As a connoisseur of fine food and apps, I’m going to start reviewing food-related apps that I’ve downloaded and tried. The first one I’ll be reviewing is an app called Foodspotting. Here is the description of the app from their website:
“A visual guide to good food and where to find it. Foodspotting is the easiest way to find and share the foods you love: Instead of reviewing restaurants, you can recommend your favorite dishes and see what others have recommended wherever you go.”
The Foodspotting app, shown here on an Android like mine, brings mouth-watering dishes to life
The idea is that even a bad restaurant may have one dish that is exceptionally good. Using the Foodspotting app (which, by the way, is available for all the major smartphones –a major plus) you can snap a picture and share that one delicious dish with everyone. The app uses geo-location to display pictures of food that have been taken nearby by other users and allows you to add comments and recommendations to the food photo. You can even flag a dish as “Want It” so that it will be saved for you to go and try at some point.
You also can search for specific foods or restaurants to see what is being served up. Foodspotting is also incorporating local food guides as well as known brands like Zagat and Food & Wine. Having validation from those guides is nice, however, as a foodie I would hate for Foodspotting to get too commercial and watered down. Another interesting thing about the app is that most of the pics are from local mom and pop restaurants. What’s great about this is that it promotes food diversity and drives business towards local restaurants. But more recently I’ve noticed pics from Taco Bell and other chain restaurants. Personally I don’t need a picture of a Chalupa to remind me how good/bad Taco Bell is.
Overall this app is a great idea. Sometimes I just don’t know what I’m in the mood to eat. Or I might be in an unfamiliar city and want some visual reference of the food to go by before choosing a place to dine. A nice photo of a mouth-watering dish makes the decision process that much easier. I just wish there was a “scratch-and-sniff” part of the app so that I can actually take a whiff of these dishes!
Mobile Gourmet gives Foodspotting: 5 out of 5 Stars
Tags: Apps, Jason Wong, Mobile Gourmet
