Loosing Gourmet Makes Me Sad
I was planning this morning to write about how it is only the first week of October and all my food magazines are featuring cooking for Thanksgiving. I am ready for Halloween and theses articles are pushing me and my time even faster. But then I woke up to the article about Gourmet magazine closing is doors. I was stunned.
If you have not heard I am sure that you will be in shock too. Here is the article from the New York Times. You may want to read the entire article since I have only taken a few paragraphs in my own writing to give those of you with limited time a real understanding of the issues.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/business/media/06gourmet.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper
Condé Nast Closes Gourmet and 3 Other Magazines
I did not grow up in a home that had food magazines. My mother did not care what the latest food trends were. She was going to cook the food she grew up with and that was that. I grew up hoping to learn what those trends were and I read as many food magazines I could get my hands on. At one time, I was getting about 10 food magazines. I now still, as of today, get Gourmet, Bon Appetite, and Cook Illustrated, Food and Wine and Cooks Country. Some months these magazines just gather dust and some months there are recipes that I have just got to make and share with my family and friends. I get them all since they all fill a separate niche. If I did not write this blog, I would still read and subscribe to all these food magazines but Gourmet Magazine will be missed in my home.
I have recently read and enjoyed Ruth Riechl's books besides her articles in the magazines. She writes about food with such detail and descriptive terms that you feel you have just taken a bite of that food too. I hope she finds a place where she communicate about the joys of food while she informs the reader. I will miss them both.
Here is how the New York Times explained the difference in the two magazines Conde Nast magazines." Gourmet was to food what Vogue is to fashion, a magazine with a rich history and a perch high in the publishing firmament. Under the stewardship of Ruth Reichl, one of the star editors at Condé Nast, Gourmet poured money into sumptuous photography, test kitchens and exotic travel pieces, resulting in a beautifully produced magazine that lived, and sold, the high life.
Ms. Reichl, formerly a restaurant critic at The New York Times, will most likely leave Condé Nast, though it is not entirely clear, a Condé Nast spokeswoman, Maurie Perl, said. The company will continue with the more recipe-focused food magazine Bon Appétit.
Condé Nast also announced it would shut three other magazines: the parenting magazine Cookie and the wedding publications Elegant Bride and Modern Bride. About 180 people will lose their jobs as a result of the four closings. For Gourmet’s legion of fans, the loss particularly stings — it is the end to a long relationship between readers and the magazine’s depiction of food as exploration.
In choosing Bon Appétit over Gourmet, Condé Nast reflected a bigger shift both inside and outside the company: influence, and spending power, now lies with the middle class.
Advertising support for luxurious magazines like Gourmet has dwindled, while grocery store advertisers have continued to buy pages at more accessible, celebrity-driven magazines like Every Day With Rachael Ray, which specializes in 30-minute meals, and Food Network Magazine.
It was an unexpected decision from Condé Nast, which said it closed the magazine because it was losing too much money.
“In the economics of the ’80s, ’90s and early 2000s, this would be a business decision balanced by the cultural reticence to part with iconic brands,” Charles H. Townsend, Condé Nast’s chief executive, said in an interview. “This economy is a completely different bag.”
With the decline in luxury advertising, the company lost about 8,000 ad pages through the October issues, compared with the same period in 2008, according to Media Industry Newsletter.
With a 43 percent drop, Gourmet was among the hardest hit. This summer, Condé Nast brought in the corporate consulting firm McKinsey & Company to “help in looking at every one of these businesses clinically, not emotionally,” Mr. Townsend said.
Gourmet was smaller than Bon Appétit, with a circulation of about 980,000 versus Bon Appétit’s 1.35 million. Bon Appétit had higher newsstand sales in the first six months of this year, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Though its sales dropped, Gourmet’s dropped much more sharply in that period, compared with the first six months of 2008. Their editorial approaches differed, too: a recent Bon Appétit cover line promised “America’s Best Hot Dogs,” while Gourmet ran an article on how restaurant critics would spend $1,000 in their hometowns." By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD
Published: October 5, 2009
Stuart Elliott and Kim Severson contributed reporting.
Don't ask me how I feel about on line services where you publish your cookbook...don't dare...
If you have not heard I am sure that you will be in shock too. Here is the article from the New York Times. You may want to read the entire article since I have only taken a few paragraphs in my own writing to give those of you with limited time a real understanding of the issues.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/business/media/06gourmet.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper
Condé Nast Closes Gourmet and 3 Other Magazines
I did not grow up in a home that had food magazines. My mother did not care what the latest food trends were. She was going to cook the food she grew up with and that was that. I grew up hoping to learn what those trends were and I read as many food magazines I could get my hands on. At one time, I was getting about 10 food magazines. I now still, as of today, get Gourmet, Bon Appetite, and Cook Illustrated, Food and Wine and Cooks Country. Some months these magazines just gather dust and some months there are recipes that I have just got to make and share with my family and friends. I get them all since they all fill a separate niche. If I did not write this blog, I would still read and subscribe to all these food magazines but Gourmet Magazine will be missed in my home.
I have recently read and enjoyed Ruth Riechl's books besides her articles in the magazines. She writes about food with such detail and descriptive terms that you feel you have just taken a bite of that food too. I hope she finds a place where she communicate about the joys of food while she informs the reader. I will miss them both.
Here is how the New York Times explained the difference in the two magazines Conde Nast magazines." Gourmet was to food what Vogue is to fashion, a magazine with a rich history and a perch high in the publishing firmament. Under the stewardship of Ruth Reichl, one of the star editors at Condé Nast, Gourmet poured money into sumptuous photography, test kitchens and exotic travel pieces, resulting in a beautifully produced magazine that lived, and sold, the high life.
Ms. Reichl, formerly a restaurant critic at The New York Times, will most likely leave Condé Nast, though it is not entirely clear, a Condé Nast spokeswoman, Maurie Perl, said. The company will continue with the more recipe-focused food magazine Bon Appétit.
Condé Nast also announced it would shut three other magazines: the parenting magazine Cookie and the wedding publications Elegant Bride and Modern Bride. About 180 people will lose their jobs as a result of the four closings. For Gourmet’s legion of fans, the loss particularly stings — it is the end to a long relationship between readers and the magazine’s depiction of food as exploration.
In choosing Bon Appétit over Gourmet, Condé Nast reflected a bigger shift both inside and outside the company: influence, and spending power, now lies with the middle class.
Advertising support for luxurious magazines like Gourmet has dwindled, while grocery store advertisers have continued to buy pages at more accessible, celebrity-driven magazines like Every Day With Rachael Ray, which specializes in 30-minute meals, and Food Network Magazine.
It was an unexpected decision from Condé Nast, which said it closed the magazine because it was losing too much money.
“In the economics of the ’80s, ’90s and early 2000s, this would be a business decision balanced by the cultural reticence to part with iconic brands,” Charles H. Townsend, Condé Nast’s chief executive, said in an interview. “This economy is a completely different bag.”
With the decline in luxury advertising, the company lost about 8,000 ad pages through the October issues, compared with the same period in 2008, according to Media Industry Newsletter.
With a 43 percent drop, Gourmet was among the hardest hit. This summer, Condé Nast brought in the corporate consulting firm McKinsey & Company to “help in looking at every one of these businesses clinically, not emotionally,” Mr. Townsend said.
Gourmet was smaller than Bon Appétit, with a circulation of about 980,000 versus Bon Appétit’s 1.35 million. Bon Appétit had higher newsstand sales in the first six months of this year, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
Though its sales dropped, Gourmet’s dropped much more sharply in that period, compared with the first six months of 2008. Their editorial approaches differed, too: a recent Bon Appétit cover line promised “America’s Best Hot Dogs,” while Gourmet ran an article on how restaurant critics would spend $1,000 in their hometowns." By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD
Published: October 5, 2009
Stuart Elliott and Kim Severson contributed reporting.
Don't ask me how I feel about on line services where you publish your cookbook...don't dare...
Posted by Hella at 10/6/2009 8:31 AM 
Categories: Cookbook Writing, Cookbooks are more than just recipes, New stuff as I learn, Cooking Magazines
Tags: Gourmet Magazine cookbook writing Cooking Magazines cookbook family traditions create a cookbook
Categories: Cookbook Writing, Cookbooks are more than just recipes, New stuff as I learn, Cooking Magazines
Tags: Gourmet Magazine cookbook writing Cooking Magazines cookbook family traditions create a cookbook
Hella, you make a very valid point about who actually funds magazines - advertisers, rather that subscribers or purchasers. Maybe this is why blogs such as yours, with a focus on family food and heritage recipes are so popular.
Last month I blogged about making marmalade in my Aunt Ruby Remembers blog and this month I'm focussing both my blogs on the importance of collecting favourite family recipes and the stories associated with each recipe.
Check my website for the blogs at:
http://www.historyfromtheheart.com.au/
Keep up the good work!
Annie
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