Welcome to CHOW

Published on Wednesday, August 23, 2006, by The CHOW Editorial Team / Edit Post

Welcome to CHOW, our brand new website devoted to the pleasure of food and drink. And by pleasure, we don’t just mean consuming it. We mean making it, playing around with it, learning about it, buying it, selling it, spending huge amounts of time and energy experimenting with it, and discovering other people as passionate as we are about it.

CHOW launched in 2004 as a magazine. We suspended publishing in print a year later (too expensive, too limiting, too old-media for advertisers at the time) to work on a website. Then we were acquired by CNET Networks, the online media corporation that had just acquired restaurant-discussion site Chowhound. With CNET Network’s expertise, we started building a site that takes advantage of just about everything the Web’s got to offer.

Doing something new in the crowded field of food media has been an interesting challenge. As I wrote in the last issue of the mag, “When we said ‘new food magazine,’ people heard ‘old food magazine.’ Few could imagine what we had in mind. They figured we’d be one more rhapsody about lovely meals in lovely surroundings with lovely people. In one sense, they weren’t wrong. It’s just that what we consider a lovely meal or lovely surroundings or even lovely people, is considerably different from the fantasies of the other food magazines. We like fun. And we like real.”

Change food magazine to food site, and here we are, the online CHOW, with our own ideas of what’s lovely and what’s fun and what’s fascinating. It’s everything we wanted to do in print, and more: audio, video, discussion, interaction, your content, our content, the whole Web experience dedicated to our favorite subjects: food and drink.

We hope you enjoy it. Please tell us what you like, what you don’t like, what you’d change and what you’d add. And please come back often. Now that we’re online, there’s something new every day.

Jane Goldman
Editor-in-chief
August 23, 2006

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POST A COMMENT |43 Comments

COMMENT

  • Love the site, it's a welcoming place for me to come and read/post/ask about food. The atmosphere and culture of the forums are great, and the members here actually know what they're talking about.

    Visiting this site for hours is not a good thing when I'm procrastinating >:-(

  • i love CHOW.... its the only website i can stay on for HOURS and not get bored.... thanks for being so great!

  • I wasn't going to read this article but Jane is hot.

  • Love it! Way to go Team Chow

  • Welcome back! Please create printer-friendly versions of your great recipes.

  • Great site. Hope you can make it interactive too. How about recipe contests? Do you buy articles from writers?

  • I try to log on the site almost every day, and I am not disappointed. I have not yet tried any of the recipes, but I look forward to preparing some of them when winter comes and I spend more time indoors and around the stove.

    Best of luck, continue your good work.

  • Another food site is always greatly anticipated and very welcome. I look forward to salivating both while reading and after cooking!

  • why red???? please, it's so hard on the eyes.

  • I read many of your readers comments and I agree with all of the readers who loved the magazine (I too have all of the issues.) But, I'm also excited about the new CHOW site. Maybe someday the magazine can make a comeback? LJones

  • Dear Ms. Goldman,

    I'm so happy to see CHOW back in some form. I have been a subscriber since the beginning, and CHOW is the only food magazine I've bothered to subscribe to. I hope the new format works out as well or better for you.

    However, I was quite disappointed with Intermezzo, the replacement magazine for the balance of my subscription. I felt a bit betrayed, as it seems to celebrate...+READ

    Dear Ms. Goldman,

    I'm so happy to see CHOW back in some form. I have been a subscriber since the beginning, and CHOW is the only food magazine I've bothered to subscribe to. I hope the new format works out as well or better for you.

    However, I was quite disappointed with Intermezzo, the replacement magazine for the balance of my subscription. I felt a bit betrayed, as it seems to celebrate everything that CHOW was supposed to be reacting against!

    Best of luck with your new endeavor.-COLLAPSE

  • Excellent site. So much so that you will need printer-friendly and emailable versions of the articles.

  • Love the site. Really great visuals and easy to navigate. Can't wait to see the finished product.

  • just tried to play the chicken video. extremely (!!) slow loading and then stopped just about 30 seconds after it strated palying

  • I'm as interested in the beverage aspect as the food. Oh, and by the way, I'd like to see barbeque too that's also really fun stuff!

  • Thank you for the opportunity to join you. I have always valued the restaurant tips from Chowhound, especially when he visits and recommends spots in Toronto, Canada where I live, and around our southern neighbors, where and when I travel. More power and success to your site!
    JOTA

  • I am pleased to be notified of the beta release. The initial look is good and the topics interesting. How about adding some 'old marketing'
    coupons that can be printed out and redeamed at either
    other online food sites or grocery stores.We get savings and you get "hits".

  • great site!

  • Glad to see you again!! How about some more international content I would like to see more real food from SE Asia, China and India. I get sick of the best mexican food on the Planet here in Puebla
    Tim Knab

  • WOW! Thank you for inviting me to the preview. Ever since you took away the magazine I've been anxiously awaiting your web site. I HATE INTERMEZZO! I LOVE CHOW! Just two things: A little larger font for the articles and a printed magazine is still FAB. This wesite is more than I could have hoped for - great photos - love the mini photo previews for the killer apps. Thank You Again and Again!

  • Pretty interesting one... I didn't see the paper one and this web site looks cool, pretty cool! hope, the adventure will serve to show people the joy of life around good food!

  • VERY Interested in your site. Can"t wait to see where it LEADS.

  • your site looks really cool, and different from other food-related website i've encountered before. kudos for that!

  • Site seems cool, but I too do miss the magazine. But hey. let's give it a shot and have some fun!

  • Really liking the website. Imbibe, the new magazine on "drinking culture" has found a good way to entice interest, give information and encourage experimentation and spending...this seems to be what your doing too.

  • I'm SO HAPPY to see you guys back! I wish you guys a long and delicious run :)

  • Welcome back, your dreams were your ticket out................

  • Great site - Loved Chow magazine - This site is hot! Would like to see a print option on recipes - with choice of size - card or full size. Like suggestions at top of recipe where to purchase an item that might not be carried in your local grocery store.

  • Just moved back to NYC from Sydney, where the "food scene" is incredibly vibrant! Hope your website will help us to enjoy what the capital of the world offers. Best wishes on your efforts.

    jcbm
    1/09/06

  • Great Job, Jane. We were excited to be a part of the print launch, and we can't wait to see what's next for you!

  • hello i am always looking for something new and exciting and wonderful if you continue to motived and be exciting you will be around for a very long time.....denadoll

  • Good luck on your new enterprise.

  • I like the first impression. I like what you are doing with the Chow and chowhound site. Keep it up.

  • as a first time reader of chow i'm pretty impressed-nice job and good luck in the future-andrew

  • Great job CHOW, nice looking site and great content! Excited to see you guys bounce back!

  • glad to see Chow back in action

  • I really like your website but i loved your magazine.. i miss it! I want it back! you were so different than other food magazines. I still reference recipes and articles from issues...

  • I second that - so happy to see CHOW again - welcome back!

  • So glad you are back, in any medium!
    -CR

  • Good luck with the new site. The idea of filtering food blogs is exciting. I do miss the print version. Intermezzo, which is sent as a substitute, is disappointing.

  • I love it all! I think its way more accessible than the print version.

  • This is beautiful site but there's still a place for print media. (As of today, I cannot bring your "site" in the bath tub with me.) I LOVED your mag and I'm still hoping that once you've aced this web thing, you'll get bored and bring it back...please.

  • what i'd add: heidi swason's 101cookbooks
    a nice trifecta -g