You know that frustration when you’re trying to recommend the life-changing hole-in-the-wall dumpling shop you stumbled upon in Tokyo four years ago, but can’t remember its name or location? That shared culinary traveler’s lament might soon be addressed by new technology.
The Digital Pantry That Never Empties
At Osaka’s Expo 2025, amid the architectural spectacles and technological showcases, 1World Online has unveiled TravelVerse—a platform that turns fleeting food discoveries into permanent digital records. The system uses blockchain technology (think of it as a cooking ledger that can’t be altered once the recipe is written) to create verifiable proof that you’ve visited specific restaurants, street vendors, and markets.
The concept works similarly to how wine collectors authenticate rare bottles, except here, the digital certificate documents the experience rather than the object. These digital tokens function as tamper-proof evidence of culinary pilgrimages—the digital equivalent of keeping a restaurant matchbook, only without the fire hazard in your junk drawer.
From Memory to Menu
What makes TravelVerse particularly relevant for food explorers is its community contribution model. According to 1World Online’s official release, travelers worldwide can submit their discoveries through the platform’s Contribution Panel, creating a global repository of food experiences that might include everything from famous restaurants to hidden local gems.
“Our partnership with UP Capital Management is a major step forward for TravelVerse,” said Alex Fedosseev, Founder and CEO of 1World Online in an April 11 press release. “This collaboration will help us expand our vision of creating a new digital layer for tourism experiences.”
This approach creates something akin to a collaborative, never-ending food guide written by actual travelers rather than professional critics—democracy in dining at its most literal. Each submission becomes part of a permanent digital archive, ensuring that food destinations get documented alongside other cultural experiences.
Tasting It In Action
The platform is currently being implemented across European and Middle Eastern pavilions at Expo 2025, where food has always been the universal language. Based on the platform’s described functionality, visitors can potentially document and share culinary experiences they encounter throughout the exhibition.
While specific pavilion implementations aren’t detailed in official releases, the technology appears designed to allow visitors to save experiences—complete with location data and contextual information—to their personal TravelVerse collection. It’s essentially a digital food diary that never gets coffee spilled on it or lost during your flight home.
Not All Diners Order The Same Meal
Some technology and travel experts caution that platforms like TravelVerse raise questions about the commercialization of culinary traditions. From a cultural preservation perspective, there are legitimate discussions around whether digital documentation changes authentic food experiences and who benefits from this technology.
Others in the tourism industry have noted that the authenticity of crowd-sourced food information presents challenges. Without editorial oversight, the subjective nature of food preferences could lead to inconsistent recommendations.
Beyond The Digital Doggy Bag
1World Online has partnered with UP Capital Management to expand the platform’s reach beyond Expo 2025, aiming to connect with cultural sites and attractions worldwide. “We are very excited to work with 1World Online on their product TravelVerse,” says James Pope, COO of UP Capital Management in the same April press release.
For food businesses off the beaten path, the technology potentially offers a new kind of word-of-mouth advertising that persists over time, similar to how small-town barbecue joints maintain their reputation through generations of devoted customers. A hidden gem could remain hidden from mass tourism while becoming discoverable to serious food travelers.
The Proof Is In The Digital Pudding
As with any new technology, the real test for TravelVerse will be whether it enhances or distracts from the fundamental pleasure of food discovery. Technology that pulls diners away from the sensory experience of a meal—those people more focused on photographing their food than tasting it—has already changed dining culture, sometimes not for the better.
But there’s something undeniably compelling about the possibility of preserving ephemeral food moments beyond memory and social media’s fleeting attention span. Perhaps in the coming years, when you tell someone about that transcendent bowl of noodles you discovered in a distant alleyway, you’ll have more than just your insistence that “you have to try it”—you’ll have a digital breadcrumb trail leading directly to the same doorway where your food revelation began.
