Earn Your First Food Badge in New York

A first food badge in New York is earned by rating five different places of one kind in the Mosey app, such as five Brooklyn slice shops, five dumpling counters in Flushing or five bakeries. Rate each with the tag that fits and the badge arrives with the fifth place. In dense parts of New York, that can take a single weekend.

This page explains how the ladder works, how to choose your first category, and what a badge is and is not. It belongs to the New York State food guide for every town, and the US food guides cover the wider picture.

How does a food badge by kind of place work?

The app puts it this way: rate places with a tag, like Italian or Pizza, and you earn a badge. Keep going to climb four levels. The families follow the tags, so cuisines, kinds of place, meals, dietary needs and occasions all have a ladder. Each rating you give with that tag counts once per place, so two visits to the same bakery are still one bakery.

The level names are Sampler, Taster, Expert and Connoisseur. The first rung asks for five places. When you reach a level you keep it, and the next level asks for more.

Which first food badge in New York should you aim for?

Pick the thing you already do. If you eat pizza every week, the pizza badge is waiting. If you live on coffee, the coffee shop badge is. A first badge works best when it costs you nothing new: the habit is the plan. Avoid choosing a category you will have to travel for unless the trip is the point.

A good test is to count the places in your last month. If you have eaten at five bakeries, bars or ramen counters, you are probably there already, and the work is rating what you remember. Ratings can be added after the fact, so a quiet evening with your photo library is a legitimate way to start.

How do you climb four levels from the first rating?

Give each one a tag that matches the category, plus the place and stars. The tag is what the ladder reads, so add it even if you skip every other detail. Add the dish when you remember it, and a photo if you took one. Ratings you add later count as long as you rate the place. Keep the notes practical: what you ordered, what you would skip, what time of day suited it. The ladder only needs a tag, and the notes are for the next reader.

Can five places in the same neighborhood count?

Yes. The ladder counts different places, not different neighborhoods, so five places of one kind in one block is a fair way to climb. In a dense part of the city, five places of one kind within a short walk is easy to reach. In a small town, it may take a few trips. Either way, the badge says you have eaten widely in a category, not that you have traveled far.

What does the badge beside your name show other people?

A badge sits beside your name on a rating and on your profile posts, so a reader can see that you have rated many places of that kind. A place's page also shows a separate line for ratings from people who hold the badge. That line sits apart from the star score and does not replace it.

What is a badge not?

A reward, a perk or a ranking. It carries no discount, no free meal and no prize. It says nothing about which place is best, and it is not the same as a Gold mark, which describes a place and not a person. A badge is a record that you paid attention.

How does it fit with lists and friends?

Badges work alongside lists and friends. Make a list for the category you are climbing, such as the pizza slices you have tried, and share it with the friends who eat with you. Tag them when you were together, and they can add their own rating of the same meal. The app can also offer to turn rated places of one kind into a list.

When do you see your first New badge?

When the fifth place is rated, the app shows a New badge screen with the option to share your badge as a picture. That moment is the point of the exercise: a small celebration for something you were doing anyway.

One last habit helps: look back each season. Open your ratings, see which kinds of place you rate most, and notice which badge is closest. Many people find they are one or two places short of a level they did not know they were chasing, and the nudge to try one more bakery or one more ramen counter turns an ordinary week into a small project. That is the whole idea of the ladder, and it asks nothing but attention.

How this works in the app: Rate places.

How this works in the app: Food badges.

Get the Mosey app, pick one category you already love in New York, rate five different places with its tag and see the first badge arrive.