In the foodie world, it isn’t just greens that are going micro. Folks on Twitter (Tweeple, if you will), are now sharing tiny reviews and itty bitty news items about everything from restaurants to cooking at home to public foodie events in 140 characters or less. I have to say this has been fabulous for keeping up with D.C.-area food fun. I’ve doubled or tripled the scope of my D.C. gastronomical awareness, and it’s only been a few weeks.

One set of tweets I recently enjoyed came from chefrock, of The Carlyle Club in Alexandria. He took us through a meal at Rammy-winning Brabo in a play-by-play that could rival any Tom Sietsema review or Iron Chef narration. In quick, nutritious bursts, chefrock took us from the very beginning of the meal (“Fresh baguette was gooder than good. Nothin like great bread to start a meal off right. Service is awesome, so glad its still alive”) to dessert (“Apricot cobbler was nice and refreshing, not too sweet. The chcolate terrine was ridiculous! I’m stuffed!”).

Others, like user arasmus, send quick tips: “New DC Restaurant: Latin-Asian-flavored Masa 14, set for September 2009 opening at 1825 14th St. NW. Per @metrocureanhttp://bit.ly/Ha421.”

For utility, you can’t beat people who give timely updates. For locavores, it’s great to follow someone like EdChes (a.k.a. Edible Chesapeake magazine), who piped up last weekend with “stopped by Takoma Park this morning, too – it was jumping as usual! looked like Jerry’s eggs would sell out by 10:30 easy!” If I’d been in town, you bet I would have dropped the Sunday Post, shimmied out of my PJs, and gotten down to the market right then and there.

I enjoy how the microblogging format lends itself to small and (sorry, gotta say it) digestible bits. It forces users to get to the point and not fret over finding the perfect adjective or analogy. Followers can respond immediately to agree, disagree, augment, or ask for more information.

At the same time, I’d argue that Tweeting about eating is a perfect slow foods tool. Why? Well, isn’t it the slow foods movement that has encouraged us to think carefully about our food and create community around it? If you’re pausing after a few sips of wine to think about what you experienced and then craft a description, doesn’t that burnish the beauty of each mouthful?

You may have to put that in your Tweetberry and puff on it for a while, but in the end I bet you’ll agree–it would do @AliceWaters proud.

[update] Note: I’m Rhea42!