This chapter offers a critical introduction to digital gastronomy, charting the evolution of tool use in food practices from primitive implements to sophisticated digital technologies that now mediate how we produce, prepare, experience, and conceptualise food. It positions digital gastronomy at the intersection of gastrophysics, multisensory experience design, and technological innovation, examining how devices such as smartphones, AI systems, robots, and immersive platforms extend and transform our engagement with food. Beyond facilitating preparation and consumption, these technologies reconfigure the cultural, emotional, and ethical dimensions of eating, blurring boundaries between tradition and novelty, craftsmanship and automation. The chapter interrogates the promises of personalisation, sustainability, and enhanced sensory engagement alongside pressing concerns, including the risk of cultural homogenization, bias embedded in digital systems, and the erosion of conviviality in dining practices. By tracing the historical, cultural, and psychological roots of tool use in gastronomy, it invites reflection on the future of food in an age where algorithms, robotics, and virtual experiences increasingly shape what and how we eat. This introduction provides a foundation for critically examining digital gastronomy’s capacity to reconcile technological progress with enduring human values, offering both a framework for analysis and a provocation for further inquiry.