New Foodily Site Lets Foodies Be Friends

by Jessie Cacciola, Posted Feb 2nd 2011 @ 2:00PM

Planning a meal online usually goes something like this: Scan for something appealing on Google 'till you realize that's a losing game, then head to your favorite online food magazines and blogs. Then you bookmark, copy URLs -- and maybe even email friends for a consensus. It's a quicker process than searching through cookbooks, but a group of former Yahoo execs saw an easier path: a recipe search engine synced up with Facebook.

Unveiled today, you can use the Foodily website to search through hundreds of other food sites and publications. Results appear like recipe cards on a sliding horizontal platform with quick-views of images, sources and ingredient lists. Find one you like? Hit the "details" button to slide out the full recipe. Allergic to peanuts or hate coconut? You can even search for recipes without certain ingredients.

And it's all linked in to your social network. If you connect with Facebook, recipes your friends "like" will appear first and any dishes you "like" will appear in your newsfeed. You can even plan a full menu to cache as an event on Facebook. (Aren't you curious what Mark Zuckerberg cooks up on a Tuesday night?)

A quick search of "goat" gives you a comprehensive array of options: a bean and goat salad from Jamie Oliver, goat cheese pizza from Epicurious, goat tacos from The Kitchn, goat curry from Serious Eats and more than 200 other dishes. As you scroll through, you can choose options such as "like," "share," and "save."

Another bonus? The site is ad-free. The San Mateo, CA startup received $5 million in venture support from Index Ventures and their business model is focused on coupons, not advertisements, reports Xconomy. They'll team up with food distributors to pair coupons with the ingredients that appear in your search results, a definite win-win.

Filed Under: Food News, Online
Tags: Facebook, featured, Food Blogs, Foodily, Foodily site