Dubai: Now special NFT can give you dinner for 2 at the Michelin restaurant – News

Just when you think these artistic cryptographic tokens can’t be used in the real world of food and drink, here’s an expert explaining the benefits of creating them for the industry

Visitors to Gulfood can have an exclusive opportunity to get hold of an NFT linked to a Michelin-starred restaurant.

“For the first time ever, visitors to the Foodverse area of ​​Gulfood can get a NFT which gives them dinner for two at a Michelin-starred restaurant – they can access the restaurant without a reservation. They will recognize that you are actually the owner of the NFT,” said Adib Samara of Deca4 Advisory, a company that helps entities explore the potential of Web 3.

According to Adib, the concept behind using NFTs in the food and beverage industry is to create personalized, customized experiences for those who own them. “It’s about the creativity and the benefits you can bring to the NFT owners,” he said.

The UAE is one of the leading countries and early movers in adopting NFTs, according to Adib.

“I think the beauty of the UAE is that we are ready in that direction. You have regulators that are paving the way for global assets globally. There are also funds that are interested in investing in the space, like Hub71+ Digital Assets which recently announced a $2 billion fund to support startups within the ecosystem pushing Web 3 technologies,” he said.

An NFT, within the areas of the food and beverage industry, can include memberships, exclusive experiences, community building and loyalty programs. “You can create an NFT that gives you a digital membership that then gives you access to a member’s lounge or an exclusive restaurant, or it can be a ticket,” he said.

Isn’t it the same as an e-voucher? No, said Adib. An NFT prevents fraud. “Once you mint it from your wallet, it belongs to you and there is no other way to remove that ownership from you unless someone buys that NFT from you. That NFT becomes linked to you and to your wallet,” he explained.

Adib added that the UAE is one of the first globally to experience new technology. And whether the technologies stay or not, the UAE can be part of the conversation.

“The idea behind Foodverse here at Gulfood is to establish an ecosystem that uses new technology to support education around food and the culinary experience,” he said, adding that it was the brainchild of the founder of the International Center for Culinary Arts, who sought to expanding the physical cooking school to train and educate chefs globally through a new platform and through food.

“You can start cooking demonstrations, engage in virtual reality through a chef, and you can learn how to cook and flip burgers without food waste and without the existing platform for education that doesn’t adapt, customize and engage the end user,” he said. Affordability, he explained, is a plus for using foodverse.

“You can now work with different technology providers to create the new food ecosystem. It is a democratized platform where different technologies can come in to help build the education platform of the future,” explained Adib.

At Foodverse, visitors can also create their own avatars, a photorealistic copy of themselves, which they can use as an identity in the digital world.

“The Metaverse ecosystem is connected to two main things, your wallet and your avatar – your identity in the digital world. You can use your avatar in an online game, or at some point it can be connected to your wallet, and when you enter the metaverse, your identification when you start socializing with other people online and engaging with their avatars, you can use this digital version of yourself online,” Adib said.