The Accidental Locavore was really busy earlier this month, not that this isn’t a busy month anyway, working through a dozen contenders in Toque Mag’s Food App of the Year. It was an interesting experience, part fun and part work. There are a lot of really good food apps out there and even more pretty lame ones. While my favorite of the apps I judged, Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything, won its category, Best Cookbook/Recipe App, it missed taking home the overall award. That went to an app the Locavore had reviewed earlier (but didn’t for this competition) 42 Restaurants.
The most fun was the chance to play with apps I might not normally gravitate to. There were a bunch of wine/liquor related ones, so I’ve now had the chance to update my (city) wine cellar, figure out how much Scotch is left in every bottle (well, as of two weeks ago) and can rest safe in the knowledge that I have everything on hand to make a “Buffalo Sweat” (bourbon and Tabasco). If that wasn’t enough, I can grill all kinds of food (when the weather gets warmer), bake unlimited loaves of bread and figure out the nutritional value of anything (almost) in the grocery store.
And in looking over the list of winners, there are definitely apps I didn’t get to review, like Great Maine Food, that the Locavore will add to her collection. Why don’t you check out the list of winners and comment on the ones you’d like to add?
Many thanks to Steve and Erika at Toque Mag for inviting me to judge!
