Locavore Loves Foodista, No Longer Epicurious

It's tech day on The SunBreak, I guess. I've been wanting to write about Locavore, the Seattle-grown iPhone app, for some time, and their recent update announcement just gave me a reason to. (Full disclosure: I have been at parties at the same time as Buster Benson.)

Locavore responds to the notion that eating locally grown food is not just better for your green self-esteem, it's better for local farmers, the environment, and food quality. Plenty of people value locally grown food over an organically grown label, although you often aren't called upon to make that choice around Seattle. (Of course, there are trade-offs.)

The $2.99 app identifies your location in the U.S. and then tells you what's in season where you live. (It also tells you what's coming into season, and what's going out.) It also gives you a list of local farmer's markets and farms, with a description of what the market is like, and tells you how to get there. If you're into the whole social media thing, you can also announce your local eating on Facebook, and let friends know where you just got a great deal on arugula.

Integrated with all this is a recipes database, so you can make sure you have all the right ingredients as you shop. Previously, Locavore relied upon Epicurious, but there were difficulties. Happily, Seattle happens to be the home of Foodista, the "cooking encyclopedia everyone can edit." Foodista was delighted to partner with Locavore, and that's the big improvement to this update of the app.

Writes Locavore's Buster Benson on his blog, "Now, with Foodista’s help, you can get a custom list of recipes from all over the Internet, sorted by those that have the most in-season ingredients. That doesn’t exist anywhere right now. My guess is that in 5 years, it will be everywhere. And that’s a good thing."