When Food Is More Than Food
Ten years, all to get the story of a single grain of rice into people’s hearts
Taiwan's farmers are out in the fields by three in the morning. But their effort is rarely truly seen by consumers. Howdy Creative decided to change that starting in 2013.
We don't make cold educational display boards. What we design is "the way food gets remembered" — illustrations that give rice an expression, exhibitions that give a place of origin warmth, e-books that bring the solar terms into daily life. Once a child remembers the story of a radish's journey from seed to table, their attitude toward food is never the same again.
From the first market on Huamei Street in Taichung, to five uninterrupted years of a food and agriculture program in Kaohsiung — this was never a single project. It's ten years of staying beside people.
The Origin on Huamei Street
No. 42, Huamei Street, Taichung — an old house of under 30 ping. Here we held our first "Huamei Kitchen" — not selling food, but selling the story of food. Over 200 people came that day, and some of them cried. That was the first time we confirmed: the story of food has power. "Food, food education, food tourism, food vessels" — these four words became the core framework of Howdy Creative's food-and-agriculture design from that point on.
The Huamei Intergenerational Co-Creation Project
An 80-year-old grandmother and her 8-year-old grandson sat at the same round table. The grandmother remembered the feel of cutting rice with a sickle; the grandson said he'd only ever seen rice at the supermarket. The Ministry of Culture's "Enjoy Food" project let us do something no design textbook covers — having two generations talk again over the same bowl of rice. That day, we truly understood: food-and-agriculture education isn't about teaching knowledge, it's about connecting memory.
The Kaohsiung Long-Term Food & Agriculture Education Program
Other projects run one event a year; we spent five years on the same community. In year one, the children drew radishes. By year three, they were bringing their parents to the market. By year five, the community was hosting its own food-and-agriculture talks. That's the long-term value of design — it's not delivering a finished piece, it's planting a seed and watching it grow into a tree.
Indigenous Food & Agriculture Curation
A tribal elder told us: "Millet isn't a crop — it's the language our ancestors left behind." In that moment we knew Han design methodology wouldn't work here. Over four years, we crouched down, listened, learned, drew, and revised. In the end, the exhibition wasn't something we designed — it grew out of the tribe and us together. This is the hardest, and the project we're proudest of, that Howdy Creative has ever done.
When a child remembers the journey of that bowl of rice, from the land to the table,
their respect for food lasts a lifetime.
Your Brand Has a Story Worth Telling, Too
Whether it’s a food-and-agriculture brand, local revitalization, or cultural curation, Howdy Creative uses design to get your story into people’s hearts. Book a free 30-minute consultation and let’s talk about how your brand can be remembered.
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The following Q&A is compiled by Howdy Creative to help you understand the related design topics more deeply.
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