Gourmet Magazine to close: Open discussion on the wild world of food print publishing

Weird. I just heard an NPR talk show last week or the week before, either "Talk of the Nation" or my local station, with an hour devoted to "Gourmet." The editor was one of the guests.

Ruth Reichl has been on a couple stations, and I'm thinking only a couple have archive audio on the web:

KQED, with Michael Krasny and The Gourmet of Today: A Conversation with Ruth Reichl on KUOW

but it might have been picked up by other stations.

Gourmet has been publishing for 40 years... this is weird.

Hmm...I was shaving at the time so I may not have been paying complete attention. Michael Krasny is the host of my local station's talk show.

I heard the magazine was in trouble. I think a lot of magazines are headed in that direction as well. I used to subscribe but it was the sort of magazine that I wouldn't throw away because I didn't want to throw out the recipes - thus I stopped subscribing because I was drowning in clutter. It is like a death of an institution.

After 40 years... I'd say it is an institution. Lady Lisa, I hadn't heard the magazine was in trouble so this was a surprise to me. Do you think the market is saturated, or that there just isn't enough action in the print world?

Sorry, I meant since the 1940s. *forehead on counter*

I think magazines as I knew them are on the way out. There are no general interest magazines left except for the New Yorker, Harper's, and Vanity Fair. Hobby magazines take up much less space at the grocery store than they used to. News magazines and celebrity gossip seem strong along with crafts, bridal, food, and decorating. Hmm...domestic arts seems to be the trend. :)

Sometimes I wonder - with so much available to us on the net, does a magazine stand a chance? Online we share recipes left and right.

I'm sad about this. I used to subscribe to the magazine. When I moved, I put all my magazines at the curb and I was glad to see someone come and take them away and give them a good home.

I read the Gourmet website frequently, as well as search for Gourmet recipes at epicurious.com. I also use the big yellow Gourmet cookbook they put out several years ago. (Can't stand the cookbook's yellow typeface but the recipes and information are good.)

I hope they are able to keep the website and the recipes on Epicurious going.

There's no clear outline what will happen with the online content, but I too hope it stays.

Will my collection become valuable as a result?
What will people read while waiting for their appointments in medical offices?
How many trees will be saved?
What with Ruth do next?

"Will my collection become valuable as a result?" - Granny Janny H.

I hope I can quote you on that - I've wondered how many people have considered that. Something tells me Ruth will land on her feet.

It's inevitable that we will lose a lot of print material. But, I think companies like Condé Nast will eventually figure out how to make the most of the online market. When video players first came out, a lot of people said no one would go to the movies anymore. And when music became available via mp3 files, they said no one would buy cd's anymore. However, movie theaters are still in business and I know lots of people who are still buying cd's.

The movie and music industries have found ways to keep making money - and periodicals will, too. Publishing, in general, is going through some 21st century growing pains, but I have faith in the innovative nature of America's business owners and entrepreneurs to make it over the hump. For the sake of employment, let's hope it's sooner than later.

Diana, I hope you're right. We're all hungry for good content, its just that the delivery methods change.

YIkes.... I am taken by surprise by the whole thing. Ruth was on the radio as noted before, did she know then? She did not seem to give any inference of something big happeneing at Gourmet. The faith deposited in the amercian public is sometimes misplaced...we seem to have a bent for 'fads' and I for one do not consider 'being into food' (nutrition, slow/locavore ideals/family farms/ethnicity) a fad. The loss of serious and quality writing is what I will miss, along of course with the terrific recipes and the outside the box thinking... hmmm did that have more to do withthe demise of Gourmet than simple economics?
I have been a subscriber for years; I have had subscribtions to Food & Wine and Bon Appeite and though they offer great receipes and amazing photos, neither offered the depth of writing. I have already written to Conde Nast....

I will cull my collection of Gourmet mags as usual and recycle them accordingly (eye dr., dentist etc), and will try to remember not to look for it in the mail box anymore.

Joy, you actually wrote to Conde Nast? Was it an open letter? I'd be really interested in whether or not you got a reply.

whoa, I wrote to them... as in a hand written letter.. and I do not expect anything back what so ever. I did call the NY offices and got sent over to a young gal whose answer to my question
" so I have food business and everyone keeps asking me what will happen to the subscribers, and the all the web content and the following, the editors and other staffers?" ...'

hmmmm she answered... that is a good question- seems they do not know themselves and all they are telling folks is "there will be an email set up at Conde Nast to help with these questions and to keep ck-ing the Gourmet site for updates"....
She did say they just don't know what's up... pretty simple statement and sounded truthful... could everyone have been taken by surprise...?
I also sent condolences to Gourmet online...
I will let you know if I get a answer to my letter

Joy I tried to ping you, not sure if it went through. Thank you for following through with the reply from Gourmet. It sounded pretty sad to me. I can only imagine what the staff is feeling.

Hmmm, I was trying to see if there was a place to discuss the most recent show, and didn't find anything. Have i overlooked it? I decided to post here, because the comment was on the guy who was discussing the demise of Gourmet (Craig Goldwyn). He claimed that the first "broccoli casserole" recipe you find via google then cooks.com has you cook raw chicken for 15 minutes. So I did the same, and now I have to wonder: did he even READ that recipe? It says "cold sliced chicken" in the ingredients, which implied to me cooked chicken. Then in the directions, it says "Arrange cooked chicken slices". Again, pretty clear.

He also complains that the cooksillustrated recipe is far down in the list. That might be a result of cooks illustrated putting everything behind a paywall - if you don't pay, you can't get to their content, so their recipe is not going to have many links to it (google rank is related in part to incoming links).