Hi everyone!
Hope I've posted this in the right place, otherwise, mods, feel free to move it.
My name is J Terry and I'm a university student currently in the fourth year of my Product Design and Technology course. One of the requirements for my final year is to come up with an innovative new design for a consumer product and develop it over the course of the academic year to a standard where the design is almost ready for mass manufacture.
As a frequent BBQer, I have noticed a lot of problems with the basic BBQs that most families buy at the start of each summer and chuck away around October time as they have fallen apart, rusted or gunked up with BBQ grease/fat etc. Obviously the members of this forum are likely to have more specialised kit than the average J Bloggs, but I am trying to gather as much information as possible that I can use in my work.
Over the next eight months I will be examining the BBQ experience as a whole and trying to improve it wherever possible. However, at this early stage I am trying to develop my understanding of the BBQ activity as a whole, rather than addressing specific problems. For example, I would like more opinions on questions such as:
Why do people BBQ?
What is the attraction?
What do you enjoy most about the BBQ? Is it the cooking? The preparation of the food? The organisation of the event? The social element and reunion of family and friends?
What other activities take place at your own BBQs that helps to make them such fun events?
If anyone could contribute useful feedback, I would really appreciate it as it will help me a lot and, hopefully, should result in my final proposal being a well-informed and considered design which real people would consider buying.
I will also be starting another forum thread to address what issues people most commonly find with their BBQs that put a damper on the event. In this thread, I would welcome contributions as to what most annoys you about your BBQ, or BBQing in general.
Any contributions will be completely anonymous and I will request permission from all submissions before including them in my portfolio of work.
Thank you for anyone who contributes!
JT
**EDIT: In fact, I will ask for people to post their problems with current BBQs in this thread too as there doesn't seem to be a different forum appropriate to that thread. If the mods would like this thread moved, please, of course, do so. **