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I'm a little surprised at most of these--I would think that, especially with the bridal magazines, advertising would bring in tons of money, and creating content wouldn't be that expensive.
Ohhhh that's too bad. I've gotten Gourmet for years and I love it, not just the recipes but the travel writing and the photos. If they'd asked me, I'd have told them to fold up Bon Appetit instead.
I think the issue (from the financial perspective) is that if you look at magazines as mini-companies on their own, sometimes it's really hard to turn things around because a culture or system is so ingrained. So instead of making painful changes they're just like, 'let's get rid of it altogether'. Maybe there was a loss of will or willingness somewhere?
I'm pretty bummed about this, because I had fallen back in love with Gourmet about two months ago. I used to read it growing up, and finally got bored with it because of its stubborn refusal to update its design, features, or format. Then a couple months ago my mom gave me a big stack that she had read, and I was delighted to find that it had become a different, refreshed, and really interesting magazine, with great photography and really literate writing. And then they came and featured my town in last month's issue, which made me happy. So I was all set to become a subscriber.
What's Ruth Riechl gonna do? She was obviously so awesome for the mag...I kind of wish she could go work at Saveur, my 2nd favorite food magazine.
This on top of the recent total collapse of the quality of Cooking Light. They've done the "New Improved! Fresh look!" thing, and it now completely sucks. It looks like a dogeared and somewhat aged edition of Redbook that you might find at your dentist's office, and read only because the other choices are Car & Driver and Thomas the Tank Engine. It now emphasizes recipes of the "Kwik'n'EZ' variety and seems to have given up presenting sophisticated, well-developed ideas for healthy recipes made from whole foods.
Beat me to posting the news. But it depends on what your definition of "going away" is.
Gourmet magazine will cease monthly publication, but we will remain committed to the brand, retaining Gourmet's book publishing and television programming, and Gourmet recipes on Epicurious.com.
Oh man, I'm still sad about them closing Domino. We're getting to the point where it's going to be easier keeping track of what magazines haven't folded.
If they'd asked me, I'd have told them to fold up Bon Appetit instead.
I get Bon Appetit for free as part of one of those "Take our magazine for free so we can at least pretend it's circulating and getting eyes on the ads!" things. But Molly from Orangette writes for it and her pieces are always good.
We're getting to the point where it's going to be easier keeping track of what magazines haven't folded.
I bought a five-year subscription to a decent computer magazine (don't make me remember which one) about a decade ago. I knew I liked it, it was a ridiculously good offer, etc. Unfortunately, the title folded and I began getting something else. Then that title folded and I started getting Family Computing. "How to restart Windows XP" level articles.
We get Cooks Illustrated which is very much in the geeky sciency end of cooking magazines but I doubt that we've ever actually cooked anything out of it.
We saw Ruth Reichl speak about 9 months ago at City Arts & Lectures. From what she said, I came away with the impression she knew then she was looking for her next gig. From her books, I get the sense that she is one of those lucky folks who finds serendipity right when she needs it. I expect and hope she'll be fine.
Reichl also outlined the process that the Gourmet test kitchen used on a recipe: One person developed & refined the dish again and again and again until the instructions were complete. The chef/writer was then bound & gagged, and compelled to watch as the recipe was given to another staffer, who would drink two glasses of wine, forget to set the timer, and finally attempt the dish. (Or something like that.) It sounded breathtakingly time-consuming and expensive to produce each issue. I think she said they start the November Thanksgiving issue a year in advance. From an economic perspective, I can see how that would be untenable.
The chef/writer was then bound & gagged, and compelled to watch as the recipe was given to another staffer, who would drink two glasses of wine, forget to set the timer, and finally attempt the dish.
When I bought my knife (a Global, it is terrifying, still haven't used it because I decided to practice with a cheap one first) the store included a free subscription to Gourmet with it. I didn't expect the writing to be so good. I keep wanting to recreate one of those fancy dinners from their photoshoots, but I don't own that many plates.
photo by splunge
photo by TheophileEscargot
photo by Kronos_to_Earth
photo by ethylene
