggs are more or less shielded from most odors.

blulyt, on August 21:

very thought provoking. i live in a passive solar home in new mexico and i am reworking some spaces in my home, including the basement and the pantry and the kitchen storage. i love the idea of suspending a container of sand and "picking" my root vegetables. i once visited friends of ours who lived in dixon nm near a spring and raised their kids there and in all those years, they never had power or running water, used a small cooler to keep things cool, still cooked on a fire in a circle of rocks from a single pan hung on a single nail. i know that in one weekend i would have arranged a more complex set up. but i'm working on it. i was influenced in my youth by the concept of voluntary of involuntary simplicity. i guess u could call me a volunteer.

holi, on September 6:

Were can i buy this?

Jimbob, on September 8:

This is worth pursuing, in Britain it used to be compulsory to include a ventilated cupboard for food storage in the kitchen of new houses, but that was dropped due to the popularity of fridges. If the different methods of storage could be combined into a 600mm wide cupboard it could be a standard element of a built- in kitchen.

angeleah, on September 9:

I would be interested in purchasing these items. Please keep up posted on future availability!

Epic, on January 8:

This is so cool I found it in stumbleupon mobile and I am acctually happy I foisted reading this because I completely agree with you. Thumbs up

plumbing, on July 4:

I love your blog. I find it very useful specially the test for the freshness of eggs. I totally love it because egg is one of my favorite food.

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