TasteAtlas is an experiential travel online guide for traditional food that collates authentic recipes, food critic reviews, and research articles about popular ingredients and dishes.[1][2] Describing itself as "a world atlas of traditional dishes, local ingredients, and authentic restaurants",[3] it features an interactive global food map[4] with dish icons shown in their respective regions[5] and purportedly contains nearly 10,000 dishes, drinks, and ingredients, as well as 9,000 restaurants.[2][5][6][7][8]
History
Founded in 2015 by Croatian journalist and entrepreneur Matija Babić,[6] it took more than three years of research and development before the project launched in late 2018.[9] The site was still in the MVP phase in early 2018 with about 5,000 dishes included.[10] It received an honorable mention in 2018 Awwwards.[11]
To fulfill its mission of preserving traditional recipes and promoting authentic restaurants and source ingredients,[16] a small team of 30 authors does rigorous research.[10] This is reportedly done using all available sources and criteria, including article mentions, reviews, Google Search popularity as well as relevant certificates, such as EU food schemes, Unesco Intangible Cultural Heritage, and Ark of Taste.[17]
TasteAtlas produces various infographic maps to showcase an in-depth look at different cuisines and local foods,[26] as well as numerous top lists or certain dishes and regions.[27][28][29]
The site hands out TasteAtlas Awards[30] for categories like "Best Traditional Dish"[31] (won by Picanha for 2023/24[32]), "Best Cuisine",[33] "Best Traditional Food City",[34] and others.[35]
Issues
Many issues, reportedly, come from dishes contested between multiple countries and similar dishes with several regional names. In the case of the lack of any trustworthy information, the dish is not included on the site.[13]
