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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Ashlen Wilder

Kite Hill Aims to Boost Protein Content of Plant-Based Dairy with New Product Launch

One major complaint of plant-based products is the lack of protein, as many alternative products are not on par with the product they are trying to replicate. The average American actually consumes double the amount of protein required, so it’s no surprise that we are so fixated on the protein content of plant-based alternatives. One company in the plant-based space, Kite Hill, recently launched new yogurt products with a boosted protein content.

Kite Hill recently debuted four new flavors of high-protein yogurt; strawberry, blueberry, vanilla, and plain. The yogurt is made from a base of almond milk and boasts 10-12 grams of protein (depending on the flavor) from added soy isolate. Additionally, the company added a new flavor to its dip line, a spicy queso (not a high-protein product), and its main ingredients are cultured almond milk and coconut oil.

When Kite Hill offered to send me samples of its high-protein yogurts and queso, I’ll admit I was a bit skeptical. One non-dairy protein yogurt I tried recently was straight-up gritty. Catherine Lamb, a previous writer at The Spoon, tried Ripple’s high-protein Greek yogurt and was not a fan.

Photo by Ashlen Wilder

I am pleased to report that none of the flavors of the Kite Hill yogurt had a gritty texture or off-flavor. Each of the flavors had a creamy texture and the tangy flavor that yogurt should have. I normally don’t go for flavored yogurts due to the high sugar content, but each fruit flavor had 5 grams of sugar.

The non-dairy queso had a very thick texture straight out of the refrigerator. The directions on the package instructed that the queso should be heated for 30 seconds in the microwave. After it was heated, it had the familiar gooey, liquid texture of traditional queso. It had a delightfully spicy kick and went well with chips, and drizzled on tacos and black beans.

It’s hard to keep track of how many alternative yogurts and cheese products are now available on the market, and some are definitely better than others. Lavva uses pili nuts to produce a creamy and tangy plant yogurt. The Collaborative raised $7 million last year for the expansion of its coconut-based yogurt. There are also other brands that produce vegan yogurt like Forager, So Delicious, Cocojune, Oatly, Harmless Harvest, and Daiya. Larger companies like Chobani and Yoplait have even stepped up in recent years to offer plant-based options.

As for vegan queso, a few others exist on the market. Loca Food produces delicious non-dairy queso made from a base of potatoes. Siete and Mother Raw are two other companies also competing in this space.

Despite how many alternative options are available on retailer shelves, I would still probably purchase the Kite Hill high-protein yogurt again if I saw it in stores. I typically don’t purchase queso, but I think a queso lover who avoids dairy would enjoy this product. The individual 5.3oz protein yogurts cost $1.99, while the 16 oz. tub of plain yogurt costs $5.99. The 8oz tub of queso costs. $4.99, and all of the products are available in Whole Foods and Sprouts nationwide.

Gathered Foods is Bringing Plant-Based Options to Long John Silver’s

Gathered Foods, the parent company of plant-based seafood brand Good Catch, is now supplying plant-based seafood products to select Long John Silver’s location. The new menu items launched today in five locations in California and Georgia.

Good Catch’s Crab-Free Cakes and Fish-Free Fillets are the two alternative products being featured at Long John Silver’s. The restaurant chain will incorporate these products into several new menu items, including the Plant-Based Platter, two meal options, and à la carte.

Good Catch uses a proprietary blend of six legumes to create its high-protein seafood alternatives. The plant-based fish fillets aim to mimic a flaky white fish and include a breaded coating. The plant-based crab cakes are also breaded and have a lump crabmeat-like texture. The crab cakes have 15 grams of protein per serving, while the fillets have 12 grams.

Gathered Foods is not the only company to bring its plant-based products to nationwide chains as of late. Beyond Meat recently launched its new plant-based chicken tenders products in around 400 restaurants nationwide. Impossible Foods has plans to unveil plant-based chicken nuggets this week, with the intention of launching the new product in restaurants this fall. Greenleaf Foods’ Field Roast brand partnered with Little Caesars to launch its alternative pepperoni (called “Planteroni”) in five U.S. markets last week. These partnerships signal that the demand for plant-based options is still going strong, and nationwide chains must respond.

Long John Silver’s will be serving up Good Catch’s plant-based seafood in Georgia cities of Newnan and Albany, and in California cities Bakersfield, Sacramento, and Clovis. The alternative seafood options will be available at the select locations until supplies last.

Food Tech News: Lab Grown Chocolate, Lupin Bean Eggs, Cultured Sushi Tasting Room

The summer days are going by fast, but it feels like the rate at which news is breaking in the food tech space is even faster. In this week’s Food Tech News roundup, we have pieces on chocolate being grown in a lab, a tasting room opening in San Franciso for cultured sushi, a new Canadian egg alternative, and a Russian plant-based company’s recent funding round.

Lab-grown chocolate in Switzerland

We live in a chocolate-crazed world, but unfortunately growing cacao for the production of chocolate can cause deforestation and make use of child labor. Some chocolate companies choose to source their cocoa beans from farmers and suppliers that use ethical practices, but this is not always the case. Scientists at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland may have found another option: growing chocolate in a lab. One of the food scientists had the idea to extract cell cultures from cocoa beans to attempt to produce a compound found in chocolate called polyphenols (important for the sensory effects in chocolate). Cocoa beans are cut into quarters and then incubated in a culture medium. After about three weeks a callus grows over the surface of the bean, which can be continuously be replicated. The new material is added to shaking flasks and mixed with suspension culture, and then multiplied in a bioreactor. The cultured cells can then be used to make chocolate.

The scientist said that there is currently no plan for commercial production of lab-grown chocolate. The process is considerably more expensive than conventional chocolate, and they will be continuing to study and compare the production processes of conventional and lab-grown chocolate.

Photo from Wildtype’s Instagram page

Wildtype set to open a cultured sushi tasting room

Wildtype, a cell-ag company focused on seafood, shared that it will be opening a tasting room for cultured sushi in San Francisco. The tasting room will serve as an opportunity to educate consumers on the benefits of cell-based agriculture and provide transparency on this process. Wildtype is focused on creating cultured sushi-grade salmon, and it sources living cells from Pacific salmon. Its pilot plant will soon be capable of producing 50,000 pounds of seafood per year, with a maximum capacity of 200,000 pounds. The tasting room is expected to open in fall 2021.

Nabati launches a plant-based egg product made from lupin beans

Nabati is a Canadian-based plant-based brand, and this week it announced it is filing patents for its plant-based egg product currently being developed. The new egg product will be in liquid form, like Just Egg, and this is the first Canadian-made egg alternative product. Nabati is filing patents for the product in Canada, the United States, and Australia, with the intention to also eventually file in Europe, and China. The egg, called Nabati Plant Eggz, contains no cholesterol, 90 calories per serving, and six grams of protein. Lupin beans and pea protein are the main ingredients used, and the product is both soy and gluten-free. The new egg alternative is expected to be available for purchase sometime later this year.

Russian plant-based brand raises $1.5 million in Series A round

Welldone is a plant-based meat alternative company in Moscow, Russia, and this week it raised $1.5 million in its Series A round. The round was led by Phystech Ventures and Lever VC, and this new capital will be used to increase production and distribution, as well as bring Welldone’s products to new markets. Welldone currently produces alternative cutlets, burger patties, and minced meat made from a base of soy, coconut oil, and cellulose. Plant-based alternatives in Russia can be pricey, and Welldone has set the goal of reaching price parity with meat.

Mzansi Meat Co. is Bringing Cultured Meat to Africa

After Eat Just gained regulatory approval in Singapore for its cultured meat last year, companies from countries all over the world are racing to bring their cultured meat products to market. We’ve heard news from Asia, the United States, Europe, and Australia regarding cultured meat, but one continent that seems to be left out of this space is Africa. Mzansi Meat Co., based in South Africa, is changing this as the first cultured meat company on the continent of Africa.

This week I spoke with Brett Thompson, a co-founder and the CEO of Mzansi Meat Co., who said he realized “There is no one doing cultivated meat or cellular agriculture in the entire African continent, which is insane to think about. The opportunity was there, and that is the beginning of our story.” The co-founders formed the company in 2020, and shortly after connected with scientist and CEO of Wild Earth, Ryan Bethencourt. Bethencourt invested in Mzansi Meat Co., which enabled the co-founders to start building out a team.

Mzansi Meat Co. is developing cell lines by extracting cells from animal donors, which are not harmed in the process. After the cells are extracted, they are grown in a bioreactor and then are differentiated into muscle and fat cells. Cultured meat companies have traditionally used FBS (fetal bovine serum) as a growth medium, but Mzansi is in discussion with companies that create growth factors from non-animal derived sources. The company will first focus on beef, using the biomass end product as an ingredient for ground meat. Eventually, the company will work on producing cultured whole cuts.

Representing the food and farming culture of Africa is important to Mzansi Meat Co., and the company will be extracting cells from indigenous cattle breeds. Recently, the start-up asked South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa if they could extract cells from his prize-winning Ankole cattle herd to produce sought-after beef cuts without any slaughter.

“Braai” means to barbeque or grill food over an open fire, and this type of social gathering is a huge part of African culture. More urbanized countries and areas in Africa, like South Africa, tend to gravitate towards eating more Western styles of meat analogs for braais, like sausages and burgers patties. Mzansi Meat Co. will first start out with these analogs, and then begin producing more traditionally African cuts of meat.

As the first cultured meat company in Africa, Mzansi Meat Co. does not seem to face local competition in this space. However, Thompson said that there are possibly one or two other cultured meat start-ups in South Africa (this is currently all the information we have). With Mzansi, we are starting to see more activity with alternative proteins in Africa. VeggieVictory is the first plant-based meat company in Nigeria, and earlier this year it raised an undisclosed pre-seed round (Bethencourt also invested in this company).

Mzansi Meat Co. is currently in its pilot production phase, and hopes to have its first products available to sample by the end of this year. By the second half of next year, the company aims to have its products on retail shelves.

UPDATE: This article originally stated that Mzansi Meat does not face competition in South Africa; according to Thompson there are one or two other cultured meat start-ups in the country.

Wicked Kitchen, UK Plant-Based Food Brand, Raises $14M Series A Round

Wicked Kitchen, a UK-based plant-based food and prepared meal brand, announced this week that has closed a Series A round of $14M. This is the company’s first public round and it was led by Unovis Asset Management and NRF Nove Foods.

Following this funding, Wicked Kitchen will soon expand into the U.S. with its plant-based offerings, and will build out its teams in London, Austin, and Minneapolis. Its current product lines are extensive, featuring everything from vegan desserts to alternative protein analogs. For the U.S. consumer, Wicked Kitchen will bring plant-based prepared frozen meals, ready-to-eat lunch and breakfast options, sauces, mayo, pesto, and meals kits to select retailers.

The founders of Wicked Kitchen are Chad and Derek Sarno, who are also chefs and co-founders of Good Catch, a plant-based seafood brand in the U.S. In 2018, the Sarnos collaborated with Tesco in the U.K. to launch Wicked Kitchen as a new plant-based range. Wicked Kitchen products are sold exclusively in Tesco, and has yet to be announced which retailers will carry the company’s products in the U.S.

In 2020, $2.1 billion was invested into plant-based companies, and they have continued to score a lot of funding this year. Large funding rounds like Wicked Kitchen’s recent round has allowed plant-based companies to expand into additional markets throughout the world. Singapore-based Next Gen Foods announced yesterday that it will be bringing its plant-based chicken brand TiNDLE to the U.S. following a $20 million extension of its seed round. Cultivated meat producer Aleph Farms raised $105 million earlier this month and shared it will use this funding to grow its operations internationally. Eat Just also shared that it plans to use its $200 million funding round that was closed this past March to expanding internationally.

Wicked Kitchen’s products are expected to roll out by the end of summer in the U.S., with a total of 20 products launching initially.

FreshRealm Raises $32M for Fresh, Prepared Meals

FreshRealm, a prepared fresh meals company based in Ventura, California, announced this week that it has raised $32 million. The institutional investors were not disclosed, and this brings the company’s total funding to $46.6 million.

This most recent round of funding will be used to expand FreshRealm’s production facilities, with the goal of opening additional facilities throughout the country for increased distribution. The company plans to focus on product innovation and developing proprietary ingredients for its meals. FreshRealm has plans to accelerate its growth strategy for its upcoming nationwide rollout in grocery retailers.

FreshRealm claims to be the only fresh meal company with a nationwide reach. Its prepared meals are not frozen, and the company applies “just-in-time” logistics to ensure all ingredients are fresh. The capital will also be used to develop different products, including ready-to-heat meals, ready-to-cook meals, and meal kit offerings.

Quite a few direct-to-consumer prepared meal companies already exist, including Freshly, Daily Harvest, HungryRoot. Companies like Blue Apron and HelloFresh ship meal kit boxes filled with various ingredients to the consumer with directions on how to assemble the meal at home. Sunbasket and Purple Carrot are now a hybrid service offering both prepared meals and meal kits. FreshRealm is taking a slightly different approach by offering fresh, not frozen, prepared meals that will be offered in grocery stores and retailers rather than shipped directly to the consumer’s home.

FreshRealm has not announced which exact retailers it will partner with but did say its meals are currently available in a few select retailers. The company has plans for a national rollout in Fall 2021.

ChickP Develops Plant-Based Mayo with its Proprietary Chickpea Isolate

Israel-based ChickP announced today that it has utilized its chickpea isolate to formulate a plant-based mayonnaise product. The company partnered with food companies to develop several egg-free recipes, including mayonnaise and several salad dressings. The pilot for the mayo product was a success, and a large-scale pilot production of the product is now taking place.

Currently, ChickP is commercializing its two chickpea isolate products, ChickP G910 and ChickP S930. Both have a neutral taste, and ChickP 910 has gelling and emulsifying abilities while ChickP S930 has the capacity to foam and emulsify. The company’s chickpea isolates boast a protein content of 90 percent, and will function as a direct replacement for egg yolk in the mayo product.

An ingredient called aquafaba, which is the liquid leftover from cooked chickpeas, has gained popularity in the plant-based space to act as an egg white replacement and for its ability to foam and act as an emulsifier. Besides this ingredient, vegan products often make use of starches, stabilizers, and hydrocolloids to replace eggs. A company called Vor Foods in the United States has commercialized a powdered aquafaba product.

In addition to ChickP’s mayo product, several other food producers are working with the company to develop egg-free and plant-based products such as vegan sauces, dressings, and creams. By the end of the year, ChickP hopes to have the mayo commercially available.

Food Tech News: Indoor Farming as Art, Cover Crop Snacks, and Alcohol-Free Spirits

Welcome to your weekly Food Tech News round-up, where we gather interesting pieces of news you might have missed this week:

Edible artwork is now growing at the Gagosian gallery in New York City

A small, but fully functional, indoor urban farm is now on display at the Gagosian Gallery’s New York City location. The installation, created by artist Linda Goode Bryant and architect Elizabeth Diller, is a part of the “Social Works” exhibit (curated by Antwaun Sargent). The exhibit aims to showcase the relationship between different spaces, like personal, institutional, public, and psychic spaces, and Black social practice. The indoor farm exhibit, called Are we really that different?, features a 40-foot-tall structure in a long hallway that houses plants. Given water and nutrients through dripping IV pouches, the plants receive sunlight through skylights in the gallery. The plants consist of edible flowers and vegetables that are harvested daily for visitors to munch on. The exhibit is on display now until August 13, 2021.

Snack brand uses regenerative cover crop as its main ingredient

Chasin Dreams Farm produces a flavored popcorn-like snack, but instead of using corn, sorghum is the main ingredient in the product. Sorghum is a grain that is drought-resilient, and the company sources its sorghum from farms using regenerative practices. Additionally, sorghum is a cover crop that can be planted after other crops have been harvested to protect the soil from erosion, smother weeds, and add healthy, organic matter to the soil. Chasin Dreams Farm currently has three flavors, Sweet & Salty, Cocoa, and Cinnamon. According to the company, its popped sorghum snacks have around 94 percent less fat than traditional popcorn snacks. Currently raising money on Republic, Chasin Dreams Farm has already met its goal by 171 percent with 61 days left in the campaign.

Photo by Andy Kelly on Unsplash

Scientists discover that microorganisms in the stomach’s of ruminants can help break down plastic

Plastic is a problem due to its negative environmental and health impacts, and despite the fact that humans were the ones that created it, we are always trying to find new solutions to replace it, get rid of it, upcycle it, or break it down in a sustainable manner. A group of scientists from various universities recently discovered that particular microbes found in the stomachs of ruminants can actually help break down certain types of plastic. Ruminants like cows consume a naturally occurring polyester that is produced by plants, called cutin. Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the type of plastic typically used to make soda bottles and food packaging, and it has a similar chemical structure to cutin.

Due to this, researchers hypothesized that microbes found in the rumen (the largest part of a ruminant’s stomach) could break down PET and other polyesters in the same manner that cutin was broken down. To test this, the scientists placed different plastics in rumen liquid for one to three days. It was found that the rumen liquid broke down PET, polybutylene adipate terephthalate (PBAT), and polyethylene furanoate (PEF), with the bacteria-rich liquid breaking down PEF the most effectively.

Optimist: a plastic and alcohol-free spirit

To accommodate the rise of adults looking to cut back on alcohol consumption or be sober, there has been an influx of “alcohol-free” spirits hitting the market. One of these brands, Optimist, has developed three botanical-infused, alcohol-free spirits, completely free from plastic. Intended to be a direct replacement for alcohol spirits, Optimist can be drunk straight up, on the rocks, or mixed into a cocktail. The spirits contain 10-15 botanical distillates, with three different flavors available: Bright (lemony and light, drinks like vodka), Fresh (full of herbs, drinks like a botanical gin), and Smokey (flavors of wood and spice, drinks like a tequila). Both the bottle and cap of the spirits are made from glass, and plastic is intentionally not used in any part of the production, packaging, or distribution process. A 16.9 oz bottle of Optimist is available for $35 on the company’s website.

Fexy Media Launches Relish+ as Premium Paid Feature on Relish.com

Relish.com, a web app created by Fexy Media for meal planning, recipes, and grocery shopping, announced today that it has launched a premium feature called Relish+. The new service will now allow users to have access to a library of over 100 meal plans for a monthly fee starting at $3.75.

The new meal plans on Relish+ are developed by nutritionists, and the recipes are sourced from popular recipe developers and food bloggers. Called “Fodcasts”, users can subscribe to the meal plans that match their interests, just like they would to a podcast.

Once subscribed to the meal plans, users can then add them to a calendar to plan all meals for the entire week or even the next month. The meal plans are customizable and can be edited to change the serving size, alter or delete certain recipes, and add or delete certain days. With the premium subscription, users can also create their own meal plans by dropping their desired recipes into a blank meal plan template.

Ingredients found within the meal plans can be consolidated to create a grocery list. This is list can simply be used by the user to go shopping or sent to a grocery delivery service that is integrated into the app (both of these features are currently available with the free version of Relish.com).

Meal planning and grocery shopping can be tiresome, especially after 15+ months of predominately eating at home, so services like Relish.com and Relish+ are very relevant at the moment. Another app, Whisk, allows users to discover and save recipes, and then shop for the ingredients through the app. Samsung announced at the beginning of this year that it added shoppable recipes and guided cooking through its SmartThings Cooking mobile app.

The Relish+ meal planning library will continue to expand after today’s launch with new meal plans added each week. The subcription starts at $3.75 per month if paid for the entire year up front, and 3-month and 6-month memberships exists starting at $4.95 per month.

Meati Raises $50M Series B for Mycelium-Based Meat Alternatives

Colorado-based Meati produces whole cuts of meat alternative analogs from mycelium, and today the start-up announced that it has raised $50 million in its series B round (news from Forbes). The round was led by Acre Venture Partners and BOND, with participation from Prelude Ventures, Congruent Ventures, and Tao Capital. This brings the company’s total funding to $109.1 million.

Meati uses fermentation to produce its alternative protein products, a technique that the Good Food Institute calls the third pillar of alternative protein. The company has so far introduced two products, a whole cut alternative steak and chicken breast. The mycelium steak was piloted at a restaurant in Boulder, Colorado last year, and the chicken alternative was only offered to select consumers that applied to taste test it. Through the versatility of mycelium, it is likely that Meati will be able to create a wide variety of alternative protein analogs.

This most recent round of capital will be used to develop an 80,000 square foot production plant in preparation for the startup’s commercial launch. According to the Forbes article, Meati’s goal is to be able to produce enough of its alternative protein in its new facility that would be the equivalent of 4,500 cows in a single day.

The Good Food Institute reported that approximately $1 billion has been invested into companies using fermentation to develop alternative protein. That being said, Meati faces a few competitors in this space. AtLast had an impressive funding round earlier this year ($40M), and is currently developing new alternative protein analogs alongside its existing bacon product. Prime Roots uses fermentation and fungi to craft various protein alternatives, including bacon, chicken, lobster, and beef. Focusing on the B2B realm, Mushlabs also ferments mycelium to create alternative proteins products.

Meati has stated that the commercial launch of its first product will be sometime in 2022. According to an article published on Techcrunch, the first commercial product will likely be a mycelium-based jerky.

Food Tech News: Next Meat’s Alternative Egg, Wagyu Beef Art, and $20K Plant Grants

Before you fire up the grill and bask under the glow of fireworks this weekend, we invite you to catch up on some food tech news. This week we have pieces on a new alternative egg product in Japan, a pricey item that fuses art and Wagyu beef, a new menu item for Just Salad, and a grant program aimed at supporting Black-owned restaurants.

Next Meat launches new egg alternative product

Next Meat, an alternative meat company in Japan, announced this week that it has developed a new fully plant-based egg alternative. The egg alternative is called NEXT EGG 1.0, and will first roll out as a B2B product in Japan and then be offered as B2C. Although Japan is one of the top consumers of eggs in the world, the country currently does not have a commercial alternative egg product. The ingredients of the NEXT EGG 1.0 and the release date were not disclosed. This announcement comes after Next Meat’s recent successful launch of its alternative BBQ ribs products in the U.S., which sold out within a day.

Highest-ranked Wagyu beef in Japan becomes art

Hyotana, a restaurant based in Shiga, Japan, partnered with Kaya, a creative firm, to create a fusion of food and art that represents Japan’s rich history. For the project, 700 grams of A5 grade Wagyu beef gets packaged in artwork, specifically famous images from Hokusai‘s “Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji” series of woodblock prints. Pieces of the artwork are cut out to showcase the bright red meat, as depicted above. After the beef is removed from the packaging and consumed, Hyotana recommends filling in the empty space by placing red paper behind the artwork. Called Art Beef Gallery, the item is priced at ¥13,000 JPY (~$108 USD) and can be purchased for consumers in Japan on the Hitotema Art Beef Gallery page.

Just Salad launches menu item to support regenerative ag

Just Salad has partnered with nonprofit Zero Foodprint and restauranteur Anthony Myint for a new menu item that will support regenerative agricultural practices. Fifteen percent of sales from the Zero Foodprint Salad will be donated to the nonprofit to help provide grants to farmers switching to regenerative soil practices that restore soil health and sequester carbon. The partnership marks Zero Foodprint’s first fast-casual restaurant partner on the east coast. The Zero Foodprint salad contains a vegan feta cheese alternative, mint, wheat berries, pickled red onions, pita chips and grape tomatoes on a base of mixed greens.

Violife and RZA launch Plant Grants

Violife, a plant-based cheese company, is partnering with RZA, hip hop artist and founding member of Wu-Tang Clan, to launch Plant Grants. This new grant program encourages plant-based eating through mentorship and funding, and this year’s program will focus on assisting Black-owned restaurants struggling from the aftermath of the pandemic. Two plant-based chefs involved in the program, Lemel Durrah and Laricia Chandler, will assist restaurants in introducing plant-based ingredients, menu development, and conversion of original recipes to a plant-based version. Grants of $20,000 will be awarded to five restaurants that meet the criteria, and applications for the program are open now until July 21, 2021.

Recon Food, a Social Media App Connecting Users Through Food, Launches Today

Social media has been under scrutiny in the past few years for its potential negative effect on mental health and overall well being. Today, a new social media app launched with the aim of being a positive space for users to connect and share their love of food. The app is called Recon Food, and it was created by Spencer Rascoff, the co-founder of Hotwire and Zillow, and his daughter Sophia Rascoff.

Instead of meeting up with loved ones at restaurants to connect over a meal during the pandemic, over this past year we connected over social media by sharing photos of trending recipes like banana bread and whipped coffee. However, there are many other tricky things to navigate through on social media like non-stop news, targeted ads, politics, and controversial topics. The father-daughter Rascoff duo was inspired to develop an app like this because of the many aspects of social media that felt unhealthy, and food was something that brought their own family together during the pandemic.

With the Recon Food app, there are two tracks: restaurants and the home kitchen. Users can post photos of food and drink ordered from restaurants and leave a review, or upload photos of dishes they have created themselves. The app has geolocation, which enables users to tag the location of the restaurant and recommend their favorite dishes. Within the app, users can view a map (powered by Apple) to see where different restaurants are located, which can be helpful for finding new restaurants. Only restaurants that have been reviewed will show up on the map, and because the app is so new, there are currently only a handful of restaurants that pop up.

For those cooking at home, (this option does not allow geolocation), users can also post photos of foods or drinks they have created. The Recon app has computer vision technology that will search a user’s camera roll for food photos, and automatically upload them to the app privately or publicly.

Tradionally, people use platforms like Google or Yelp to view photos and reviews left by other diners to decide on where to eat. This is certainly helpful in making a decision, but a downside to these review platforms is that more often than not, a negative experience is more likely to produce a review. Additionally, it is hit or miss if someone actually recommends particular dishes in their review. With Recon Foods, hopefully, there will be a balanced mixture of honest positive and negative reviews, and more users will feel compelled to recommend dishes they’ve tried at a restaurant.

There are a few other food and restaurant-centric apps available besides Recon Food. Jybe is an app that can currently be used in major U.S. cities that helps conscious consumers see where eco-friendly restaurants are located. Diners that post high-quality restaurant reviews on the SynchroLife app are rewarded with the platform’s own cryptocurrency called SynchroCoin (SYC).

The Recon Food app is currently available for free for iOS phones in the App Store or as a desktop version.