Editor’s note: We kicked off our first annual Food Loves Tech event last summer in Chelsea—here’s a recap. We’re bringing a taste of the food and farming future back this year, but just across the East River at Industry City. Leading up to the event, this story is part of an ongoing series about technology’s effects on our food supply.
From GrubHub to UberEats to Munchery, New Yorkers can get pretty much any meal delivered. Food Matters NYC is one of the latest startups in town and unlike others, is personalized according to your health goals and personal routine.
When the company’s executive chef and founder Tricia Williams, the pastry and restaurant chef Tricia Williams read Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, an experience she said changed her life.
“I ended up doing an alternative nutrition program and then I decided to put those two worlds together,” Williams said.
Food Matters NYC customers start with an introductory call or email where they answer questions about their health history, exercise routines, sleep routines and goals before discussing their food preferences. Food Matters NYC chefs then work Williams and if requested a client’s wellness team (doctor, nutritionist, trainer) to create the menu that clients approve. For instance if you have trouble falling asleep at night they might create meals with less grains in them, or they’ll create meals for specific health issues such as types of cancer, inflammation or a nursing mom. Everything is organic, all the animals are pasture raised and they don’t use gluten or refined sugar.
The questionnaire sounds intimidating but it didn’t make me more than 15 minutes and Williams said it can takes anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour depending on an individual’s health concerns.
It costs about $150 a day for breakfast, a snack, lunch, dinner and dessert delivered anywhere in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Hamptons during the summer months although clients can opt to just do one meal. Some of the items I tried were: strawberry lime donuts (yes, donuts!), with a refreshingly sour cranberry compote, coconut lemongrass poached salmon, and chocolate pot de creme. Everything comes ready to be heated up with instructions.
