Bing Food & Drink app now available in beta for Windows Phone 8

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Following in the wake of Bing Travel, Microsoft has published a beta version of its Bing Food & Drink the Windows Phone Store. The core functionality of the app is around offering easy access to thousands of food recipes and information on cocktails and wine, but also includes a shopping list and food news section. 

The core food and drink content is divided into three mains areas: recipes (food), cocktails, and wine. Each section offers various way to browse content. In the recipes section you can browse by category (cuisine, course, major ingredients, dietary needs, time, and cooking method), view featured recipes, or search by keyword.

Each recipe gets its own pivot view, with pages for overview (general information), ingredients, steps (instructions), photos (illustrations to help you in preparing the recipe), and notes (additional information). There are options to share the recipe by email, add the recipe to a collection (i.e. a group of favourite recipes), and add the ingredients to shopping list.

Bing Food & Drink BetaBing Food & Drink Beta

The cocktail and wines section follow a similar pattern. Cocktails can be browsed by categories including major ingredients, flavour profile, and glass type; while wine can be browsed by region, type, varietal, and category. Each drink also gets its own pivot pages. Wines get vintage information, along with tasting notes and reviews, while cocktails get ingredients and step-by-step preparation instructions.  

Bing Food & Drink BetaBing Food & Drink Beta

As with all the Bing apps the overall design is to a very high standard, with plenty of subtle touches, but what really impresses in the depth and variety of the content on offer.

Bing Food & Drink is already available as a Windows 8 app. If you sign into your Microsoft account from the settings of the app you can opt to sync app data between different instances of the app, regardless of whether they are running on a Windows 8 or a Windows Phone device. The data shared includes personal information settings and collections data, thus ensuring your person recipe collection is acessible and kept in sync across all devices. 

Windows Phone Store description:

The Bing Food & Drink app makes it easy to explore recipes, choose wine and cocktails, and learn how to make your next meal a taste-tempting success. You’ll enjoy beautiful photos, easy to follow instructions and helpful tools such as a shopping list and collections. Keep your shopping list synced across your devices. Share your recipes, shopping list or collections with family and friends. An indispensable companion, the Food & Drink app will have your kitchen sizzling.

Bing Food & Drink Beta is a free download from the Windows Phone Store