Food Wonk's Meal Madness Apple App

Screen shot of the spinner

I am so excited. At long last, Food Wonk has its own food app. It seemed like it took forever, but then when you work on it on nights and weekends, it takes awhile. It's free; it's fun so give it a try! I really hope you like it!
My brilliant husband wrote the code for the app, and I created the content. If you have any ideas for the app just let me know either on the comment page here (see the Meal Madness Tab) or via the app.
What is it? Well, it is an electronic version of a game Katie and I play. We would write different ingredients on pieces of paper and pull three out of a hat. We would either use those three ingredients in a dish or in a meal. I thought wouldn't that be a fun app and the app was born! I had a lot of fun coming up with all of the choices especially the wild card category.
I would love to know some of the choices you spun and the meals you made with them. In testing we had amazing combinations and several great ideas immediately came to mind. We also had terrifying combinations like

• Duck, cheese straws, and Szechuan pepper
• Bass, pudding, and cumin
• Turkey, lutefisk, and white pepper

That is the fun of the challenge!

To download:

FoodWonk Meal Madness Transcriptix, Inc. Category: Lifestyle Updated: Jul 13, 2011

Here is the detail on the categories and the dietary choices!

THE FOOD WONK CHALLENGE

Spice If it is in my spice cabinet, it’s fair game. Yes, I know I have a lot of spices. No, I don’t have a problem. I can stop buying spices any time I want.

Herb These are all considered culinary herbs. I have them either dried or I grow them. You can use the herb fresh, dried, or ground. You can use the leaves or the seeds. It is up to you.

Hot Stuff Spicy spicy spicy spices and peppers make up this category. I love spicy foods and if you do too, pick this category.

Fruit If I have eaten the fruit or would consider eating the fruit, I included it. Beware- I have been a part of a lot of farmer's co-oops and I have an adventurous palate.

Veggie I took some liberties here. You are just going to have to deal with it. There are fruits listed in the vegetable list. Yes, I know the difference between a fruit and a vegetable. If I use a fruit like a vegetable, then it is listed as a vegetable. I am surprised by the number of vegetables I am willing to eat. I must be superhealthly. You can be too by picking this category.

Cheese  I don't think I have met a cheese I didn't like; from stinky cheeses to mild ones. I tried to include a nice range of cheeses. It can be tricky choosing cheese as a category especially if you also have the wild card category chosen.

Meat This category includes fish, fowl, beef, and pork. I grudgingly did not include game. If you want a game category please request it in the comments and if enough people request it, I will add it. I also did not include all of the types of meat that I have eaten or will eat because of availability.

Starch I love love love starches, and I had a lot of fun creating this category. Sorry, I do not have a gluten-free exclusion (maybe in a later release if there are a lot of requests).

Beverage I wanted this category to be liquids but I was vetoed. So these are defined as beverages I would drink. I really like beer and strongly believe that the type of beer you cook with matters. So, I included specific types of beers.

Wild Card This category is not for the faint-of-heart. It is the ultimate in randomness and where I had the most fun picking out odd ingredients. It could be anything. My favorite wild card ingredient is lutefisk.

Screen shot of your options: choose your categories and dietary restrictions

Dietary Restrictions

We tried our best to be friendly to different dietary restrictions. I think I have most covered. Most religious restrictions are covered by excluding pork or picking vegan, vegetarian, or Kosher or by not choosing a category. If we missed a major restriction, just let us know. If we have something in the wrong category, just let us know. If I made a mistake I am terribly sorry-- please let me know and I will fix it.

Kosher  Allowable foods under the Orthodox Jewish dietary laws Where there is some debate, I went with the more conservative side (e.g., not just no shellfish but no swordfish too- swordfish isn’t kosher because the scales cannot be removed without tearing the skin). Picking Kosher does not prevent meat and diary from appearing together. If you get a meat and diary together, you will have to spin again.

Halal Lawful foods under Islamic dietary laws. I excluded all pork and pork products (like gelatin). I excluded alcohol (this includes extracts and soy sauce). I did not exclude cheeses (you will have to check to determine the specific enzyme used making the specific cheese) or prepared foods unless it is obvious.  My apologies in advance if I missed something. If I did, please let me know and I will fix it in the next release.

Vegetarian No meat or meat products. This does not exclude milk, egg, or milk products. I did not exclude any particular cheeses because the enzyme used in cheese making varies and there are many substitutes for animal rennet being used.

Vegan No meat, meat products, butter, milk, cheese, or eggs.

No Pork  No pork or pork products (like gelatin) but it does include all other meats and seafood.

No Beef No beef but it does include all other meats and seafood.

No Fish  No fish but it would include all other meats and seafood.

No Shellfish  No shellfish or mollusks but it would include all other meats and seafood.

No Nuts  I was conservative with this category; I excluded all nuts, seeds, and their oils.

Food Wonk: Embrace the Randomness, Take the Challenge!