Today, Zagat announced a free website that is aimed at the food truck fan base around New York - FoodTrucks.Zagat.com. Functional on mobile browsers (but not available as a smartphone app), the site allows users to track their favorite food trucks throughout the city and presumably take a more strategic approach to tracking down their favorite waffles for lunch.
Per the press release the company issued, the site plots real-time locations of New York's food trucks on a map. Trucks will be able to update their locations using specialized Tweets. Still in beta, users can search for food trucks by location, cuisine by Zagat food rating. Once a user has chosen a food truck, the site will indicate its location, social media links, as well as its Zagat ratings and reviews.
With my iPhone addiction currently being managed, I might have to let this site slip through to my list of cool mobile sites to visit. That being said, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a mobile app and an optimized experience specifically for my phone.
New York City's Internet Week (fingers crossed for a new foursquare badge!) is just a week away, and thankfully for us food nerds, we have an event aimed at our demographic.
Here are the full details (straight from the TECHMunch Facebook page):
If you're a food blogger, this intensive one day event will bring you up-to-speed on all the latest tools and tactics for building buzz, improving SEO, growing your audience and making money from your hard work.
The workshop will be followed by a networking mixer with giveaway prizes including KitchenAid appliances, cookbooks and each attendee will receive a nifty gift bag.
Schedule:
Doors open at 9am
Panels begin at 9:35am
(light breakfast, lunch, snacks and appetizers/cocktails will be served)
Mixer begins at 3:45pm
(drinks, prizes and great company!)
Panel Topics:
How to Leverage Traditional Media
Building your Brand - From Blog to Cookbook and Beyond
Monetizing Your Blog, Insights in Online Advertising and Working with Brands
A Conversation on FTC Blogger Policy
Building and Implementing Your PR Plan
Gaining Mometum and Building Community
Food Trends
Selecting Good Content & Curating Flavors
Tips on Blogging More Effectively
The Main Ingredient: Recipe Writing 101
Practical SEO Tips to Build Your Blog Traffic
Bringing Your Passion Offline: Food Events
Storytelling: Connecting the Who with the What
On Monday I posted about this fantastic free food blogging seminar hosted by the New York Institute of Technology that is taking place this week (details below). Renowned food bloggers and industry folks Lisa Fain, (Blogger at Homesick Texan), Michael Laiskonis (Executive Pastry Chef at Le Bernardin & Food blogger), and Ed Levine (Founder of seriouseats.com and author of New York Eats) will be in attendance. This is a MUST for anyone (such as myself) who one day hopes to have a career in the food industry, in one form or another.
WHAT: Food Bytes: What’s Cooking Online?
WHEN: Apr 2, 2009, 6:30PM to 8:00PM
WHERE: New York Institute of Technology, 16 West 61st Street, 11th Floor (between Broadway and Columbus), New York, NY
COST: FREE!
DETAILS: Every day millions of avid food aficionados surf the Web in hopes of finding Food Nirvana. Learn from our panel of food bloggers how they are achieving cult status online, and find out why virtual cuisine is the big enchilada.
SPECIAL GUESTS: Lisa Fain, blogger (Homesick Texan), Michael Laiskonis (Executive Pastry Chef at Le Bernardin & Food blogger), and Ed Levine (Founder of seriouseats.com and author of New York Eats)
My pal Chris alerted me to this fantastic free food blogging seminar hosted by the New York Institute of Technology that is taking place this week (details below). Renowned food bloggers and industry folks Lisa Fain, (Blogger at Homesick Texan), Michael Laiskonis (Executive Pastry Chef at Le Bernardin & Food blogger), and Ed Levine (Founder of seriouseats.com and author of New York Eats) will be in attendance. This is a MUST for anyone (such as myself) who one day hopes to have a career in the food industry, in one form or another.
WHAT: Food Bytes: What’s Cooking Online?
WHEN: Apr 2, 2009, 6:30PM to 8:00PM
WHERE: New York Institute of Technology, 16 West 61st Street, 11th Floor (between Broadway and Columbus), New York, NY
COST: FREE!
DETAILS: Every day millions of avid food aficionados surf the Web in hopes of finding Food Nirvana. Learn from our panel of food bloggers how they are achieving cult status online, and find out why virtual cuisine is the big enchilada.
SPECIAL GUESTS: Lisa Fain, blogger (Homesick Texan), Michael Laiskonis (Executive Pastry Chef at Le Bernardin & Food blogger), and Ed Levine (Founder of seriouseats.com and author of New York Eats)
I've mentioned Twitter on this blog before (see the post here), so for those of you other Twitterers or foodies who have just joined Twitter, I wanted to share the names of some of the best foodie Twitterers out there. I love hearing about all their cooking tips and advice, funny quotes and just their general conversation. Some of these are baking/dessert focused, but some are just general food experts.
If you're on Twitter, you should definitely be following:
This is by no means a complete list - there are loads more I follow who are super smart in the food space. You can see all the people I follow by visiting my Twitter page.
For many of us, our first foray into baking involved two words: Betty Crocker. Invented in 1921, this imaginary persona has ruled many a kitchen since Marjorie Child Husted first introduced this icon to the American public. And now, Ms. Crocker has become even more modern - she's now available on the iPhone.
The Betty Crocker Mobile Cookbook iPhone app, currently ranked #13 as the most popular free iPhone app on iTunes, is essentially the digitized version of the 150-year old Betty Crocker Cookbook. A free download, the app gives users more than 4,000 recipes from the legendary cookbook.
Features include: ~ Recipe Search: Know what you want to make? See how Betty makes it. ~ Ingredient Search: Tell us what you have and what type of food you’re making, and we’ll deliver ideas to you. ~ "Surprise Me": Get a random recipe from the cookbook. ~ Recipe Detail with Photos: Step-by-step instructions and full nutritional information. ~ Recipe Email: Send the recipe to yourself or a friend. ~ Favorites: Quick access to your favorite recipes.
While going to buy raspberries for my recent raspberry custard pie recipe, I stopped myself while at the local grocer to ponder for a second: when are raspberries actually going to be in season? It's 30 degrees outside, so these are certainly not from around here..."
Ever find yourself at the grocery store wondering the same thing? Are you trying to be a champion of sustainable farming and helping the environment but aren't sure if that summer squash is actually growing outside at the moment?
To answer these types of questions, iPhone users can now download Locavore. This application collects data from multiple sources and presents the information on your phone.
Some of the features of Locavore include:
* Automatic detection of which state you're in (U.S. only for now)
* Alerts about what food is in season near you, as well as updates on what crops will be appearing in the produce section soon
* Locating farmers’ markets near you
* Browsing all 234 fruits and vegetables to see where they are currently growing
* Links to Wikipedia articles and Epicurious.com recipes from each food detail page
* Ability to browse all 50 states to see what’s in season in other parts of the US
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