Food Wise

This is what the app will look like!
This is what the browser extension will look like!

Team name - Team Alpha Members - Devyani, Maitheli, Preeti Pitch will be presented by - Devyani

Inspiration

Nowadays, there is a growing urge among everyone to make conscious food choices. We all want to eat healthier, cleaner and more responsibly. But in the middle of all our busy lives, we do not find the time to even squeeze in a weekly grocery run, let alone dedicate time for researching on products and making conscious product choices.

Problem

The main question we have is that - are organic products too expensive, or are conventional products too cheap? We realized that most cheap foods are priced so low because they are produced using methods which push large costs on the future generations, over-exploit farmers and harm the planet. If all these external costs are considered, the price of conventional food products would be much higher. This cost is also known as the "true cost". We propose using the true cost as well as the carbon footprint as the two metrics to enable consumers to make better food choices.

Solution

Therefore, we present to you "Food Wise"! Food Wise is an application that would help the user to not only make conscious food choices, it would also help reduce food waste and adopt an environmentally sustainable lifestyle. The app informs you about the true cost of products, their carbon footprint and nutritional information. It is a one-stop app where you get recipes, meal prep ideas and grocery lists. To track your progress, the app will provide statistics about your daily food intake and monthly carbon footprint of your food lifestyle. Eventually, the app will also have a browser extension which notifies you of the true cost of products when shopping on major online grocery stores.

Accomplishments

We were able to brainstorm a solution for a problem we feel strongly about. At the moment, we have the first prototype of the user interface of the app, the next step would be to develop the app.

What's next

The aspects of our project that need work are: We need to set up a model to calculate the true cost of products. Based on our research, there are multiple organizations that have set frameworks to do this, so our next aim is to collaborate with them. Our ultimate aim to bringing in transparency in the complete food supply chain. Since true cost could be used as a universal metric for all sorts of products (for eg: clothing, footwear etc.), we aim to apply a "true cost" model to other products too.

Impact

According to a recent survey conducted by the European Consumer Organisation across 11 countries, price is the biggest barrier pointed out by consumers to eating more sustainably. There is a need for tools which convey the environmental impact of different foods in a way that is relatable to the general public. We believe Food Wise does exactly this. So go ahead choose food that makes you feel good!