As a child of the technological generation, I am always impressed by my smartphone’s ability to not explode due to the amount of apps I constantly download, use, ignore and eventually delete. Thousands of food and drink apps beg for users’ attention, claiming to make restaurant choices easier, make preparing meals effortless or even to help inform the “organically challenged.” While staple apps like Urbanspoon, OpenTable and FoodGawker have already reached foodie-app fame, here are a few up-and-coming apps for food lovers that are creating serious cyber buzz.
Foodspotting: Visual and engaging, Foodspotting guides users to good food through specific dishes and images. Instead of focusing on restaurants, the app focuses on specific dishes from specific places, using user uploaded pics. You can search for dishes based on the restaurant, or simply by what you’re craving to find what’s nearby.
Photo courtesy of Foodspotting
Seafood Watch: This app for seafood lovers gives up-to-date recommendations for ocean-friendly seafood and sushi. The app provides a regional guide based on location and allows users to contribute restaurants and markets with sustainable seafood onto the FishMap. There is also a sushi guide, which lists fish by both Japanese names and common market names.
Locavore: The goal of Locavore is to help users eat sustainably through local eating. Using your location, the app finds what produce is in season and the best local farmer’s markets. A countdown is also included for how much longer certain foods will be in season. The app provides recipes based on the local and seasonal produce that you purchase.
Chef’s Feed: This “punny” app gives users a feed of famous chefs and their favorite restaurants in cities across the U.S. The restaurants span from top-rated steakhouses to hole-in-the-wall taco joints, all chef-endorsed. The app not only tells you where the chefs eat, but also what they order. Some participating chefs include legends Mario Batali, Thomas Keller and Wolfgang Puck.
Harvest: Harvest has everything you need to know about buying fruits and vegetables. The app tells if the produce is ripe or of good quality, and also lets you know the best way to store food and for how long. Harvest also includes information on pesticide levels, helping users determine if they want to buy organic.