Future dining experience journeys: Opportunities and uncertainties for NFTs and the metaverse

This narrative review explores how the NFTs and Metaverse can shape culinary experiences, moving beyond the hype to examine both opportunities and uncertainties in integrating these technologies into the dining journey. NFTs, as unique digital assets, offer digital ownership, personalised experiences and unique digital collectibles, potentially providing a means of enhancing engagement and customer loyalty. They can also be used to register and trace ingredient batch provenance, offering a digital record of authenticity claims. Meanwhile, the Metaverse introduces immersive dining experiences through augmented and virtual reality, blending physical and digital worlds. This integration redefines the "sense of place" in contexts like tourism and their experiential connection to destinations. By bridging recent academic work and early-stage industry practices, our review provides a timely synthesis of how these technologies are evolving within the context of culinary experiences. We also address the limitations and future potential of NFTs and the metaverse in dining experiences.