Groovy~Vegetarian

For vegetarians with an iPhone, it’s time to celebrate, as there are a bevy of useful vegetarian apps now available from the iTunes shop. Some are more useful than others, but all are worth a look.

Let’s take a look at some of the hottest vegetarian apps for the Iphone.

VegOut
$2.99 Author: Mitchell A. Bennett

First up is VegOut, a vegetarian restaurant guide. This app has a listing of vegan, vegetarian, and vegetarian-friendly restaurants all powered by the wonderful vegetarian directory site HappyCow.net.

Cool Factor? The app uses the built-in GPS feature of the iPhone to help you locate the restaurants, and in many cases, even links to the restaurant website to help you pull up menus and plan your outing.

Locavore
$2.99 Author: Buster McLeod

The local food movement goes hand in hand with the vegetarian movement.  You don’t have to be a farmer to know what local crops are in season, you just have to use this handy app.

It features 234 fruits and vegetables with links to their Wikipedia pages and Epicurious recipes.  The App features data from all 50 states and gets updates from Twitter and GetSatisfaction to keep you up to date on the latest local food news.

Veggie Passport
$1.99 Author: Lior Weinstein

This app has to be one of the most brilliant, yet simple ideas I’ve heard of (wish I thought of this one myself).  It communicates your vegetarian needs in 33 different languages so you can express yourself to friends, dinner hosts, and waiters.  You type what you want to say in the app and it outputs text in the language of choice.

Languages include English, Arabic, Albanian, Bulgarian, Chinese, Chinese (Simplified), Croatioan, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hindi, Hebrew, Indonesian, Indian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portugese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukranian, or Vietnamese.  That’s a LOT of languages!

Vegan Xpress
$1.99 By: Brandon Burger

Vegans often face the awkward situation of going to restaurants like Applebee’s or TGI Fridays with their friends.  This app takes the pain out of such experiences revealing surprising vegan food choices at even the most meat-centric dining chains.  The app includes over 100 popular restaurants.

And that’s not all.  It also includes a listing of junk-food, snack food, vegan beers, and vegan wine for times when you want to treat yourself.  Bet you didn’t know Skittles are now vegan (gelatin free at last!)!!  But this app could have told you that!

Vegetarian SmartList
$24.99 By: Mark Woollard

While a bit expensive for many app pickers’ blood, this app and its authors (Clan Thompson) act as the private eyes of the vegetarian world sleuthing out which foods are really vegetarian and vegan.  Over 4,399 food, drugs, personal care items, leather alternatives, cleaning supplies, and more have been covered.

The entries include extra info that will interest many, such as the presence of GMO’s, cross contamination, and whether the product has been certified organic.  With the list growing daily, this app might be worth a buy.  Just think of it as a nice cookbook.

Dirty Produce
FREE Author: Environmental Working Group

Everyone knows that pesticides aren’t good for you.  However, not all produce is created equal — some gets heavily sprayed with pesticides and mandates an organic buy, while other fruits and vegetables are rarely treated with pesticides.  This handy app helps you know the difference, with over 47 fruits and veggies listed.  A list of the “dirty dozen” — the twelve most sprayed items — as well as the “clean fifteen” — the least sprayed — are also included.

The app gets its data from U.S. Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration tests for pesticide residues between 2000 and 2007.

Food Additives
$3.99 Author: Andrew Middleweek

This utilitarian little app helps to warn you of the side effects of food additives.  Over 450+ additives are covered.  Information is given for each on potential health side effects with text and graphics.

The source of the additive is also detailed, helping you watch for animal derivatives.  And the additive’s status overseas (if it’s banned in Europe, look out) is also given,

Veggie Lovers Recipes
$0.99 Author: Karl Post

This app comes with some cute graphics, and 15 yummy recipes. Among the mouth-watering entries are Vegetarian Christmas Roast, Carrot Jam, and Apple Stuffed Acorn Squash. This app keeps it simple, but may become a kitchen staple.

Vegetarian Cookbook
$0.99 Author: Web 2 Mobile Design

Boasting recipes from American, Chinese, Indian, Italian, French, Mexican, Thai, Dessert, Fast Food, and Gourmet cuisine, this cookbook will help add some spice to your kitchen.  Like some of the others, this app’s authors encourage user submission.  Send them a picture of your best recipe and a text description and they say they’ll try to include it in their next edition.

Vegan Yum Yum
FREE Author: Stewart Rosenberger

This app features the tantalizing recipes from the fabulous Vegan Yum Yum blog – all for free. If the app is anything like the blog, you will LOVE IT. New recipes are regularly added, and you can organize your favorites or search for something new.

Did We Miss Any Other Good Ones?

That’s our top 10 vegetarian iPhone apps round up. As new apps come out we will update you.

Feel free to share below any we missed, and we will include them next time.