Dinner is Downloaded

By Kristin Kloberdanz/Chicago

Sick of scribbling a grocery list on the go, only to lose it or change your mind by the time you make it to the store? Now a plethora of menus is just a click and a scroll away. Kraft Foods recently made 100 recipes (featuring Kraft ingredients, of course) available to download to your iPod. "The iPod is the next revolution on how to get info on the website into consumer hands," says Ian Smith, Kraft's director of global digital marketing. Kraft's recipe downloads do not use the audio function and take up less than 1 MB of space. Other corporations, such as the Gap, Pepsi and Paper Mate, have given away iPods and free downloads, but this is the first time a consumer packaged-goods company has promoted its wares using a nonaudio application. And recipe downloading is picking up steam. Chef Emeril Lagasse has launched 1,000 free iPod recipes, Enrique Quintero Design sells 260 recipes from an online PodGourmet database, and hip barflies are lapping up the iBar--downloadable drink recipes from Talking Panda. --By Kristin Kloberdanz/Chicago