Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store
First Look: VegOut, for your vegetarian dining needs
"I did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens."
I've been a vegetarian for over a decade now, and I'm very familiar with the predicament of being in a new city and not having the foggiest idea where to look for a restaurant which caters to my particular lifestyle choices. When I heard about VegOut, I was immediately hopeful that my iPhone would, once again, provide a solution to a real-life problem. I was not disappointed.
VegOut is powered by happycow.net, an community aggregator for reviews and locations of vegan, vegetarian and veg-friendly restaurants. VegOut provides location awareness, touch navigation and a great-looking front end for this very useful service. It provides ratings, contact info, maps and can filter by your specific vegan/vegetarian preferences. If you're going out with a group of omnivores, or trying to please a vegan in the group but still keep the rest of the carnivores well-fed, VegOut can help. In addition to "current location" search, it can also search any location you specify.
Reviews of a restaurant can be loaded from happycow.net in VegOut's internal browser, and you can easily jump from there to Mobile Safari to add your own reviews, email the page, etc.. I'm discovering new restaurants across the country, and all of my current favorite restaurants have shown up. My newest culinary crush (Soul Vegetarian East in Chicago) came up with a 5-star rating, and I found some reviews of dishes I can't wait to go back and try. VegOut is available in the App Store (iTunes link) for $4.99US.
Champ Bennett, author of VegOut, has announced a 24-hour sale for TUAW readers, dropping the price to $3.99US. You can follow @VegOutApp on Twitter for updates. I don't know how many TUAW readers have sworn off the meat for one reason or another, but this is one handy application for the traveling vegetarian.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Matt Kern said 2:17PM on 3-04-2009
Man, this makes me wish I had an iPhone. I use happycow pretty much anytime I go somewhere new, but this would help a lot. Finding vegan eats in obscure towns is damn near impossible sometimes.
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a00000001 said 3:09PM on 3-04-2009
Same here. It would be nice to check happycow on the go, instead of having to plan before hand. I've got to wait till August for my Sprint contract to run out; this is one more reason to get the iPhone. (Like I needed another)
Soybean said 2:21PM on 3-04-2009
Pretty sweet. I'll have to check it out.
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THJ said 3:09PM on 3-04-2009
I went Veg way back in HS (I wanted to be 'more healthy' but I love cigarettes too much, so meat got axed), and I stayed veg because I hate having to choose from 100 different items on the menu :P
Not a fan of veg-only restaurants (except for Indian/Mediterranean), too many choices and too many holier-than-thou trust-fund hippies.
Great idea for an app though.
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Max Gilchuk said 3:23PM on 3-04-2009
This is cool... I've never heard of happycow, but would find this very handy! Does anyone know if it will search Canadian locations as well?
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Matt Kern said 5:13PM on 3-04-2009
I haven't used the app yet, but I would assume so, because happycow has international locations on its web site. Actually, the international lists seem just as extensive as the US based ones.
philpoccia said 3:29PM on 3-04-2009
How do I get the TUAW sale price on this app?
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Glen Grayson said 8:44AM on 3-06-2009
Friday morning, 3/6/09, I clicked on the link and when it took me to iTunes, the price was $3.99.
Corgy said 3:40PM on 3-04-2009
If I ever do get an iPhone this app will be one of the very first that I buy. Heck, I may even buy it now at the discounted price. HappyCow is an absolute necessity for a traveling vegan like myself.
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George said 10:40AM on 3-05-2009
I love happycow.net so I'm sure I'd love this app. Wish it were free!
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stainboy said 3:49PM on 3-04-2009
"Purchase of this item is not currently available. This item is being modified. Please try again later."
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Galley said 3:51PM on 3-04-2009
Great name!
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tofupunk said 4:21PM on 3-04-2009
My app, VeganXpress, will be in the App Store very soon. Unlike VegOut (an awesome app!), mine shows what is vegan at fast food & chain restaurants for when you can't get to one of the many delicious places that actualy cater to vegans and vegetarians. VeganXpress also lists vegan beers & vegan junk food - like Oreos & Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos. branberger [dot] com
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Mystic said 4:14PM on 3-04-2009
This would be great if the information is updated and unique. If it's just pulling it from another online source, I'll just use google maps.
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Joey said 4:45PM on 3-04-2009
Great post. Been a vegetarian for two years and it's frustrating sometimes when you go out to eat. Happy to see people making it easier to go out and eat.
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Bez said 5:00PM on 3-04-2009
Bring this to the UK and I'll finally buy an iPhone...
I had to sneakily look up a vegan-friendly restaurant in a food guide in the book shop when I was stuck the other day...
there are a good few vegans here on TUAW it seems..
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foresmac said 5:03PM on 3-04-2009
This looks pretty sweet. But being a vegetarian in Chicago, I know for a fact that Soul Vegetarian is vegan (as all there restaurants are) and I'm pretty sure Alice and Friends is too.
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Jacob said 12:13PM on 3-05-2009
Not to mention the Chicago Diner. Yum!
mark said 7:01PM on 3-04-2009
how is this different (or better) than using urbanspoon, which is free, to find vegetarian restaurants?
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ghostshadow said 7:28PM on 3-04-2009
Looking good, same with tofupunk's app. I have been working on the idea of a couple veg apps, but I don't have enough development under my belt. Everyone is beating me to the punch, haha. It's very exciting though. Nice and handy to have when you're out.
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