Kokumi Redefining Cooking Through AI and Taste Intelligence

Kokumi Technologies is an Indian AI-driven culture-tech company revolutionizing food innovation through taste intelligence. It has developed TongueSign®, a predictive engine that quantifies and forecasts human taste preferences using proprietary models such as the Universal Flavour Equation. By transforming cravings into data-driven insights, Kokumi empowers brands and future robotic kitchens to make precise, informed decisions. Its platform preserves culinary heritage, personalizes nutrition, optimizes flavour launches, and reduces waste by anticipating what people will crave next. The company also strengthens community engagement through aaloo.ai, enriching its real-world taste dataset. Ultimately, Kokumi envisions a future where food is programmable, scalable, and responsive to cultural and contextual preferences.

In an exclusive discussion with The Interview World at the India AI Impact Expo 2026, Avinash Shandilya, Director of Kokumi Technologies and Founder of Aaloo, detailed how the company is transforming everyday cooking. He explained how intelligent personalization and robotic kitchen automation enhance reliability while balancing individual taste with standardized offerings. Shandilya highlighted the business viability of robotic cooking, demonstrated how this approach reshapes cloud kitchen operations compared to conventional models, and emphasized the accessibility of Kokumi’s services through its app. Here are the key takeaways from his insightful conversation.

Q: How is Kokumi Technologies transforming everyday cooking through intelligent personalization and robotic kitchen automation?

A: Kokumi Technologies aims to understand cooking at its most elemental level. This means decoding the chemistry of cooking, analysing the physiochemical processes that drive it, and exploring it through the lens of molecular gastronomy. At the same time, the company incorporates behavioural science, emotions, memories, and cultural sensitivities tied to food. Our goal is to build a foundational model that grasps cooking in its core detail and granularity. In the future, when robots and automated cloud kitchens prepare meals, this model will enable them to understand individual taste profiles and cook precisely to personal preferences. We are pursuing hyper-personalization at scale. This is the problem we are solving, making every meal tailored, consistent, and meaningful for each person.

Q: How reliable and consistent is a fully automated robotic cooking system that minimizes or eliminates human intervention?

A: Reliability and credibility are built into the system through continuous iterations and user interactions around cooking. Taste is deeply personal, what appeals to me may not appeal to you. Even when we eat the same cuisine, we perceive flavours differently. To ensure credibility, the system adapts to each individual’s taste profile by learning consumption patterns and understanding the context of every meal. It considers what you are eating, why you are eating it, where you are eating it, at home or outside, and even the source of the food, as provenance can significantly influence taste.

We approach food as a culinary science. India’s culinary landscape is incredibly diverse, yet over time, traditional foods have been overshadowed by commercialized Western cuisines. Our platform encourages people to share their food experiences passionately and confidently. It reconnects users with their roots, revives ancestral recipes, and celebrates handmade, heritage foods. Through these interactions, the AI learns, becoming smarter and more capable of reflecting authentic taste profiles.

Q: While your focus is on personalized cooking solutions, how do you address the demand for standardized, widely accepted flavours that have proven appeal?

A: To answer this, our core goal is to make the entire process computable and programmable. Currently, translating sensory science into data remains one of AI’s greatest challenges, because AI can only process what is quantifiable. Meanwhile, society often receives solutions designed for broad, mass consumption, which overlook individual needs. We are not creating a mass-market solution. Instead, we focus on personalization—delivering tailored experiences at scale. In essence, we are challenging the one-size-fits-all approach and bringing true personalization to the masses.

Q: Given that individual tastes vary, how can a personalized cloud kitchen model remain operationally and financially viable?

A: We are following a phased approach. Currently, our primary focus is on building a robust foundational model. Once complete, this model integrates seamlessly with the physical infrastructure of our cloud kitchens, which we will create and operate ourselves. Users engage with our platform, share their preferences, and the system learns their individual taste profiles. The associated cloud kitchen then prepares meals tailored precisely to those preferences and delivers them directly to the user. This approach allows us to control the entire food chain while simultaneously understanding consumption patterns both at home and outside. Through this end-to-end integration, we complete the high-fidelity cycle of personalized dining.

Q: How is this model reshaping the future of cloud kitchens compared to conventional operations?

A: Currently, the cloud kitchen landscape, including major food delivery platforms like Swiggy and Zomato, caters to standardized offerings designed for the masses. As you noted earlier, these platforms present what is popular or readily available, leaving little room for individual preference. Yet, every user naturally seeks a reflection of themselves in the food they choose. Our platform serves as the entry point to this transformation. It personalizes the entire experience, adapting similar interfaces to each user’s unique taste profile. By logging in through aaloo.ai or any connected food platform, users can interact with a system that learns and responds to their individual preferences. This is the revolution we are driving, bringing true personalization to an experience that has long been uniform and mass-focused.

Q: How will consumers access and use this service, and through which app or platform?

A: We have developed a community-facing application called aaloo.ai, available on both the Google Play and Apple App Store. Users can easily download the app and start engaging with it. The platform is designed to be intuitive, fostering vibrant foodie communities. People who love exploring cuisines, discussing flavours, and sharing their culinary experiences can connect, log meals, and participate actively. As users interact, the platform learns from their contributions and continuously evolves their personalized taste profiles. The more data users share, the smarter and more responsive the system becomes. This is when the full magic of personalization begins to unfold.