Betty Bastidas Artuc was born in Ecuador, for half of her life she has been living abroad – US, Turkey, Japan, and the UK. Since 2018, she has been permanently living in London.She holds a BA in Graphic Design, her undergrad project ‘Anybody Can Be a Refugee One Day’, an advertisement campaign to raise awareness on refugee issues, was selected to be part of an Art exhibition jointly organized with Bilkent University and the UN Refugee Agency in Turkey, this helped her to get her first job as in-house designer for about four years. She also has worked for the Embassy of Ecuador in Turkey-Commercial Section.After living for a few years in Tokyo, she moved to London and started working at the intersection of Design, Art and Food; three of her main interests. Her passion in these disciplines, skillset, mindset, and experience working in a multicultural environment have shaped her multi-disciplinary professional identity, a philosophy she shares with the course she attended.She has recently completed the Applied Imagination in the Creative Industries master’s program at Central St. Martins, UAL. Her research project is about an edible toy, as designing playful and innovative taste experiences at an early age can influence later food choices.Research shows that food preferences develop as early as in the womb, later on flavours pass through breast milk and for a period of time infants like what their mothers have eaten. So she has thought of creating an edible toy, inspired by her roots in the High Andean region in South America where the Incas once lived and a word in Quechua (their native language) for Mother Earth – Pachamama."Pacha Mammy — play with your food" aims to expose children to new flavours at an early age and reconnects them to their mother’s roots: indigenous ingredients their mothers and ancestors once ate. She has created a 3D food printed prototype using nutritious superfoods from Latin America. Also, through a QR code, children will be able to listen to a fascinating tale from each of their ethnic backgrounds and will start making sense of their cultural and gastronomic connection to their mothers/ancestors.By focusing on the innate bond between mothers and children, she is attempting to re-establish a connection to their food and cultural roots through a playful and innovative way to forge healthier, more curious, adventurous, and conscious eaters.