First Multimodal Banquet: Exploring Innovative Technology for Commensality and Human-Food Interaction (CoFI2024)

Commensality, the act of eating together, offers a rich multisensory and social experience that technology can enhance. Dining involves interactions with food, where smells, colors, sounds, and textures contribute to a multisensory experience. The table becomes a focal point for social interaction, with nonverbal cues and conversations being the indispensable ingredients of the commensal experience. The CoFI2024 workshop aims to stimulate discussion about how interactive technology can enrich dining experiences. The other aim is to build an interdisciplinary community related to commensality and human-food interaction, focusing on the role of multimodal interaction among commensal partners sharing food, being humans or artificial dining companions.