Taste DNA
Taste DNA is GastroMatch’s portable taste model: a structured representation of what the user tends to like and avoid, built from real dishes, ratings, and places.
Definition
Taste DNA is a user-specific model of taste preferences that can travel with the person across countries, cuisines, and restaurants. It is built from concrete dishes the user has tried, rated, and saved, not from abstract demographic or generic popularity data.
Over time, Taste DNA encodes stable patterns: which flavor profiles, textures, ingredients, and preparation styles tend to work well for this person, and which ones are consistently a poor fit.
Why it matters
- Reduces uncertainty in new contexts. When the user sits in front of an unfamiliar menu, Taste DNA provides a starting point that is grounded in their own history.
- Makes recommendations explainable. GastroMatch can explain why a dish fits the user by connecting it to previously successful choices, not just to a generic “people like you”.
- Survives geography and time. Because Taste DNA is tied to dishes and patterns, it does not reset when the user changes city, country, or restaurant type.
How GastroMatch uses it
- As one of the two confidence sources in recommendations, alongside local dish signal from similar taste nearby.
- To interpret new dishes and menus: the system can highlight which aspects of a dish align or conflict with the user’s known patterns.
- To strengthen future guidance every time the user saves, rates, or confirms that a dish was a good or bad match.
What it is not
- Not a demographic profile or a guess based on age, location, or income.
- Not a static “taste label” that locks the user into one cuisine or style.
- Not a popularity score or generic “people like you also liked this”. Taste DNA is grounded in the user’s own choices.
Internal links
If you want to see how Taste DNA appears in the broader product: