The Taste of Identity
The Fusion of Identity, Experience, and Digital Culture
Artemis student Sanne Hulsbosch's Trend Forecast featured in Creative Agency Dentsu's Trend Report
Cleopatra once dissolved a pearl in vinegar and drank it, just to prove she could consume a fortune and that wealth meant nothing to her (Pliny the Elder, ca. 77 AD). Throughout history, food has been used as a powerful symbol of status. In ancient Rome and Egypt, the elite showcased their power through culinary extravagance. In seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe, exotic ingredients, spices and elaborate sugar work became tools for the wealthy to demonstrate class and refinement (Albala, 2003).
One iconic cultural example is the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961). In the opening scene, Holly Golightly eats a croissant in front of the glittering windows of Tiffany & Co: a visual symbol of class, longing and identity. Tiffany’s represents class, luxury and the dream of belonging. As Holly puts it, it’s the kind of place “where nothing bad could ever happen to you.”
Today, status is no longer something brands simply hand down to consumers. Consumers themselves shape and spread brand narratives. A brand like Tony’s Chocolonely links its chocolate to values like sustainability and ethics, and consumers take on those stories as part of who they are. Food no longer just reflects what we eat. It reflects who we are, and what we believe in.
Read more below.
The Bridge Between the Tangible and the Digital
We live in a digital world. Everything happens through screens, from work to play, from connection to entertainment. And yet, our desire for real, sensory experiences is only growing. That’s where food comes in. It’s physical, fleeting, and engages every sense.
At the same time, food has become a powerful way to express ourselves in a world where identity is constantly being shaped and reshaped. What we eat reflects our values, our lifestyle, our choices. In a society where traditional structures are fading, food becomes a language, one we use to say who we are and where we stand.
These days, we often take a picture before the first bite. Digital culture doesn’t diminish our craving for the real, it intensifies it. What we experience offline only seems to matter once it’s shared online. By showing what we eat, we extend the moment and give it social weight. Food becomes both personal and public, a way of expressing not just taste but identity. The physical and digital are merging, and food stands right at that intersection.
Experience Is the New Luxury
Luxury used to be about ownership. Now, it’s about experience. Value has shifted to the temporary, the aesthetic, the unrepeatable, things that feel rare simply because they can’t last. Within that logic, food has taken on a new role.
Think of exclusive dinners, intimate chef’s tables, or pop-up restaurants designed in collaboration with fashion houses. Dior has opened cafés around the world where pastry and couture meet (LVMH, 2025). Prada launched stylish cafés in places like Harrods,complete with custom tableware, a branded menu, and a perfectly aligned aesthetic. Gucci opened Gucci Osteria, a restaurant where fine dining meets the brand’s visual world and core values (Bottura, 2023; Gucci Osteria, 2023). The dishes aren’t just beautiful, they reflect the luxury identity Gucci wants to express.
In doing so, brands are no longer just offering products. They’re curating taste. Together with consumers, they design meaningful, multi-sensory experiences, ones that speak to both the senses and the self.
What you eat becomes what you share, and eventually who you are. These meals aren’t just meals. They’re statements. Taking part in one of these moments signals a worldview. Posting a meal from a fashion house or visiting a brand pop-up café shows that you understand aesthetics, value exclusivity and carry cultural capital.
The temporary nature of these experiences, a dish that’s gone tomorrow, a pop-up that disappears next week, only makes them more urgent, more socially meaningful. And by documenting and sharing these moments, people turn them into something lasting. They become part of their identity.
The Future of Personalised Identity: Flavoured DNA
Food is evolving into something hyper-personalised. In the near future, brands will tailor flavours and dining experiences to fit each person’s individual preferences. With data, AI and even biometric or genetic information, it will be possible to design meals that not only taste good but emotionally resonate with who you are and how you see the world. Taste will no longer be something universal. It will be something personal, a flavour DNA that expresses identity.
We’re already seeing early versions of this. Companies like Nutrigenomix use genetic material to create personalised nutrition advice (Nutrigenomix, n.d.). But that’s just the beginning. Imagine taste profiles based on your DNA, like sensitivity to bitterness or a love of sweetness or umami, used to craft dishes that feel made for you, and only you.
This opens up a new kind of luxury, a meal that no one else experiences in the same way, because it’s tailored to your biology, your senses, your story. At the same time, the boundary between digital and physical continues to blur. Personalised meals link to your digital profile. Sharing what you taste becomes a new kind of self-expression. Your flavour becomes a signal, of your aesthetic sense, your cultural background, your community.In this world, food becomes the ultimate luxury product. Not because of what it costs, but because of how rare and personal the experience is. A flavour that only you can taste. A dish that only exists today. Brands that embrace this level of personalisation will form deeper, more lasting bonds with consumers. In the future, taste won’t just be about preference. It will be a personal statement.
So the question becomes: how far can taste go as an extension of identity? And how far are we willing to let it?
Download Sanne's Forecast in Dutch and English icl. sources here.
