Design thinking for food: Remote association as a creative tool in the context of the ideation of new rice-based meals

Portugal is the greatest European rice consumer. Thus, incorporating whole rice and rice bran in innovative rice products is challenging. An experimental method based on the creativity association theory was applied. A group of nine students performed simple brainstorming to generate recipe ideas. Following the Design Thinking approach, a group of nine chefs received a stimulus to generate words related to rice recipes, working as a stimulus for a group of 14 students to generate recipe ideas. All ideas from both groups were evaluated by the chefs. The inclusion of stimuli led to more creative ideas from young aspiring chefs.