With Gourmet discontinued by Conde Nast, what's your favorite cooking mag?

[fisherdm]

Sad news this morning from Conde Nast, publisher of Gourmet. The magazine which has been around for just under 70 years is folding.

While this news is certainly a bummer, other great food mags do exist, including my favorite, Saveur. I open this thread up to you fellow foodies for input on others I may be missing.

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com...

[alkapal]

what is your opinion, anyone (everyone) on "intermezzo"? http://www.intermezzomagazine.com/

[ChefBill]

delicious. Australian food magazine, packed with recipes and very little filler.

[Waquoit]

My firend and I just picked up Cusine for Two at Borders. I like their layout and we are already planning to try a few recipes this week.

[krisrishere]

Saveur, however that's only when I receive issues which is about once every 2 months or so. But that's a whole other issue I have with them!

[chefhound]

I used to read Gourmet and Bon Appetit years ago but I found the recipes started to sound familiar and I would finish the magazine quickly.
I love Saveur! I learn something really intriguing every time. I also adore Cooks Illustrated. It's not as exotic but the techniques and all the testing really appeal. I also like Food & Wine for recipes and Fine Cooking is not bad but it seems to be a bit dumbed down lately.
Here's one nobody has mentioned: Delicious. There's one from Australia and a UK version. Some new ideas and different perspectives.

[pemma]

I was very dissapointed in the first issue of Bon Appetit I got as a replacement for Gourmet. Then the other day I got a solicitation for Saveur at a very good rate. It looks good and I plan to subscribe. I figured I would try to cancel the BA subscription and get my money back. I called the subscriber services number on their website and they quickly agreed to cancel the subscription and send a refund. The number is 1-800-365-2454. They did not try to talk me out of it at all. Now let's see if and when I get the refund. I had paid with a check. I wonder if I had used a credit card if they would have credited my card right away.

[sarge]

I came across info on Intermezzo magazine. It looks interesting. Any thoughts?

[Agent 99]

The new issue of Saveur is incredible. The Jan/Feb 100 is unlike anything Gourmet could have ever been. I too miss Gourmet but am so happy I still have my Saveur for the travel and experience of everything food and Cook's Illustrated for the technique. Everything else is crappy. Made the Choc Cream Pie from the new issue of Saveur and it is yummy. Saveur.com is awesome too. Website pulls from best of the web.

[grant.cook]

Food and Wine, Cooks Illustrated, and Fine Cooking.. a nice spectrum for me.

I don't like the magazines with food spreads with young good looking models wearing A&F standing around a table made out of a canoe in some field eating gourmet appetizers

[The Professor]

Since GOURMET's demise, I suppose my new favorite is _back issues_ of GOURMET.

Other than that, I do especially like SAVEUR more than most of the others.

[onthelam]

I just scarfed up a whole stack of mid 60's to early 70's issues at our town dump...er transfer station...that someone had left in the book recycling area. ( My favorite part - the front covers have little squares of masking tape with the names and page numbers of the recipes the former owner liked! What a good idea! )
Now I'm set for a while!

[ScubaSteve]

as a long time Gourmet subscriber to Gourmet i got my first issue of Bon Appetit (the MeatBall issue) and i must say that i'm thouroughly disappointed. the whole magazine looks like one big Ad and i couldn't tell where the ads stopped and the articles began.

i'm a Big Fan of Saveur.

[Beckyleach]

I had just re-subscribed to Gourmet, so--after going on the warpath and writing really, really angry letters (which he answered, but only to patronize,sneer, and condescend) to Charles Townsend, of Conde Nast, I refused to be subscribed to Bon Appetit.

I took my refund and got perverse pleasure in using it to help pay for my new Sauveur subscription. <eg>

[ScubaSteve]

if i had the ambition i'd do that too. but as it is i don't so i'm stuck with BA until 10/10 when my old Gourmet subscription runs out.

[LindaWhit]

Well, per other comments on other threads, you CAN cancel BA and ask for your Gourmet subscription money back. But it seems they don't make it easy to get it back. Special # to call, I think.

[ScubaSteve]

i'm too lazy for even that.

[LindaWhit]

LOL! Well then, I guess you're reading BA until October. <vbg>

[buttertart]

To Beckyleach: "Revenge is a dish best served cold" department? Good on ya.

[nomadchowwoman]

Saveur. Have always loved it; still love it albeit w/out the fiery passion of the early years! Oh, those early issues.

BTW, has anyone tried the Canal House mag-books?

[nofunlatte]

I just bought vol. 2 of Canal House and am enjoying reading it. Recipes look wonderful, though I haven't cooked any yet. The Negroni, though, will be my New Year's cocktail.

[Will Owen]

Saveur for me too, though it's a sad irony that I had intended to subscribe to Gourmet, partly because I loved what Reichl had done with it and partly because it and I came out the same month of the same year! I was looking forward to the two of us turning 70 together in another year...

When Mrs. O and I got married, her dad gave us (among other things) a subscription to Gourmet. Then after a few years it suddenly became one for Bon Appetit - he was doggedly old-fashioned, and I gather he didn't approve of Gourmet's changing its unchanged-since-1941 format. After a year or two I asked him very politely not to bother renewing, and he admitted he was bored with BA too.

Aside from the relentless promotion schemes, I simply do not like Mr. Kimball nor his magazine. It seems dedicated to making cooking foolproof, a notion for which I have nought but scorn. I admire and applaud their use of illustration; I just wish it were in the service of a better effort.

[lscanlon]

Cook's Illustrated, no two ways about it.

[buttertart]

I love it too but it doesn't have the travel coverage that Saveur does, which is also what was best about the glory days of Gourmet.

[Sharuf]

Just got my Gourmet subscription replacement magazine Bon Apetite, and it's as lame as I remember. Gotta find that card that has the number to call if we want our money back instead of the mag they're trying to fob off on us. AAAARRRGGH!

[wintersummer]

I'm still looking for something to replace my Gourmet. There's just not another food magazine that fills this void. I'm not going for CI because it's just too recipe focused. I enjoyed the balance of food, travel, and recipes in Gourmet. Nothing else fills the void. Conde Nast, are you listening?

[BobB]

Have you tried Saveur? Food, travel and recipes, great photography, and they even let you know where you can source all the unusual ingredients.

[buttertart]

I actually prefer Saveur to what Gourmet had become these past years. It's a very good magazine.

[gfr1111]

Fisherdm,
There is an answer coming to your question, but I must place some caveats on my answer. First, I abhor the "dumbing down" of food magazines and the Food Network. It seems to me that magazines that used to aspire to the delicious, complex and unusual, have decided that people want delicious, easy, and mundane. The problem is that if you provide recipes that are easy and mundane, they are rarely delicious. At least, if they are delicious, they are so standard that you don't really need a cooking magazine to acess them.

Therefore, I don't think that there is any magazine out there like "Gourmet," although I admit that I have not read several of the ones suggested above. Perhaps I am wrong. The ones that I have read all seem to promote dumbed down cooking where convenience and speed have replaced deliciousness as the major criteria of the magazine.

The foregoing having been said, I'd vote for "Cooks' Illustrated" not because it has exotic recipes (it most decidedly does not), but because its recipes have been thoroughly researched. There is rarely a loser recipe. It is also the best teaching magazine I know, explaining consistently the reason that different cooking procedures are done.

Still, I am searching for a replacement magazine for "Gourmet" that recognizes that I don't care how long a recipe takes, or how many steps there are, or whether it is tough to find the ingredients. Since cooking is my hobby, I'm not trying to just put food on the table. I enjoy the PROCESS of cooking, with a glass or red wine in one hand and classical music playing in the background. Why would I want to speed up or simplify that experience? Is there a cooking magazine out there for people like me, now that "Gourmet" has bitten the dust?

[pemma]

Well, it's not Bon Appetit. I got my first "Gourmet replacement" issue this weekend (Jan. issue) and I was very disappointed. It is a big step down in quality from Gourmet. "Blah" photography and sending you to the web site to see pictures of dishes, no in-depth articles. Some of the recipes were OK, but nothing that really got me excited. The whole magazine seems so boring. Well, I'll try and see if I can eventually warm up to it, but I don't know.

[helenahimm]

Saveur

Gastronomica

Olive

Food & Travel.

[Agent 99]

I find Saveur the most interesting because I can get information on ingredients that I can't get anywhere else. I get most of my recipes online so I love to travel to destinations with the magazine. Also, the local Edible magazines are interesting as well. Lots of garbage out there.

[Mawrter]

Olive? Not familar with that one - would love to hear more!

[LaFemmeNikita]

It's been 2 months but I'm still mourning Gourmet.

Here's to another vote for Saveur. But don't forget to check out the lesser known gastronomic publications: Gastronomica, Diners Journal, The Edible publications, The Art of Eating...

Also, in France, Elle has a great sister mag called Elle a la Table (too bad it's not in English though).

[berlinfoodie]

I'm new to the site and very bummed to find Gourmet has gone under. I'm a long term subscriber in a small town in Wisconsin. Transplanted from L.A., I loved to read a food mag that had some depth and some real insight in the writing about food. I'm not being critical, but velveeta is still a common ingredient here and most people cook from Taste of Home. Gourmet was always a reminder that there is a BIG food world out there, with all kinds of amazing flavors. Their articles on slow food, and particularly on the politics of food production, were really on the mark a lot of the time. I was going to pitch all my old issues, now I'm awfully pleased to have a big box in the attic. Gourmet, I will miss you!

[KristieB]

I married a sailor and moved to Va Beach and then north of Chicago from a small town in Wisconsin. Ladysmith to be exact. May I ask where you are living?

[BobB]

From her screen name one might infer Berlin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin,_...

[KristieB]

My favorite cooking magazine is Saveur. I am very unhappy that Gourmet is being discontinued as Bon Apetit is a poor substitute. I borrowed several copies from my library and find that it doesn't hold a candle to Gourmet. I cannot believe that it is staying in publication while Gourmet is not.

I also like Cook's Illustrated and Cooking Light.

[Scrapironchef]

Wait- Gourmet was a cooking magazine?

[RetiredChef]

LMAO!

[FoodReader]

saveur!

[RetiredChef]

I saw very little difference between Saveur and Gourmet – both magazines seem to be targeted at the people who like to dine out and try a recipe now and again.

Outside of the pure professional magazines Fine Cooking seemed to have the best instructional methods and their recipes seemed to be accurate and tested. They assumed that you used to possess a moderate level of knowledge and skills; However, they have been dumbing down their magazine over the last couple of years and marketing to the new home-maker – very sad.

Cooks illustrated as mentioned above is good a year or two, but they do seem to follow a formulaic style.

Food and Wine is the most hit and miss, one issue is excellent the next recipes are wrong, articles are banal, etc.

I’m surprised that no dedicated foodie has mentioned art culinare.

Cheers

[KristieB]

I didn't get that vibe from Saveur that you did. I love how it blends Americana with other cultures from around the glove. And I have to admit that there is seldom an issue that I don't cook at least one recipe from. It is my favorite food magazine. Gourmet was the second. I am still missing it and am not at all happy with the replacement issues of Bon Appetit. I will not be renewing my subscription to that magazine I can assure you.

[eviemichael]

Food and Wine is a far second for me. I wonder if a new magazine will come out sometime in the future to replace the role of Gourmet? The others just don't come close for me.

[beelzebozo]

SAVEUR

x1,000,000

for me, nothing else has ever touched it.

[jwurz]

What is the difference between Cooks Illustrated and Cooks Country. I currently subscribe to Cooks Illustrated, and I am thinking about the other one.

J

[lyndak]

I personally think that CI uses only fresh ingredients i.e nothing prepared. Where as CC bends the rules by using canned soups, pre-seasoned rice etc...

I also consider CI a weekend cooking mag and CC a weeknight cooking mag. Recipes tend to be more invovled in CI.

Edited to add, I like both....lk

[cheesemaestro]

Another vote for Saveur. I love Asian and other ethnic cuisines and appreciate the round-the-world perspectives. I subscribed to CI for several years, but no longer. Got tired of the same formulaic approach to every recipe.

[Sharuf]

Favorite cooking mag? It ain't Bon Appetite, I can tell you that.

I dropped my subscription a few years ago when each issue seemed to have an article featuring one or another group of 30-somethings in Southern California having a patio party or backyard barbecue. It had turned into an ongoing shtick.

I recently re-upped to Gourmet for two years. If they try to flip me into the Bon Appetite subscription embrace I will be truly pissed.

[Smachnoho]

I like "Cook's Illustrated" and also their web site. I take them out at my local Public Library.
My second choice is: Fine Cooking.

[EWSflash]

Well, that's what t hey're doing with your Gourmet subscription. You s hould have received itby now.

I absolutely agree with your "ongoing shtick" observation. And they've been doing that since the '80s. Does anybody remember the "Too Busy to Cook?" section where readers sent in the most convoluted, long, drawn-out recipes? You almost couldn't have a job and do some of those dishes. It was more like "Never Too Busy to Brag About Your Cooking Prowess".

My MIL gives me the gift subscription every year, I'm going to switch to something else as a request.

My current favorites are Saveur and Cook's Illustrated.

[Fritter]

I won't miss Gourmet or any other magazine at the prices they charge today. Rag prices are just obscene when you can buy a book off Amazon that will last a life time for $25 and get free freight.
If I have to pick one it would be saveur.

[BobB]

Saveur. It's the only one that I'll read cover to cover regularly.

[bayoucook]

Saveur, Bon Appetit, Food and Wine, Fine Cooking, Cook's Illustrated, Louisiana Cookin'.

[AGM_Cape_Cod]

I have had a subscription to Gourmet since 1976 so obviously I am sad it will be discontinued. I get a whole slew of magazines and like each for different reasons.

One thing I really like about Fine Cooking is that you can buy a DVD of the year's issues. Since I save my magazines I appreciate that and wish more magazines would do that. They make twice the amount of money since I like getting the print issue each month and then give them away when the DVD is available.

I like the online content for several magazines but wish they would bundle the cost with the print subscription price. I hate having to pony up again to get access to the magazine sitting on my counter at home.

[foodperv]

i have some of theirs going back to the 1950's

question is it just gourmet or does it include their sister bon app. ?

[AGM_Cape_Cod]

If I understand the question correctly, it is only Gourmet that will be discontinued.

[fisherdm]

That is correct, only Gourmet has met its end.

[nofunlatte]

Saveur and Eating Well. Both have excellent writing (I find the health-related articles in Eating Well every bit as enjoyable to read as the geographically focused ones in Saveur). Interesting recipes, though I'm health-conscious, so I tend to actually cook from Eating Well more often. While I'm saddened by the demise of Gourmet, I can't say that it ever did much for me. But I do understand that people loved that magazine.

[elegraph]

Hi, New here. Saveur and Eating Well are the first ones that came to my mind. I like Cooks Illustrated from the newstand once in awhile but will not subscribe again either to the magazine or internet site. Let's just say their marketing efforts are very persistent.

[buttertart]

I am now subscribed to CI until Nov 2012 because of receiving multiple mailings for lsast-chance renewal. Since I didn't have a magaazine handy to check expiration date (and was not particularly tracking my subcription status), I re-upped a couple of times...would be nice if they knocked this practice off...

[LindaWhit]

All magazine publishers do this. Their "LAST CHANCE!" notices are compelling. Country Living tried to get me to re-up when my current subscription doesn't run out until Sept 2010. I finally had to create a separate folder in my bills with a small spreadsheet as to renewal date and expiration date.

[MattInNJ]

Cooks Illustrated.

[maggiej]

It's a huge loss.

Other favorites: for articles, Saveur. For recipes, Food and Wine.

[celeriac]

It's truly a major loss. I, for one, really think that Gourmet beat Saveur at their own game in recent years. As Saveur is consistently dumbed down year-in and year-out, Gourmet took ont he mantle of accessible, interesting and nuanced food writing. Their coverage of food politics, traditional foodways and culture was quite decent. I don't know of another mainstrm mag anywhere near as good.

[LJS]

Celeriac said it for me: I was a fan of Saveur for the first 8(?) years, basically right up until the new Editor changed the direction of it: the cover became like every other food magazine in the world and they really made it far less sophisticated, substituting the former charming insights into the homes of food purveyors in Germany and Taiwan with yet another "downhome BBQ" family event in Anytown, USA.

So I started to read Gourmet again, and recently, I have been a solid supporter, giving it as a gift and cooking from it frequently.

I am truly saddened to see Gourmet go. But this is the way of the publishing industry. As long as the Kraft, Unilevers and P&G's hold the purse strings on ad $, they are going to want to put their mega-bucks into magazines where the whole idea of cooking from scratch is kept scarey for the reader: that way they can sell more of their hugely profitable pre-peeled frozen potatoes and their roast-in-a-box monstrosities.

There just aren't enough purveyors of organic turkeys, artisanal cheese, and vintners out there with the ad dollars to support the Gourmet's of this world. And it is a sadder reading world as a result.

I will vote for Cook's Illustrated at a pinch and, in my home town here in Canada, Chatelaine, though I do despair now that Monda Rosenberg has retired.

[Roland Parker]

Don't blame the decline of the magazines on Kraft.

Readership for almost all form of published media has substantially declined in the last ten years. Both newspapers and magazines have been badly hit. A prominent reason behind the decline is the rise of the internet which offers information for free.

Point your fingers, not at advertising dollars but megacorporations, but at yourself and your use of the internet.

[littlew1ng]

just glad they're keeping bon appetit. it's not as pretty or exotic as gourmet, but i think on the whole more accessible (especially in terms of the recipes in it.)

[linguafood]

oh, bummer. i had no idea. i loved their articles, and food photography. their recipes weren't half bad either. on the other hand -- one less subscription to manage '-)