Core Concepts
An interactive AR mobile app that overlays sustainability information on restaurant menus to encourage diners to make more eco-friendly food choices.
Abstract
The content introduces DinAR, an augmented reality (AR) mobile app designed to promote sustainable dining choices. The key points are:
Climate change is a major challenge, and food sustainability is one way to mitigate its impact. However, when dining out, people often lack awareness of the sustainability of their meal choices.
DinAR aims to address this by providing an immersive AR experience that overlays key sustainability information on restaurant menus, such as the source and seasonality of ingredients.
The app uses the Environmental Working Group's sustainable food scoring system to rate each menu item, allowing diners to make more informed and eco-friendly choices.
Beyond individual interactions, DinAR also includes a leaderboard feature to foster friendly competition among users in making sustainable dining decisions.
The authors propose a holistic framework for considering consumer behavior within the food system, where AR technology can enable a "virtuous cycle" of sustainable food consumption.
While the project is in early development, the authors plan to evaluate the app's effectiveness through pre- and post-surveys, A/B testing, and long-term user studies.