Foodzie.com

I'm a big fan of the concept and website Foodzie.com. It allows artisan foodmakers to sell their products online. They offer a "tasting box" filled with stuff from different vendors each month for $19.99. That is kind of cool... and if you like adventure in gastronomy, it could be fun.

If you are a person who is trying to buy local (like me) as much as possible, ordering from Foodzie.com can be a problem, though. When you do a search by region, there are only 4 vendors in Arizona. 4!

I'm not sure why more artisan food vendors here are not using Foodzie. I don't know what the agreements are between Foodzie and vendors, my guess is that Foodzie gets a % of each sale and maybe for some folks it is too high.

Foodzie can be nice though if you want to ship gifts to your loved ones in California, where there are many vendors such as Knight Salumi (I love salami) and Amella Caramels (mmmm Caramel) or Curry Love (I'd like to start making Indian food this year).

Foodzie is also useful for ideas, if you get inspired by looking at what vendors are making and then searching for recipes online that will keep your wallet in check, and curb your sweet tooth. A struggle, I know...

And if you're not into doing it yourself, we have plenty of local bakers here like: Fairytale Brownies, Urban Cookies, Barb's Bakery, AJ's Fine Foods, La Purísima Bakery, etc. The list is quite long, and growing.

:)
http://foodzie.com