Gastronauts
Leveraging the super-powers of home cooks to introduce people to global cuisine
Processes: Ethnographic research, rapid product prototyping, qualitative experiment design, need identification
Capstone project, Stanford Design Impact, 2020
Gastronaut is a platform for connecting experienced home chefs with inquisitive learners through 1:1 virtual video cooking lessons; developed over ~6 months of human-centered research into the needs of family-owned, international grocery stores.
Where it started...
How might we support family-owned, international grocery stores?
Interviews and analysis
We interviewed staff at several family-owned international grocery stores, to understand the challenges they faced, as well as the broader context of how the store fit into their lives, what they most valued, and what they hoped for in the future.
At the same time, we also conducted interviews with customers and potential customers, focusing on how they made purchasing decisions, their overall food shopping experience, and interest and experience in learning new skills.
Testing different frameworks for organizing initial interviews with owners of independent international grocery stores
Experiential Prototypes
Low-resolution prototypes let us put concepts in front of users rapidly & test people's reactions. The Weekend in Istanbul prototype (left) was a subscription-style box introducing people to a new place with a local meal, movie (with snacks, of course!), scented candle, info cards, and breakfast.
We also brought people to the "test kitchen" (read: our kitchen) and asked to them to cook with unfamiliar ingredients in a variety of different settings : paired with a stranger, with live coaching from an in-person instructor, with only written instructions. In these early experiences, we saw how much cooking in an unfamiliar kitchen added an unnecessary level of stress ("Where are the measuring cups again? Have you seen any mixing bowls in here??") to using new ingredients. And even when participants enjoyed the experience, they often mentioned in debrief interviews that they would be unlikely to ever recreate the recipe at home, as they were missing some specialist equipment or materials ("Was it important that mixing spoon is wooden? All of my rubber". "I don't have a rice cooker so... no").
Running these initial experiments made it clear to us that for people to become new long-term customers of international grocery stores, cooking new recipes using their ingredients had to feel less like "going to a class" (something you do once) and more like "texting grandma" - learning a recipe that will become part of your regular rotation. That meant letting learners cook in their own kitchens, even if they didn't have the exact right equipment, with a trusted guide available to lead them through the tricky bits, suggest substitutions (yep, your silicon stirring spoon is just fine), and explain the judgment calls that recipes gloss over (what does "season to taste" actually mean?).
How do you introduce new customers to international grocery stores? Start with a lot of ideas!
Introducing Gastronauts
In May 2020, we launched Gastronauts based on these insights - a 1:1 video coaching platforms connecting home cooks. Over ~2 weeks of active operation, we recruited 8 home cooks ready to give lessons - and a handful of paying customers.
Note: Gastronauts was a great experience and demonstration project of the full human-centered design process! However, it was not intended to be a startup, and we closed it down at the end of the year. Our website gogastronaut.com, is no longer active.