Integrating health leadership and management perspectives: the MESH framework for culturally informed food design thinking and well-being promotion.

Purpose: This study examines the social and cultural life of food innovations to inform food design thinking. The authors explore this through wellness regulating functional foods, foods scientifically modified for health benefits based on medical and nutritional claims, as a materialisation of food innovation in the marketplace.

Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on affordance theory, where affordance relations enable potential for consumer food well-being regulation, the authors gathered in-depth interview data from diverse consumer groups across three illustrative exemplar functional foods.