Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing gastronomy

Artificial intelligence has become part of everyday life in many businesses – but by 2026, it will become a structural imperative. The focus is no longer on testing individual tools, but on the question of how AI can be deployed reliably, effectively, and across the entire organization. Examples from tourism, events, and organizations already demonstrate today how scaling works in practice – and where AI specifically reduces the workload.

A clear turning point is emerging for the year 2026. The company-wide deployment of AI is taking center stage. This is the conclusion reached by Hamburg-based AI expert and interim manager Eckhart Hilgenstock, who has analyzed numerous national and international studies on the development of artificial intelligence. His conclusion is clear: “Following the pilot project phase in 2024/25, many companies are aiming to scale AI within their organizations by 2026.”

In 2025, Italy was officially designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site – for its cuisine. Not a single dish. Not a single product. An entire cuisine. As a “system of social practices, regional traditions, and collective rituals”. The initiative for this historic recognition was largely spearheaded by the long-established culinary magazine La Cucina Italiana, whose editor-in-chief, Maddalena Fossati Dondero, has been actively driving the international push for the UNESCO listing of Italian culinary culture since 2020.

And now, of all times, pasta is being reinvented. What sounds like a contradiction is, in truth, a logical consequence: if a cuisine is cultural heritage, it must not become stagnant. It must continue to evolve. Pasta is not merely a side dish in this context. It is the stage.

Dry January is no longer just a month of abstinence. It’s a barometer. For changing guest preferences. For more conscious consumption patterns. For a new aesthetic of enjoyment. Anyone who still believes in 2026 that non-alcoholic drinks are merely lemonade in a crystal glass has failed to grasp the trend. At Bar Montez in the Rosewood Munich, Bar Manager Mario Sel demonstrates just how sophisticated, structured, and gastronomically relevant non-alcoholic creations can be today – and why they have long been a strategic component of contemporary bar culture.