App Review: Foodspotting

This is part of a series of reviews of apps for iPhones that are veg friendly.

Title: FoodSpotting
Platform: iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows phone, & Google Play
Cost: free
Key features: find and rate dishes from restaurants through images

This is one of my favorite apps, and I especially love that you can visit their website on a computer without having to download the app. Foodspotting is a visual app/site that helps you find the best dishes in almost any city that you’re in. There’s no need to read through lengthy written reviews or even sift through bad reviews. The photo reviews are all meant to be positive in order to highlight a good dish(es) that a restaurant serves.

Pros:

• Share the dishes you love by uploading photos, aka “spot it”
• Ability to search by restaurant, food, tags, and guides.
• Bookmark foods/dishes you want to try by clicking “want it!”
• Vote up foods you’ve tried and loved by clicking “nom it!”
• Earn points and badges (although their badges aren’t as fun as foursquare).
• You can also follow people, foods, restaurants, and guides.
• Share the dishes you spot on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, & Flickr.
• Create guides. The possibilities are endless. I created a Veg El Paso guide that highlights local vegetarian dishes. Check it out here. The CVB (convention & visitors bureau) should utilize this feature!

Cons: El Paso needs more Foodspotters!

For more info on the app, visit this page. An Average Joe in San Antonio has a great Foodspotting 101 post. Check it out here.

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App Review: Gardein Recipes

This is part of a series of reviews of apps for iPhones that are veg friendly.

Title: Gardein Recipes
Platform: iPhone, iPod touch, & iPad
Cost: free
Key features: all recipes are vegan, recipe search by product, vibrant colors & pictures, clean & sleek layout

Gardein is a fairly new line of meat substitute products that has quickly become a favorite of many veggies, including myself. All of their products contain recipes and meal ideas on the back of the package, and their site has a searchable recipe page. With a content rich website and an active presence on Facebook and Twitter, it makes sense that they would release a recipe app for their products. There are a few cons, but for a free app, it’s a great deal and one that will inspire many menu ideas. Those that don’t have an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad can view all of the recipes on the Gardein site.

• Contains over 50 recipes
• Search recipes by course, keyword, or product
• Each recipe provides a partial shopping list with the ability to edit, add, & email items
• Share recipes via email, Facebook, & Twitter
• Cons: Keyword search doesn’t function very well, store locator doesn’t work, shopping lists aren’t complete

For more info on the app, visit this page.

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App Review: Epicurious

This is part of a new series of reviews of apps for iPhones that are veg friendly. 

Title: Epicurious Recipes & Shopping List
Platform: iPhone, iPad, Android, Nook (Color), & Windows phone
Cost: free
Key features: Filters vegan & vegetarian recipes, shopping list, save & share recipes, cooking-friendly views, photos, user reviews

The Epicurious website is my favorite website for finding recipes, so I eagerly downloaded the Epi app when I first got an iPhone. This is by far my favorite and most used recipe app on my phone. Over 30,000 recipes are featured in the app from Bon Appetit, Gourmet, Self, chefs, and cookbooks. The design is sleek, the colors vibrant, and it has a user friendly interface.

• The Home page features preset category groupings such as Weeknight Dinners, Simple Pastas, Decadent Desserts, and Vegetarian Mains (!).
• The search page allows you to filter recipe results by vegetarian and vegan, among other dietary considerations (raw & gluten free are also included!). Supposedly there are 4,983 recipe results for vegetarian and 1,419 results for vegan.
• Tapping on the plus sign in the upper left corner of a recipe allows you to add the recipe to favorites, shopping list, or email. It also allows you to share the recipe on the following services: Twitter, Facebook, Google Reader, Instapaper, Pinboard, Read It Later, and Tumblr.
• There’s also a drink search that includes various categories, such as cocktails, non-alcoholic, smoothies, teas, coffees, etc.
• Cons: Not all recipes contain pictures, you can’t add your own reviews

For more info on the app, visit this page.

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Teaser: You know I’m gonna try out that “goat cheese” recipe, and possibly post one or more recipes for Vegan MoFo!