Meet the new Nom, a food lover’s photo-sharing dream

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People will never stop talking on the internet about what’s for dinner.

The massive reach and engagement of new media properties like Tastemade, which offers short video cooking lessons, or BuzzFeed’s Tasty channel are proof the trend is still going strong in the U.S.

So perhaps it’s no surprise to see YouTube co-founder Steve Chen and former YouTube engineering lead Vijay Karunamurthy back in the digital media business with an app called Nom that’s all about food.

The app, which is available for iOS or Android devices, was developed with the social media habits of food lovers in mind, whether they’re diners, home cooks or Michelin-rated chefs.

At its heart, Nom is a social media platform that feels like a cousin of Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat. But Nom allows users to mix media very freely, with its latest redesign available today.

  1. nom_app_1

    Nom is a mobile social app for food lovers.
  2. nom_app_2

    Nom users can stitch together stills, videos and comments in one story.
  3. nom_app_3

    Nom allows video live streaming.
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    Steven Chen is a co-founder of YouTube and Nom.
  5. nom_ceo_vijay_karunamurthy

    Nom CEO Vijay Karunamurthy previously led engineering at YouTube.

Specifically, the Nom app now allows users to stitch together live video, stills, comments or even recipes and tasting notes in one story.

Let’s say you want to cook something challenging and take your friends and followers along with you for the experience. You could start your story by posting a picture of a recipe card to your Nom story, telling everyone what your plans are.

Later, you can add a video of yourself shopping for ingredients at the farmer’s market on the story, followed by still photos showing your food prep in stages back home. You could cap the story with a final live stream of you and a loved one taking the dish out of the oven and taking a first bite.

Along the way followers can comment and ask questions, or “heart” any component of your story.

Chen said since leaving YouTube, he has invested in several restaurants and come to appreciate great culinary experiences around the world. Among others, he’s backed Quince in San Francisco, which has attained a coveted, three-star Michelin rating this year.

A shared passion for food led him to develop Nom with Karunamurthy, he said. The two are focused on building Nom into a powerful enthusiast community around food, as well as helping culinary talents, dishes and restaurants get discovered by users there.

But they also said the platform behind Nom could eventually expand into other verticals.

That’s the long-term potential, Chen said. For now, Nom is more excited about its redesign and content from professional chefs going live on the app, including from Michael Tusk, Corey Lee, Tim Hollingsworth and Brandon Jew.

Brandon Jew, whose new Chinese-American restaurant in San Francisco scored a Michelin star rating this year, just makes one request of diners who may use Nom at Mister Jiu’s — no flash photography, please.

Featured Image: Gregory Manalo/TechCrunch