No matter where you stand on meat analogues, it’s been hard to miss the latest news that scientists at the University of Missouri have come up with a soy-based product that very closely imitates chicken flesh. This latest food breakthrough is featured in the upcoming issue of Time Magazine, which touts that this is the “first soy product that not only can be flavored to taste like chicken but also breaks apart in your mouth the way chicken does: not too soft, not too hard, but with that ineffable chew of real flesh.”

In today’s marketplace, engaging with customers and potential customers goes well beyond coupons and newspaper ads. In fact, today, many consumers actually invite businesses into their lives through social media. More commonly known as Facebook, Twitter, and a score of other upcoming platforms, businesses can now interact directly and publicly with a nearly infinite number of potential customers, making it critically important to establish and define a sound set of guidelines and procedures by which your business will engage with consumers.

In study after study, consumers are showing their interest in vegetarian foods as more people become concerned with health, animals, and the environment. Big businesses appear to have their ear to the wall, affirming that the trend toward vegetarian food products is here to stay.

Twitter is an online messaging service, where users can broadcast what’s on their mind (in 140 characters or less) — at any time, from anywhere. At any one time, countless numbers of these bite-sized messages are being broadcast from user to user, resulting in a massive web of online conversations. So now that you’ve got the big idea, the question is, can this constant borage of information be useful to my business?

They’re fun and they’re whimsical, and yes, they’re even practical. Of course, we’re talking about iPhone apps! There’s an iPhone app for just about everything and beyond recipe guides, some of the most recent are for the well-connected vegetarian consumer. Take a look at some of these useful, and intriguing, veg-friendly apps…