This week it became almost certain that I am allergic or intolerant to Gluten and therefore wheat based products. I’ve just started to look into this but by the looks of it as of today for the rest of my life I will have to say farewell to some of my favourite foods, including:
beer, bread, pancakes, pasta, lasagna, french fries, pastries, cookies and dutch waffles.
This of course will be highly influential on my life and it will definitely be a big sacrifice, especially in social situations. It will make life more complex, difficult and annoying, as I will have to look for alternatives; I will always have to pick carefully in shops and restaurants and I will have to change many aspects of my routine.
Apparently more and more people have this allergy, changing the way society has to deal with food.
What if we would decide as a society to be allergic to plastic?
In a way we are. The planet isn’t able to ‘digest’ it, resulting in massive plastic islands in the ocean and polluting the food cycle of sea life. The source material is rapidly running out, forcing us to look for alternative.
What would objects look like if we were allergic to plastic and we would be forced to change the way we design and produce goods?
Exquisite Objects 
that’s a great thought experiment, and I agree, I think that we are allergic to plastic; certainly, the planet is. what are some of your ideas from that thought? we’d have to nix much of our “ready made” world, and slip out of our consumer programming… I’d have to stop typing on this keypad…
Many people are working on alternatives and there are many biological polymers that can replace plastics in many ways. I’m very interested in the use of natural vibers and natural resins to replace plastic in products. It’s not as easy as using plastic, but just as with changing your diet, with a little effort we can change our behaviour.