Vertical Extension of the Gastrological Approach

Vertical extension is a concept from urban development: a building retains its identity and foundations, while additional usable space is added above its existing structure. This metaphor fits surprisingly well with what is happening in food care today. Without abandoning its foundations, gastrology is moving upwards into secondary and tertiary food care, introducing new culi-clinical and culi-medical functionality at these levels. Together, these vertical extensions constitute the domain we call ONF: oro-nutri-physicosensory food, the integrated culinary, nutritional and physicosensory capacity for intervention within food care. This is vertical extension within food care: an upward expansion of culinary practice within an existing care architecture.

This development does not emerge in isolation. It arises within an increasingly pressing societal context: an ageing population, increasingly complex food-related challenges, and a need for practical, impactful interventions that are reproducible, scalable and person-centred. In this landscape, the vertical extension of the chef's role takes on clear relevance: it strengthens the care model without adding to its burden and draws on expertise that is already present but has, until now, remained horizontally confined.

With culi-clinical and culi-medical food, this vertical mobility becomes a reality. The chef remains fully a chef, and the culinary DNA remains intact, but beyond the primary level, the chef enters two existing layers of care. Not as a healthcare provider, but as a contributor of new intervention capabilities: oro-sensory precision, oro-physical safety and metabolic intervention capacity. The chef's role is not repurposed, but vertically extended. This integrated whole—the vertical functionality of culinary practice within care—is precisely what ONF defines and brings together.

Perhaps even more important than the societal benefit is the impact on the individual patient or client. Through hyperpersonalisation, food becomes enjoyable, safe and effective. The intervention is tailored to the individual's oro-sensory preferences, physical capabilities and metabolic needs. What was once generic becomes precise. What was once limited becomes accessible. What was once possible only at the primary level can now be applied across the full spectrum of care.

This is how vertical extension takes on its full meaning: an elegant upward expansion of culinary practice that both strengthens the care model and brings patients closer to a feasible, personalised way of eating. ONF—oro-nutri-physicosensory food—makes this development visible, recognisable and strategically actionable.

CRIGA—Center for Research and Implementation in Gastrology & Food Care—is the Transdisciplinary Foundry of ONF, a domain now being validated internationally by academic partners.