It used to be a lot easier to eat in RVA. You saw food you liked, and simply dug in. Today we fiddle with our phones to “check-in” using location-based apps, tweet about the wait staff, and search for menu recommendations by friends. Now, thanks to Foodspotting, there’s yet another way to play with our food.
A handy mobile app and website for sharing photos of tasty eats, Foodspotting (www.foodspotting.com) was launched in 2010 to give tech savvy foodies a new way to interact with their favorite plates. With mobile device in hand, food fans snap pictures of culinary creations, leave descriptions, pin their fancy food photography to restaurants on a map, and earn rewards.
As a result of the growing number of Foodspotters here in Richmond and around the globe, we can turn to our phones to jump right to photos of nearby foods to make the restaurant decision-making process a snap. “The app is a great venue to keep a personal food journal, but also share delicious food finds-like Mama Zu’s squid and beans or Magpie’s Corn Dog Lobster Tail -with others in RVA and people all over the world,” says Elizabeth Stoddert, a medical ethicist and researcher. “In turn, I get to drool over food carts in Thailand as well as Danish home cooking.”
Stoddert, who boasts over 150-plus sightings on the platform, has been using the app for little over six months and has quickly become one of the most active users in the area. “Now my poor dining companions have to wait until I take pictures to eat anywhere. I’m learning to snap food shots in a flash…nobody likes a cold soup.”
Pegged the “Top Travel App” by Travel + Leisure magazine, Foodspotting, which was angel-funded, is home to over 1,105,800 food sightings. Stoddert explains that she enjoys the fact that most Foodspotters are not only documenting dishes from five-star restaurants, but also greasy spoons, mom and pop shops, and personal kitchens. “It’s a modern-age, food anthropology journey. It’s fascinating to see what people are eating and drinking on the other side of the world when you are munching on a burger and fries.”
Serving as a visual guide to good food, Foodspotting has also become the easiest way for many Richmonders to research a local restaurant to see what’s tasty prior to arriving or to seek out a particular dish to fulfill a specific craving. To help the foodie community grow, users are encouraged to bookmark foods by clicking “Want it,” or voting up favorites by selecting “Nom it.” The Travel Channel has jumped into the fun by adding local guides from experts.
To take the perfect food shot, Stoddert uses an iPhone and then uploads and edits her images with the Camera+ app. She says, however, that the real secret of an interesting food shot is all about the lighting. “For great Foodspotting photos, ask for the table by the window.”
Like Stoddert, the anonymous Richmond food and wine blogger, PJ Pink, says that Foodspotting is not just about uploading your own snazzy photos. “I like seeing where other folks eat in the Richmond area,” says PJ Pink, who has over 180 mouthwatering Foodspotting photos to her name. PJ Pink, a banking industry professional by day, suggests trying different ISO settings to produce just the right image of your food. “If it makes someone want to eat the dish, I have succeeded,” she concludes.