Can Blockchains be Eaten? | What is Blockchain? (Part 1)

A peek into the latest technology buzzword and what it offers to diners and restaurateurs in the F&B industry.

The answer to the question in this article’s title is NO. Blockchains can’t be eaten. It’s not even a physical “thing”.

But blockchain technology can tell us plenty about the food that’s served in front of us when we dine at a restaurant. In fact, it has the potential to tell us EVERYTHING we want to know about the dish!

Imagine you’ve brought your other half to a romantic dinner at a fancy restaurant, hoping to impress with some fine dining.

You can’t serve blockchains on a plate, but blockchain technology can help a restaurant serve its diners better.

Wouldn’t it be nice if that menu (on an iPad) that your date is browsing through can show all these information? Perhaps your date is a foodie who is not only particular about how the cuisine tastes and how each dish is presented, but also cares about how healthy and safe the ingredients are – that the fish is fresh, that the spinach has not been contaminated or tainted, that the fruits served have not been genetically modified, and that the coffee in the cup was harvested through sustainable agricultural methods.

For example, by clicking on that “how fresh is this” button in the tablet-based menu (from Orca perhaps?), an information box pops up to show when the barramundi was caught and whether it was shipped in conditions that preserved its freshness, such as temperature etc – for that particular fish that is being served!

Likewise, the menu can assure you and your date that the spinach in the salad was not from the contaminated source that’s causing an E. coli outbreak around the country, that the papaya in the dessert was non-GMO (non genetically modified), and that the coffee was organic and responsibly cultivated.

And you believe these claims not just because the restaurant said so, but because the information was provided through blockchain technology, which you know to be reliable and trustworthy. After all, it is the technology upon which cryptocurrencies are based, including Bitcoin.

You can be sure your date will be 100% impressed with your choice of dining venue, and revisit that restaurant in the future.

Thanks to blockchain technology, you end up with a happy suitor, an impressed date and a satisfied restaurateur!

This article is the first in a series that delves into blockchain technology and what it offers to the F&B industry.

The next article will explain what exactly is a blockchain.

The author is a technologist who runs a website at tech4tea.com.