Gourmet Magazine Will Fold This Year
This just in: Today, Condé Nast will announce the folding of Gourmet. According to Sam Sifton, the November issue will be its last. It's no surprise that they chose to cut one of their two struggling food magazines, although, frankly, we're a little stunned that Bon Appétit is the one to survive. According to Gawker, the Gourmet brand will live on in its book publishing and TV divisions. [Related: Take a look at the very first issue of Gourmet here »]
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25 Comments:
And yet the website's still urging you to subscribe. Sad news, but not very well co-ordinated messaging...
julietanne at 10:33AM on 10/05/09
And I just renewed my subscription! Oh no! Will I get my money back for the issues I don't receive? Also, I second on the questionability of folding Gourmet and not Bon Appetit. I subscribe to both, and Gourmet is vastly superior to Bon Appetit.
vinpenny at 10:39AM on 10/05/09
huh. that's surprising. i really enjoyed this past month's issue too. wonder when their final issue comes out?
gastronomeg at 10:40AM on 10/05/09
I just renewed my subscription, too. Usually when a magazine folds, it will offer you a new "comparable" mag in its place. I hope they don't offer "Bon Appetit" because I already receive that as well.
Trikki427 at 10:41AM on 10/05/09
I had heard the rumors earlier this year, but hoped they weren't true. I've been reading this magazine for years -- ever since I was a kid and my aunt subscribed -- and there's actually a physical pain in my heart upon hearing this news. I hope the staff continues on with the Web site and TV show.
cfurey at 11:09AM on 10/05/09
we've all felt the recession in many, many ways, but this one stings freshly.
i've worked in publishing, both print and online, for years, and i'm finding myself wondering what role we- as food bloggers, online-recipe gatherers and increasingly Internet-devoted food news readers- have played in the magazine's demise. obviously i look to the internet as a significant culinary resource, but i still subscribe to almost a dozen food magazines and relish their arrival every month.
perhaps more people are just finding it's not worth the investment when there are infinite food resources available online?
teaspotnyc at 11:11AM on 10/05/09
So, if I subscribe to Bon Appetit and Gourmet, what magazine are the going to send me? I hope they don't do like when Domino was cancelled, they began sending me Glamour... which I like but is a downgrade in comparison.
I'm going to miss that magazine, I hope that at least they keep their website running.
staria at 11:15AM on 10/05/09
It'll be missed :(
Hopefully Bon Appetit uses the opportunity to swing back closer to what Gourmet offered, rather than their dumbed-down format that they launched several months ago.
daryn at 11:16AM on 10/05/09
I'm horrified...I thought the last few issues of Gourmet were incredible! What a tragedy for foodies everywhere...
KateRuby at 11:18AM on 10/05/09
First Domino and now Gourmet... what the hell am I going to subscribe to now?
Peony at 11:24AM on 10/05/09
In my opinion, it had become too much of a "lifestyle" mag heavy on ads disguised as content. It's sad to see it go, but the current incarnation is lame.
browngravy at 11:28AM on 10/05/09
Yet another victim of this sucky economy we've got going here in this country. RIP, Gourmet. You'll be missed.
juliebugsmama at 11:30AM on 10/05/09
This is awful news!!! Gourmet has been my favorite magazine for 20 years, since I was in college. I'm subscribed for several more years, since I just always signed up for a bunch more years when there was a good deal, since I assumed I'd subscribe in perpetuity (probably until death). I'm not concerned about any lost $, though, I just want Gourmet!! Is there any where to protest this? Maybe a rich person can buy it and fund it as a vanity project! To be honest, I never liked the rich person travel pieces, but accepted those since its subtitle positioned the magazine as being about food and leisure or food and travel or something (as I accept the wine part of Food and Wine even though I don't care about it). But the recipes were so great that I didn't care if I read none of the articles -- the magazine was still completely worth the subscription price.
shallot at 11:51AM on 10/05/09
I'm saddened to hear about Gourmet's folding, especially since it was the magazine that sparked my interest in food in the first place. The articles and photography in Bon Appetit (what's with the retro food styling in the past few issues?) don't even compare to Gourmet.
bearsonawire at 11:59AM on 10/05/09
I am heartsick at this. Purchased and subscribed to the magazine in the past and have just rediscovered it in the last few months. Any chance this is a trial balloon just to check reader/subscriber interest? I can't believe CN would let a vehicle with such great content just fade away.
spongedaddy at 12:06PM on 10/05/09
I'm afraid I'm with @browngravy on this. I started subscribing to Gourmet in the mid-1970s, but let my subscription lapse soon after Ruth Reichl's takeover of the editorial helm. It had already begun to suffer before Reichl, so I don't fully blame her, but she put the last nail in the coffin.
What had once been the ultimate sophisticated journal of food and travel, the thinking person's guide to culture and cuisine, had become a kind of culinary People or USA Today. Lots of little bubbly features on the best peeler, but no more insightful, droll articles about 2 weeks in Burma.
Sigh. I miss Lillian Langseth-Christensen.
klg19 at 12:31PM on 10/05/09
No word yet on what this means for Ruth Reichl, but I'm certain she won't be unemployed for long. Maybe (I hope) she'll have time to write more books. Wait, what am I talking about. . .I haven't even read her latest book (Not Becoming My Mother), but I will this weekend.
I'm positive the NYTimes will find space for her writing now and then, I'm sure NPR would welcome any bits and pieces from her, but I know a better way for us to get regular benefits from her talent and skills: Let's start a coup and install her as the head of the Food Network. Anyone with me?
betteirene at 12:53PM on 10/05/09
I'm just sick about this decision: http://www.freckledcitizen.com/2009/10/mourning-gourmet.html
magmae at 1:33PM on 10/05/09
I spent over 25 years in magazine publishing. Subscribers, not to worry - by law, magazines have to offer a refund or another subscription of at least equal value to the unused portion of your subscription. However, most magazines will not emphasize the refund, or offer good deals on alternative subscriptions. One of the reasons why publishing groups fold unprofitable publications, rather than try to sell them, is to try to transfer the subs over to other magazines whose circulation is suffering and to whom new readers are increasingly expensive to acquire.
I was a Gourmet subscriber for many, many years, but dropped my sub about 10 years ago. The editorial in the last few years became less and less about food and food prep, and more about travel. And the articles focused more on fashionable destinations and dining - more on spas, celebrity oriented locals - the better to sell traditional Conde Nasty ad niches - cosmetics, fashion, jewelry. I suspect that Gourmet's editorial was crafted to be more attractive to these types of advertisers than actual food advertising, which tends to be less loyal to print and magazines.
When Conde Nast bought Gourmet, they immediately did away with its emphasis on using fresh ingredients - remember the few and far between mentions of "tinned chicken broth" as an alternative, etc.?, They abandoned the magazine's recipe format - including the measurements and ingredients within the preparation details, which was instituted to encourage experimentation. They initially pushed to make Gourmet a more upscale, but typical food magazine, and began including frozen ingredients, etc. The Gourmet I miss is the "real," independent magazine that was owned by a devoted small publishing company that stuck to the magazine's mission.
MMinNYC at 1:39PM on 10/05/09
This is disappointing news, as Gourmet is far better than Bon App. I've been reading Gourmet since I was about 8 years old, always looking forward to the monthly "centerfold" spectacular meal. When I was old enough to be left alone in the kitchen my sister and I made the Christmas dinner one year, including the Bouche de Noel. Lillian Langseth-Christensen wrote wonderful articles. Sad day for publishing.
ride&cook at 1:40PM on 10/05/09
I, too, am disappointed that Conde Nast has chosen to shut down Gourmet rather than the far-inferior Bon Appetit. While I have been disappointed in Gourmet in recent years, it still surpasses BA in every respect. Guess I'll have to try Food & Wine or Saveur....
Ciaohound48 at 1:59PM on 10/05/09
Srsly, wish they'd kill Bon Appetit and save Gourmet.
phooey
guido at 2:13PM on 10/05/09
i am so sad. not just because i just renewed my subscription for another three years but because the ability to read about of food/food culture/food enlightenment/international food in an intelligent, comprehensive way has gotten much smaller. there are so few good food magazines left (please don't take my la cucina italiana or saveur!!!) or food tv left (you touch my baby jacques pepin, lydia or a few others from the PBS food family - you can take that horrid martha stewart produced show). i hope just like someone recently did w/ vibe magazine that another publishing company sees just how revered and loved gourmet is and saves it. i'm w/ daryn in saying that whoever made this decision obviously doesn't know or understand the real food/food culture-lover or how annoying the dumbed-down bon appetit is.
please don't send me bon appetit and expect me to not beg for my $65 back.
RIP Gourmet.
weareneverfull at 4:42PM on 10/05/09
Of course keep Bon Appétit open. It is the direction America is heading. We still are in a recession and if the recession ended tomorrow people's spending habits have now changed. Gourmet does not fit that model. I have been an avid reader of Gourmet but as I read it I always think wouldn't it be nice if I had the money to do this or make that or go here so at the end if each issue I am a little depressed. I wonder what will happen to their great televison program Gourmet Diary of a Foodie.
RSA1256 at 5:15PM on 10/05/09
I am only familiar with the last few years of Gourmet, so I can't speak as to the quality declining, but I really enjoyed and looked forward to the magazine. From what I can see, it was a unique publication - the photography was beautiful, the writing was good, and it had a mixture of ambitious recipes with everyday ones. No, it didn't have the rigour of Cook's Illustrated, or the ease of recipes in most publications. Yes, it may sometimes have focused too much on what was trendy, expensive over more substantive topics. Maybe it ended up looking too much like a travel magazine than a food publication at times. But overall, it was a really excellent magazine that I enjoyed reading all the way through, and it was writing about the culture, history, and traditions behind the food described. I can't think of too many other publications that do this regularly and comprehensively.
firni at 10:14PM on 10/05/09