A few weeks ago, the New York Times published an article about how cell phones have become an integral part of the cooking process -- the modern day chef's tool.

It got me thinking about how much I do indeed use my own phone to get dinner on the table: I'll look up recipes using the web browser (It's great having the recipe at the counter with me without having to print/write it down). I'll make a shopping list with my "notes" feature if I'm stuck waiting somewhere and paper isn't handy. And, of course, there have been plenty of frantic calls to my mom or to friends for coaching through potential culinary disasters.

But the handiness of my cell phone in creating culinary bliss doesn't stop there, at all.

On my iPhone, I've downloaded Big Oven, the recipe app mentioned in the Times article. A recipe database like this, accessible from your phone, is a boon especially when you're at the farmers market wondering what you can make with the produce for sale there. I also use apps like Urban Spoon,  Zagat Guide and other restaurant searches to help me find the healthiest restaurants, both when I travel and in my own hometown. A quick search for healthy-cuisine genres, such as "vegetarian" or "Japanese," yields plenty of choices and helps me avoid eating something unhealthy out of sheer desperation.

I'm also quickly becoming a fan of Twitter, which is a good source of inspiration to see what foods other people are buying, eating and thinking about. Search Twitter users with keywords like "organic" or "cuisine" and you'll find plenty of users to follow who will provide you with a wealth of information... and you can even "tweet" your own missives of where you've found the best prices on fair-trade coffee, or how you prepared your wild Alaskan salmon last night. (Feel free to "follow" me!)

If you're on a diet, there are plenty of ways your cell phone can help you stay on track, whether it's a downloadable food diary or calorie-counting apps or even just using your calendar function to keep a log of what you've eaten for the day. And taking a photo of a favorite bottle of biodynamic wine at a restaurant, or of a new organic food brand you want to try, is an easy way to store information until you can do more research later.

I've heard for years about refrigerators with built-in computers and other "smart" appliances. But until they're available to the mainstream consumer, I'll be happy using my cell phone as my favorite high-tech kitchen gadget.