Telegram now features the spoonacular bot

- Written by David Urbansky on December 10th 2016

If you don't already know Telegram - it is an open, fast, free, and secure multi-platform messenger app comparable to WhatsApp (but without its dark sides, like gaining control over your content).

Telegram has introduced the concept of bots. Bots are automated chatters that you can contact using a set of predefined commands. And since we want to give you access to spoonacular and our data in as many ways as possible - we created a bot for you!

Command the Bot

Currently the bot features three commands:

/recipes query: Searches for recipes and sends you the top one to three results right back, e.g. /recipes steak
/products query: Searches for grocery products such as frozen pizza, e.g. /products pizza
/menuitems query: Searches menu items such as burgers on restaurant menus, e.g. /menuitems big mac
/convert query: Converts something for you, e.g. /convert 1 cup butter into grams
/nutrition query: Get nutritional information, e.g. /nutrition vitamin C in 2 oranges
/gifts: Start a conversation to find a suitable foodie gift for a loved one
/joke: Let spoonacular tell you a joke about food
/trivia: Let spoonacular tell you something you didn't know before

The following screenshot shows it in action on the desktop app. But this of course also works on your phone or even Apple Watch.

You can also use the bot in "inline mode" which means in any other conversation with somebody, you just write @spoonacularbot burrito and results for recipes, products, and menu items will be shown.