Food Genius launches dish rating site supporting charity to end hunger

Chicago, Illinois, USA - March 1, 2012 – Food Genius, a Chicago based food data analytics company, today announced the launch of FoodGenero.us.  Described as a “Hot-or-Not” of restaurant dishes, FoodGenero.us is a website that allows users to rate dishes from its database of menus. Food Genius will donate money to Feeding America based on the number of votes submitted on Food Genero.us each month.

“Food Genero.us allows users to learn more about their tastes and how restaurants describe dishes, while at the same time helping feed a hungry family,” says Food Genius CEO Justin Massa.

Users see a text description of a dish and choose between “Yum” or “No Thanks”.  Each dish rating counts towards a meal that Food Genius will donate to Feeding America.  Food Genius uses these ratings to inform its dish suggestion algorithm, made available to app developers and publishers through the Food Genius API.

With a sleek, easy-to-use interface, users can track the number of meals they have contributed per session and how many meals have been donated by the public. Future functionality may include the ability to see where dishes are available so users can visit the restaurant or delivery service integration.  “That’s just an idea of where this could evolve,” says Justin Massa, “for now we are focused on learning more about what people like, to improve Food Genius’ taste-based suggestions.”

Users can start rating dish descriptions on www.foodgenero.us now and help Food Genius reach our goal of donating 4,000 meals each month.

Contact:
Eli Rosenberg
eli@getfoodgenius.com
820 W Jackson, #700
Chicago, IL 60607
312 451 7366

/ March 1, 2012
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Burritos and the Next Steve Jobs, Innovative Food Companies, and a Chef Testing Ground: Food Genius Weekly Roundup

Chipotle: The Next Apple?

Slate writer Matthew Yglesias makes the bold claim that Chipotle Founder Steve Ells is the food industry’s answer to Steve Jobs. Why? Chipotle is a solid financial performer in a faltering economy (Chipotle stock is up 50 percent on the year and over 500 percent over five years) and also innovates in food preparation and process.

“In many ways, the Chipotle burrito is very similar to the iPhone. Founder Steve Ells invented a way to maintain the basic speed and experience of the standard fast-food experience and make the quality of the food a little better. The better food costs a bit more money, but consumers turn out to be happy to pay a premium for a superior product.”

Top 10 Most Innovative Food Companies

Speaking of food innovation, Fast Company listed 10 food companies on its list of the world’s top 50 most innovative companies. Included in the list are big brands like Starbucks and the aforementioned Chipotle as well as relative newcomers like Naked Pizza and digital shops like GrubHub. Maybe Food Genius will be included this time next year!

A Testing Ground For Aspiring Chefs

Good.is looks at a new spin on the pop-up restaurant trend  that gives aspiring chefs an opportunity to test ideas and build a reputation. Oakland’s Guest Chef is a dining space without a permanent menu – or cooks. Every two weeks a new chef takes over the space, with use of a fully stocked kitchen and wine bar, giving them an opportunity to give menu items a spin, or get a taste of the professional cooking world.  The space has attracted a diverse selection of chefs: from a group of volunteer firefighters to an acclaimed expert in Slow Food cooking.

 

/ February 17, 2012
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Secrets of Cookbook Recipes, Food and Tech and TEDx, Pop-up Restaurants and More: Food Genius Weekly Roundup

The Art and Science of Cookbook Recipes
Veteran cookbook author Rozanne Gold dissects the science behind a winning cookbook recipe. Making food fantasies relatively easy to accomplish is part of the appeal, she says, topping it off with a deft use of language:

From the Wall Street Journal:
“The wordsmithing of recipes has captivated me for decades because I want my readers to taste my recipes as they read them. I count on gustatory adjectives (juicy, warm, golden, caramelized, spiced); and action words like “double-rise” pancakes or “overnight” tabbouleh. I close the sale with unusual grace notes such as green-apple “croutons” or carrot “nibs.” Terms like these stimulate what I’ve coined ISR: instant salivatory response.”


Adapting Asian Flavors to a “Meat and Potatoes” Market
Food Product Design looks at adapting Asian sauce flavors to appeal to wary U.S. audiences. Contributing Editor Andrew Hunter uses katsu sauce as an example, stating that emphasizing its BBQ-sauce like flavor palate rather than its Japanese origins won over his picky dad, and could be the key to winning over similar consumers:

From Foodproductdesign.com
“Americans love barbecue sauce with pork not because our culinary heritage tells us to, but because the flavor profile of the former perfectly complements the latter. Likewise, the ingredients in katsu sauce make any kind of protein—whether pork prepared in a Japanese katsu shop or burgers from my dad’s backyard grill—more appealing.”

Food and Tech at TEDxManhattan

 

The website Food+TechConnect is a great resource for anyone interested in the intersection of technology, food and information. They’re active on social media curation tool Storify and they’ve done a great job of archiving the conversation at a recent TEDx talk in Manhattan called “Changing The Way We Eat” focusing on issues of food safety, food security and the produce supply chain.

Continue reading »

/ February 3, 2012
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Video Game – Inspired Recipes, Fast Food Delivery, Veggie Midwesterners: Food Genius Weekly Roundup

Video Game-Inspired Cuisine
Ever wonder what those mushrooms in Super Mario Bros. might actually taste like? One foodie gamer decided to riff on that idea in a food blog. Scotland-based gamer Daniella Zelli creates recipes based on video games. The World of Warcraft-inspired mincemeat fruitcake sounds particularly inspired. Check out the blog and recipes (complete with difficulty ratings!) at over at Gourmet Gaming

Whoppers Hit the Road
Burger King recently announced plans to test a home-delivery service in Washington D.C. and certain parts of the U.S. The folks at NPR food blog The Salt decided to give it a try and report back on the meal, enlisting Taylor Lynn, the college-aged relative of an NPR staffer, for the review. The results were amusing:

“Taylor was more than willing to skip mom’s cooking to try the new service. “It can’t be worse than what they serve you in school,” Lynn said.

Read a full review of Burger King’s new delivery service at The Salt.


Veggie Midwest Strikes Back

Chicago-based writer and native Midwesterner Dyan Flores responds (quite passionately) to New York Times’ writer A.G. Sulzberger’s assertion that the Midwest is a wasteland for vegetarians. You can listen to Flores’ essay, part of Chicago’s Paper Machete live magazine show, on WBEZ.org’s website.

/ January 27, 2012
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Curry Crawl Recap

Last week, Food Genius and our friends / hosts at IDEO set out on a mission to eat as much curry as we could in a 3-hour time period. Starting from the IDEO office in the West Loop, we piled into the back of a truck decorated to look like an Indian restaurant, cranked up some fantastic music, and managed to try 9 curries from 4 restaurants in under 3 hours. Below is a video, tweet archive, and a link to the evening’s soundtrack.

Enjoy!

Soundtrack: Sitar Beat! Indian Style Heavy Funk, Vol. 1

 

/ January 21, 2012
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Bacon Explosions, Veggie Eating in the Midwest and Radioactive Food: Food Genius Weekly Roundup

Vegetarian Eating in the Midwest

New York Times writer A.G. Sulzberger talks about the struggles of eating vegetarian in the Midwest. A recent transplant to Kansas City, Mo., Sulzberger finds eating out to be a more frustrating experience than he ever imagined. The article also illustrates the varying definitions of “meat-free” between vegetarians and non-vegetarians:

“During a recent visit to the Ranchito Tex-Mex Cafe in Hugoton, Kan., a small community encircled by feedlots packed with cattle and the plants that process them, I inquired if the beans at the restaurant were prepared with meat.

“There’s no meat,” the waitress replied helpfully. “It’s just pinto beans smashed up with lard.”

Lard, of course, is rendered pork fat.”

A Figurative Explosion of Bacon

On the other end of the spectrum (but still involving Kansas City and pork) the Food Genius staff has discovered Bacon Explosion, a bacon-stuffed, bacon-wrapped Italian sausage covered in Kansas City style BBQ sauce. You can even get a pig-shaped carrying case for your … log of meal, or for even more explosive potential, order it filled with meet or jalapeno peppers. Best of luck to any readers planning to order this.

X Rayed food isn’t radioactive

After an NPR report about how food manufacturers X-ray foods for foreign objects, reader response promoted a follow-up report on the safety concerns of X-rayed food. NPR talked to several experts on food and radiation to explain the difference between radiation used to x-ray food and actual exposure to radioactive materials (which, by the way, is different irradiation of food). Yeah, it’s a bit complicated. Read the whole article for details.

The end of Twinkies?

You’ve probably heard the news: Hostess, maker of Twinkies, Ho-Ho’s and other lunch box treats of childhood, is filing for bankruptcy. High production costs and healthier lifestyles have led to declining sales for Twinkies in recent years.

From the Wall Street Journal:

“The iconic status of Twinkies is partly this perception that there’s nothing real in it,” said Ken Albala, professor of history at the University of the Pacific, in Stockton, Calif., who specializes in food history. “It’s this cake filled with an unidentifiable sugary cream filling that never goes bad.”

/ January 13, 2012
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Follow Your Nose: Food Genius + IDEO Curry Crawl is here!

The Food Genius + IDEO Curry Crawl will be hitting the streets of  Chicago tonight, be on the lookout :)

From 5-8pm, a group of designers from IDEO and the Food Genius team will hop from restaurant-to-restaurant, trying out some of Chicago’s best curry dishes. Powered by the Food Genius API, the Curry-Mobile (aka Uhaul decorated to look like an Indian restaurant) will use the ratings of IDEO designers to get suggestions on where to go next.

 

Food Genius CEO Justin Massa will be the “server” (get it?) during the Curry Crawl, updating about the progress of the crawl on Twitter and acting as a waiter at each stop. Follow us at @getfoodgenius Twitter account for Tweets from Justin and retweets from other IDEO curry-crawlers later today, or just follow the hashtag #chicurry.

Happy eating!

/ January 10, 2012
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Flavor Backbones, The Cost of Eating Out, Foie Gras at Wendy’s: Food Genius Weekly Roundup

Americans Spending More At Restaurants

 If you find it easier to order take-out or stop by the neighborhood thai restaurant after work than cook dinner, you’re not alone. A new report released by Bank of America / Merrill Lynch states that since mid-2009, consumers have been spending more of their income on – nearly 4.5 percent  –  on restaurants. The report notes a number of factors contributing to the shift: the increased cost of commodities such as wheat and corn that impact grocery prices, and the needs pf time starved consumers would prefer to spend money on convienience rather than cooking at home. Read more about the report at Business Insider and then take a look at The Fiscal Times comparison of the cost of going out vs. eating in.

Olive Garden Adapts to Consumer Tastes
Smart Money interviews Clarence Darden Jr. CEO of Darden Restaurants (owner of Olive Garden) about the Italian sit-down chain’s  upcoming menu changes. After recent dishes (such as were panned by consumers as being “too adventurous” Olive Garden plans to shift to more familiar dishes and a more affordable menus. Fun fact: the chain serves 9 million breadsticks a week!

Asian and Western Recipes Differ in Flavor Chemistry
A study from Indiana University’s School of Informatics and Computing breaks down the ingredient chemistry of popular dishes worldwide.  Professor Yong-Yeol Ahn analyzed 56,498 online recipes (from epicurious.com,  allrecipes.com  and Korea’s menupan.com)  for shared flavor compounds in their key ingredients. The findings? Western dishes tend to mix ingredients that taste similar to each other, while Asian recipes mix ingredients with differing flavor chemicals. Check out a visualization of the study, called a “Flavor Backbone,” at Bon Appetit. The color of each ingredient circle shows the type of food it is, while size of the circle shows the frequency of the ingredient in recipes.

Wendy’s goes upscale in Japan
Wendy’s has returned in Japan after a 2-year break with a menu that’s more upscale than fast food, reflecting the perception of U.S. fast food chains as event destinations abroad. Their specialty foie gras burger costs about 1,280 yen ($16.)

/ January 5, 2012
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Cookie Food Pyramid, Underground Dining Guide, Google’s Favorite Restaurants: Food Genius Roundup

Tastiest Food Pyramid Ever

We all know that baking is a science, right? Here’s a project that proves it: a cool visualization of  the ingredient makeup  of popular baked goods.  Three Harvard researchers, mathematician Michael Brenner, computer scientist grad student Elaine Angelino and undergraduate Diana Cai, analyzed thousands of recipes for cookies, brownies, cakes and other treats. They mapped the ratio of three different ingredients (flour, eggs and sugar) into a “recipe tetrahedron.”  Some of the findings are a bit surprising. Read the Boston Globe story to find out why.

Zagat for Ethical Dining

For socially aware foodies concerned about fair working conditions at your favorite restaurants, there’s a guide just for you. Restaurant Opportunities Centers United has published a National Diners’ Guide, rating 186 restaurants (from fast food to five star restaurants) based on worker wages, paid sick days, and opportunity for professional advancement.

 America’s Most Googled Restaurants

Curious about what restaurants are most searched on Google? Wonder no more. Google Zeitgeist is a tool that tracks Google search trends and 2011’s most popular restaurants- according to the search engine -   have been revealed.  The list may not be too much of a shock; lots of fast food chain restaurants.  But the restaurant that makes the #1 slot is not what you may expect. (Hint: It’s not McDonalds)

 Underground Dining Guide

Check out this awesome, international list of underground dining  events, personally curated by Saltshaker.net AKA chef and writer Dan Perlman. If you’ve ever wanted to jump into the underground dining scene but didn’t know where to start, well, here you go. Happy eating!

/ December 22, 2011
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A new direction for Food Genius

Dear friends:

It’s been an amazing year for the Food Genius team, from our initial launch to our summer at Excelerate Labs to our current residency at IDEO. None of our progress would have been possible without the support and feedback from our users and members of the food and tech communities. Thank you so much.

The Food Genius mobile app, which we’re shuttering today, was a great opportunity to showcase our rich data resources and better understand how people interact with the food around them. But our mobile app just scratched the surface of the many ways to present and integrate our data into a variety of consumer applications – we were regularly hearing from folks who wanted to use our data in new and innovative ways.

The most important thing that we’ve learned over the past few months is that we excel at acquiring, normalizing, and leveraging detailed data about restaurants, dishes, and how consumers behave when dining out. Rather than try to be the best at solving two problems – acquiring and normalizing all this data and building amazing apps on top of it – we’ve decided to focus on what we’re great at and leave the rest to you.

I’m excited to announce the launch of the Food Genius API. Developers can request access to a best-in-class data resource and build innovative apps beyond anything we’ve dreamed of. You focus on delivering an amazing user experience, we’ll focus on providing you with rich data and awesome personalized suggestions, all with super friendly licensing terms.

Thanks again for all of your support!

Cheers,
-Justin

Justin Massa
founder & CEO

P.S. If you would like an export of your dish ratings and “To Eat” list from the Food Genius app, please email us at info@getfoodgenius.com from the email address connected to your account.

/ December 21, 2011
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