Dylan Evans, the renowned British academic and creator of the emotional states model, cites disgust as one of them. But, at a marketing level, do you think that disgust can be the basis for a business model? As complicated as it may seem, here is a very striking one: the Museum of Disgusting Food in Malmö, Sweden.
Food is much more than sustenance. This is the premise on which this fascinating project is based. Curious foods from exotic cultures have always been an object of desire. Unfamiliar foods can be delicious or they can be a real ordeal. It is clear that cultural differences often separate us and create barriers. In this sense, food is one of the most relevant cultural vehicles.
The evolutionary function of disgust is to help us avoid diseases and harmful foods. Disgust is one of the six fundamental (primary, according to Evans) human emotions. Although the emotion is universal, foods that are disgusting to us are not. What is delicious to one person may be disgusting to another.
Malmö’s Disgusting Food Museum invites visitors to explore the world of food
Without a doubt, this place is the perfect example of that trendy concept in the marketing world: experience. Disgusting Food Museum, as the original naming, is a space that challenges notions of what is and isn’t edible.
It’s crazy. But how many of them do human beings have? Furthermore, this project allows us to ask ourselves a momentous question going forward: could changing our ideas about yuck help us embrace the environmentally sustainable foods of the future?
The exhibition features 80 of the world’s most disgusting foods. Visitors, who should be considered true adventurers, have the opportunity to smell and taste some of these shocking foods. The world’s stinkiest cheese, sweets made with metal-cleaning chemicals, infamous and stinky fruit or aged shark are some of the offerings.
The new consumer is hungry for novelty. It remains to be seen now if he is hungry for horrifying foods.
Photo credit: MCRM
