USE OF AUGMENTED REALITY TO PRESERVE THE INDIGENOUS CULINARY HERITAGE OF KATHMANDU VALLEY

Over the past few decades, Nepal, and especially its capital, has experienced rapid social, economic, and political transformations, which have had a severe toll on the valley’s indigenous cultural heritage, resulting in its worsening state and loss of heritage values (Maharjan, 2012). The problem addressed in this study is the loss of indigenous culinary recipes and limited preservation and awareness of culinary heritage in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. Games today play an important role in disseminating cultures around the world, and they are considered to be one of the most effective tools for passing on intangible cultural heritage (Cui et al., 2021). The project hence aims to address the problem by measuring the effectiveness of gamified Augmented Reality applications in preserving and disseminating knowledge of the indigenous culinary heritage of Kathmandu Valley.

The research methodology consisted of two key phases: The initial phase of the study involved interviews with experts actively involved in preserving the cultural and culinary heritage of the Kathmandu Valley. The valuable insights and recommendations provided by these experts served as the basis for building an AR game that effectively highlights the dishes and culinary traditions of the Newa civilization. The second phase involved a sample size of around 30 participants consisting of students from Purdue University. The prototype of the AR game was given to participants for testing, after which they were invited to complete a user evaluation questionnaire. The results of the post-test questionnaire showed that the AR application was an effective means of interacting with Newa culinary traditions, and had good potential to contribute to the cultural preservation and dissemination of the culinary heritage of Kathmandu Valley.