Food is a not only a great fun topic in my life, but also an important one. As you all know by now, I love eating clean, healthy food. I especially love vegan food. The other night we had friends over for dinner and I made three vegan desserts. Two bombed so unbelievably that even our dog Buzz wouldn’t go near them (and that’s saying something because I think that in a past life, he was a baker!). The one that worked? My trusted and true cobbler recipe. It’s an oldie, but goodie that never fails…even when I made it vegan!
On another note, can you believe that this summer the iPhone turns 5? Please work with me here…this is all going to connect… In some ways the iPhone feels ancient — as if there was no life before it. In other ways, I feel like I was just getting used to a remote control for televisions and lamenting the loss of rotary phones.
The iPhone apps are completely brilliant. I use them ALL of the time! Some of my favorite iPhone food apps (ahhhh, there we go!) combine my love of eating fresh, sustainable, and safe (can’t even believe that I have to say that!):
When you put in your zip code, this Eat Local app, designed by the nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) not only tells you what foods are in season in your area at the moment but also provides you with recipes and ideas for any seasonal foods you just don’t know what to do with (Silver Lining).
Harvest is a comprehensive app that offers instructions and techniques for picking out the best produce, from cucumbers to watermelon. The app also provides storage tips that incorporate the Environmental Working Group’s information about pesticide levels on produce.
Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch app helps you find more sustainable options based on GPS-location readings. For the top choices that protect the health of the oceans and your family, tap the “Super Green” list for sustainable seafood choices that are also low in common contaminants like mercury and PCBs but high in healthy omega-3 fatty acids.
The Pesticide Action Network app goes far beyond traditional dirty dozen lists and helps you compare pesticide levels on organic vs. conventional crops.
The Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen app helps you determine which foods you should always buy organic and which conventionally grown foods have the lowest pesticide residues.
One of the best things that we can do is buy foods certified as Non-GMO by the nonprofit Non-GMO Project. GMOs, or genetically modified organisms, have had their DNA altered to resist toxic pesticides, and those pesticides wind up in your food.
The True Food app not only points you toward GMO-free brands, but also educates you about issues facing our food system. Here’s a really cool component: it has the capability to let you send your congressmen letters telling them how unhappy you are with the way our government regulates GMOs (Silver Lining)
What iPhone apps do you like?
Hollye, thank you for all the great info and go-to apps!
Absolutely, Carolee! Thank you for reading the blog and for your great comments!