Life

If You’re A Foodie, You Should Download These Apps Immediately

by Maddy Foley
Gustavo Caballero/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images

If you're what can be classically referred to as a "foodie," you don't just like food — you love it. You live for it. You want to marry it, if it were legal. You love food! So, why shouldn't you boost your foodie lifestyle into the 21st century? Answer: You should. There are tons of apps in the app store that are literally dedicated to food of all sorts, and the people who love it — you'd be silly not to take advantage of that considering you have a smartphone! So, here are the best apps for "foodies" everywhere that any self-respecting food-lover needs to download immediately.

Now, the word "foodie" itself is, uh, a bit fraught. Say it enough times and it begins to sound all kinds of creepy. Aziz Ansari agrees with me! In an interview with Vogue on the subject, the comedian and creator of Netflix's Master of None shared his intense distaste for the word: "People that like food shouldn’t get this weird fetish-y sounding thing," said Ansari. "Call the people that don’t care what they eat 'food bozos.'"

Regardless of what you call it, the food-loving lifestyle is one to be celebrated. And aided, with the help of these handy apps.

Yelp

Yelp/iTunes

Free on iOS and Android

A classic, ever-helpful app. Get user-generated reviews on essentially every restaurant, coffee shop, bakery, fruit stand and smoothie place ever.

Chef's Feed

Chef's Feed/iTunes

Free on iOS and Android

ChefsFeed is a chef-powered app, with localized food recs from your favorite kitchen bosses. Ever wondered where the cool, underground spots are? This is your app.

Tasteful

Tasteful/iTunes

Free on iOS and Android

Listen, even foodies have dietary restrictions. Tasteful helps you narrow down restaurants in your area with good ratings and compliant menus. Never again will you be met with a blank stare from the wait staff when asking whether your veggies can be cooked in "EVOO."

Happy Cow

Happy Cow/iTunes

$3.99 for iOS and Android

For the vegetarian and vegan food lovers, finding a restaurant that not only has something you can eat, but has some good things you can eat, can be tough.

OpenTable

OpenTable/iTunes

Free on iOS and Android

Making reservations can be stressful. With OpenTable, you can search which restaurants in your area still have open tables and snag a last-minute ressie. On your phone. For free.

Foodgawker

Foodgawker/iTunes

Free on iOS

For true food obsessives, food porn is A+ content. Foodgawker compiles posts from food bloggers from around the world.

Big Oven

BigOven/iTunes

Free on iOS and Android

Find recipes, follow your favorite food bloggers, write up a weekly meal plan and create an itemized grocery list, all in one app.

Yummly

Yummly/iTunes

Free on iOS and Android

Personalized recipe discovery — now that's what's up. Refine your search based on dietary restrictions, allergies, diets and just straight up preferences.

Tastemade

Free on iOS and Android

If you're a Food Network fanatic, then Tastemade, which combines recipes and cooking shows, is the app for you.

How To Cook Everything

How to Cook Everything/iTunes

$9.99 for iOS

This is the only one of two apps on this list that aren't free, and yes, the cost is a doozy. But if you've seen the print version of Mark Bittman's classic How to Cook Everything, which clocks in at 1,056 pages, then you know that it's the ultimate resource.