While it’s already possible to run a virtual reality (VR) cooking school in the metaverse, one that demonstrates a three-dimensional Julia Child approach to preparing food, there are several emerging technologies that will add entirely new sensory experiences. These cutting-edge advances will not only redefine our online experience but will also pave the way for everything from virtual wine tasting, to online Costco food samples, to virtual chili cookoffs.

People in the future metaverse will indeed be able to taste, smell, touch, chew, and experience food and beverages. And the best part will be zero calories from the virtual food.

But will our avatars be okay drinking alcohol or using cannabis without their desired side effects? Most probably won’t, as evidenced by the current market share for non-alcoholic beverages. However, we’ll likely develop VR technology that will simulate those sensations as well – like relaxation and reduced inhibitions to name just two.

After all, the purpose and value of the metaverse is to recreate and duplicate as many aspects of physical life as possible. To do that, we’ll need to be able to experience the metaverse with every one of our five primary senses in the same way we engage with everything we come across in the physical world.

In fact, the metaverse cooking school may be one of the more ambitious tests of this parallel world, given that fine cuisine relies on two of the most discerning and individualized senses: taste and smell. These two exceptionally sensitive senses often work together. While I’m told it’s a myth that you can’t taste food while you plug your nose, just consider the health condition called anosmia, the simultaneous loss of taste and smell that’s one of the better-known symptoms of COVID.

How Do We Experience the Metaverse?

As we plan for the cooking school, though, it’s important to understand both the difference and the linkage between VR and the metaverse. Both are progressing side by side and it’s no wonder we equate the experiences.

Does gaming on your VR Oculus headset place you in the metaverse? It’s a matter of semantics. Some would call this “a metaverse,” others call it a pretty neat alternate sensory experience. Both can be right.

In my studies and analyses, I tend to focus on “the Web 3 metaverse,” the single, under-development, unifying, parallel-life, alternate universe that extends beyond any single gaming environment to replicate and create new and better human institutions, businesses, and experiences. It’s substantially more than a game.

But whether you’re gaming, setting up a cooking school, or buying virtual real estate (and be sure to see my blog next week on the latter), for the time being, these will require specialized VR sensory equipment to engage in the experience.