Party Food from the Corner Store
Sausage Recipes of the Month
7 Meatloaf Recipes
Strawberry Fool
Making Meatballs with a Mob Wife
Asparagus Mimosa
That was the question posed Monday on Chowhound by d8200, a longtime Food & Wine reader who wrote that in the last couple of years, "I'm not as excited when I find the latest issue in my mailbox. That day is far from the glorious and momentous occasion that it once was."
Citing recurrent quinoa salad recipes and "more b.s. about why Napa Valley is the greatest food/wine scene on earth," d8200 asked, "Has the quality and content been decreasing as of late, or is it that I'm just becoming more jaded or discerning in my expectations?"
That latter question gets to the point: Has the food media gotten so hopelessly overstuffed that it's starting to digest itself? Glossies like F&W and Bon Appétit are but the tip of a very large hand-chipped ice cube. And because they're the most visible, they're also the most illustrative of readers' changing expectations.
You could argue that mainstream food magazines aren't as gratifying as they used to be because they cater to the modern taste for recipes served alongside articles about hot fauxhemian travel destinations and loft parties hosted by photogenic industrial designers. Discovering that Ali Wentworth, comedian and consort to George Stephanopoulos, favors seashells as table decorations (F&W, February 2012) doesn't really carry the same thrill as discovering "Consider the Lobster," the David Foster Wallace essay from Gourmet's August 2004 issue.
It's easy to fetishize the old Gourmet—magazines, like people, are most beloved after they're gone. Perhaps what we're really idealizing is a not-so-distant past when our phones didn't tell us where to go for dinner and the processed-food industry hadn't yet appropriated the "underground" restaurant concept, or before it was even a concept. It was easier to feel like you'd actually discovered something that a thousand food blogs hadn't already claimed ownership of and bragged about, before forgetting it in the rush to "discover" something else.
Maybe it's also that nothing really seems to be much of a risk anymore. Offal's gone as mainstream as salted caramel ice cream, Sriracha has its own cookbook, and eating insects is so Brooklyn 2010. Instead of going out on a limb, magazine editors prefer to huddle in the treehouse, trying to wring novelty out of barbecue, burgers, and the Thanksgiving turkey.
A former coworker spent the better part of 2010 and 2011 declaring that "the age of foodism" had finally hit a plateau, with the food media poised to tumble right over its edge and into the abyss. I'd like to think we'll find something deeper: more stories about food politics, more nuanced explorations of cultural traditions, more about why we're always looking for the next big trend.
Some would argue that publications like Saveur, The Art of Eating, and Gastronomica fulfill that function quite nicely. Plenty more would argue that food doesn't need to be covered so seriously anyway—we're not talking nuclear disarmament here, but what to make for a Seder. But the larger question lingers: What will satisfy our jaded palates? Whoever can answer that stands to make a lot of money. Until then, maybe it's time to look those mainstream food magazines squarely in the eye and admit to ourselves that it's not them—it's us.
Image source: Flickr member SteffanyF! under Creative Commons
As a chef in my younger years, I read every food magazine I could get my hands on, and cookery books were an obsession.
Recently, I have to agree, I find myself skimming through the quality magazines - I'm reluctant to give them up, but they don't inspire as they used to .... maybe it's an age thing !
Lucky Peach is excellent, as is Canal House for those who haven't seen it. Good food magazines are still out there, they're just not "mainstream." You may have to look a bit harder to find them.
Hooray! My sentiments exactly. BA and F&W have become the Wine Spectator of food mags. Gwyneth Paltrow? On the cover? As the feature for the month? Please. The last BA seemed to be obsessed with LA (of course) and Copenhagen. Huh? They have gone the way of food tv, self absorbed and pretentious. Anyway, great article.
Hear hear I for one am tired of these things lets get the magizines to go back to basics.
Lucky Peach is the new face of great food writing.
Maybe we all finally reached the saturation point: consider the two entire cable channels dedicated to food and the dozen+ magazines also focused on the subject, not to mention the local periodicals and newspaper sections. I agree the best new magazine is David Chang's new glossy challenging the status quo, but that design is definitely targeted to a younger voyeur. But not interesting enough to...+READ
Maybe we all finally reached the saturation point: consider the two entire cable channels dedicated to food and the dozen+ magazines also focused on the subject, not to mention the local periodicals and newspaper sections. I agree the best new magazine is David Chang's new glossy challenging the status quo, but that design is definitely targeted to a younger voyeur. But not interesting enough to motivate me to purchase a copy. I do like the science and research and taste tests behind the recipes and subjects of America's Test Kitchen...-COLLAPSE
Gone are the days when I read each Gourmet from cover to cover. Even in its final days the magazine was going down hill. The majority of the magazine was ads, and worse "advertisements posing as articles". I have nearly every gourmet from 1981 thru its end. The writing quality was much better in the older magazines, the travel articles more interesting and approachable by us mere mortals, and the...+READ
Gone are the days when I read each Gourmet from cover to cover. Even in its final days the magazine was going down hill. The majority of the magazine was ads, and worse "advertisements posing as articles". I have nearly every gourmet from 1981 thru its end. The writing quality was much better in the older magazines, the travel articles more interesting and approachable by us mere mortals, and the whole idea of cooking to entertain was the essence. All the ads made the magazine tough to read. At one time it was as nearly as enjoyable a a good book.
I still subscribe to Bon Appetitte, but I don't remember the last time I made anything from the magazine. For the most part my cooking ideas come from online sources like epicurious or my favorite dog eared and reliable cook books.-COLLAPSE
Same thing that happened to Food Network. They've discovered that dumbing down the content makes it more "accessible"; higher ratings. So you get cooking magazines aimed at people who like to eat food, not make it.
I CHERISH my four copies of CHOW..................
Aside from the more "technical" and "learning" inspired magazines such as Cook's Illustrated, Cooks
Country, and Saveur, most of the "food & cooking" magazines seem more like cooking tabloids.
My favorite all time magazine is came and went way too fast---Taunton's Kitchen Gardener. Gorgeous photography of veggie gardens, how to grow heirlooms vegs, and then recipes that highlight the veg. If you are a gardener and a cook, try to find some old copies!
I like Saveur, it makes me happy.
Is anyone else exhausted of the food media exhaustively covering the food media?
I am so glad I am not the only one who feels that way! The lastest issue of Food & Wine didn't have a single thing in it I wanted to rush off to the kitchen to make! And Bon Appetit has realy gone off into left field...from Gwenth Patlrow on cover in the fall...straight downhill from there.. everything is green and brown, with ingredients you have never heard of and aren't interested in rushing...+READ
I am so glad I am not the only one who feels that way! The lastest issue of Food & Wine didn't have a single thing in it I wanted to rush off to the kitchen to make! And Bon Appetit has realy gone off into left field...from Gwenth Patlrow on cover in the fall...straight downhill from there.. everything is green and brown, with ingredients you have never heard of and aren't interested in rushing off to find...and whats up with that 'napkin-notes' last page?!? Please! I'm in my sixties and have subscribed to cooking mags for years...Always kept all the gourmets and BAs. They are not in chronological order but rather by months so that in, say, February, I can grab a handful of February issues for review. I am planning to cook every single recipe inthe 1986 issue of BA, just as I am sure I did then. There is no comparison in today's issues to my 'antiques'. I am almost embarrased to say I look forward to my issue of Food NetWork Mag more than some of my old standards! I think I'll begin dropping my subs, with the exception of Fine Cooking and Savour, and just begin to recycle my oldies!-COLLAPSE
While I havent picked up a "glossy" food magazine in mny years, I cant wait for the latest issue of Cooks Illustrated.
Usually something new to try, and almost always something to learn.
The Atlantic listed David Chang's new magazine "Lucky Peach" as the best new food magazine in 2011 and I have to agree. It pushes the limits and is interesting with amazing photography. I can't wait for the next issue.
http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2011/06/2011s-best-new-food-magazine-david-changs-lucky-peach/240804/
I think you kind of said it...magazines are "struggling" to make bbq and turkey interesting...but that's crazy...people only find "interest" in the new, and the way out, wacky parts of food...in my opinion that's why molecular gastronomy is having its hay-day...it's not your run of the mill, every day, food...it's different....and i think that's what's wrong. No one cares how proper bread is...+READ
I think you kind of said it...magazines are "struggling" to make bbq and turkey interesting...but that's crazy...people only find "interest" in the new, and the way out, wacky parts of food...in my opinion that's why molecular gastronomy is having its hay-day...it's not your run of the mill, every day, food...it's different....and i think that's what's wrong. No one cares how proper bread is made, they just want to know how to make a foam...I love food, and I love understanding how food is made, and I HATE it when people say "oh you must love molecular gastronomy"...what the hell does that even mean? all food is composed of molecules!!...going a little over board here, but i think people don't really care about food, they care about the "next best thing"...and these magazines are struggling to keep up with that...-COLLAPSE
Missy, I suspect the real issue is that print media has not consistently employed staff that's willing or able to do the work to differentiate itself from what you can find for free online. The expertise of food journalists has not traditionally compared to the expertise in some other areas of journalism - for a long time, it didn't have to. Of course there have been exceptions, but I'm not...+READ
Missy, I suspect the real issue is that print media has not consistently employed staff that's willing or able to do the work to differentiate itself from what you can find for free online. The expertise of food journalists has not traditionally compared to the expertise in some other areas of journalism - for a long time, it didn't have to. Of course there have been exceptions, but I'm not buying it if you claim that print food writing has consistently held itself to an extremely high standard, because it just isn't so.
Sure, there's a lot of fluff in online food writing. But there was a lot of fluff in traditional food journalism as well. On top of that, print journalists still have to compete with the likes of Seriouseats and Cookingissues on the French Culinary Institute's website - online food writers who do their research, often to a greater degree than most traditional food journalism.
If print wants to keep up, they'd be better off spending their time working harder than slinging mud. Because of the accessibility of online food writing, both good and bad, it may be a losing battle anyway. But generally speaking, people will pay for something if it's significantly better than what they can get for free.-COLLAPSE
Dare I say it? I pin most of the problem on the now-totally-accessible world of online "media." Anyone with a computer can now become an instant-expert food writer or restaurant critic. The pretentiousness is over the top. I am getting tired of doctored glamour shots of the world's greatest bread pudding recipe from Foodgloriousfood's North Dakota kitchen (I am making that up as far as I know, so...+READ
Dare I say it? I pin most of the problem on the now-totally-accessible world of online "media." Anyone with a computer can now become an instant-expert food writer or restaurant critic. The pretentiousness is over the top. I am getting tired of doctored glamour shots of the world's greatest bread pudding recipe from Foodgloriousfood's North Dakota kitchen (I am making that up as far as I know, so if there really is someone with that blog and the world's best bread pudding photo please don't come after me)
Print publications employ REAL food experts - impartial, well-trained reviewers; laboratory kitchens in which trained chefs work out recipe details; photographers who rely on their expertise rather than autofocus macro. These pubs are finding it very difficult to compete with internet "food experts" and those who prop up that mirage. In a bid to cling to readers, magazines are desperately trying to carve out a new niche. After all, why invest in another bread pudding recipe when there are 5,000 others online, all of them "the best in the world" and many reposted from print pubs!
Therefore we see cocktail parties in industrial lofts and celebrities' seashell collections. Print pubs have not yet struck the right mix of features and recipes. but they soon need to perfect this elusive cocktail - because unless the internet blows up, we will continually have to suffer through Great-Aunt Nellie's Review of Uchiko.
(Disclosure: I am a print journalist of 30 years who is now a camera-, video- and recorder-toting do-it-all who can't do any of those things half as well as the one thing I have 30 years' experience doing)-COLLAPSE
*ALL* magazines are in decline. Death of physical media and all.