It’s amazing to see the kind of changes a connected world is bringing to food consumption and food production. Even before the internet, consider what the printed word did for food. Those of you who watched Julie & Julia, saw the beginning of a revolution in cooking brought to the US by a cook book. More specifically it was brought by a cook, Julia Child, who talked to the masses through a book and through television. Suddenly new ways of making food became readily available.

In the new millenia, a blog started by Julie Powell who cooked her way through Julia’s cookbook brought millions more to try out new food, new cooking techniques and have more appreciation for food.

The connected world is changing us even more. It’s not even on the PC any more. A friend just sent me a link to foodie, an iphone application that gives you real-time news about restaurants and deals in Chicago. The Chicago limit is, I’m sure, a question of marketing and having to find the deals. There’s no reason why the app wouldn’t work anywhere in the world.

On my blackberry, I now have Yelp mobile that helps me find reviewed restaurants next to me, and a recipe application that lets me search for ingredients I need while at the supermarket. Suddenly I’m not limited to making spaghetti and marinara sauce, and I don’t have to do a lot of research before I start shopping.

So what brought this post on? Whole Foods is hosting an event next week around New Media and food, or social networks and food: A New York New Food Media Panel. You can read more about the event in The Food Section. auntieChef.com is all about democratizing food production and letting small food producers reach us, the people looking for good food. In a sense, we’re enabling UGF – User Generated Food. I’d love to be at the event though it’s sold out, so I’m shamelessly making a public plea – please please, are there any tickets left?

We are what we eat and what we eat is changing. The future looks very exciting (even if I don’t make it to the event)!

So, what exactly is auntieChef?

auntieChef is the online marketplace for folks to buy and sell homestyle food.  We came up with auntieChef when we realized that, while we craved real home cooking, we never had the time (and in my case, skills) to cook for ourselves. And honestly, there’s only so much frozen food or takeout that the body can take – we were hungry.  So we started a company.

How does auntieChef work?  Local cooks (e.g., caterers, personal chefs, bakers, other food entrepreneurs) open up auntieChef.com online “kitchens”, listing their dishes and prices.  Hungry folks can order meals from these cooks online.  The food is freshly made-to-order, and is delivered or picked up. Voila…home cooking without the hassle!

There – the secret’s out, and we hope you join us on our mission to make food personal again.  Drop us a line and let us know what you think, and if you know any great cooks in Boston, send them our way!

Imagine my joy when I discovered that NPR dedicated a full story to the nostalgic value of ramen noodles in people’s lives (thanks Sarit!). I must say the waffle and burrito ramen noodles are more imaginative than any entrepreneurial or other ramen noodle recipe I’ve ever heard of or tried. Maybe we should organize a “tastiest disgusting-sounding ramen noodle” challenge for the auntieChef cooks?