Grieving for Gourmet

It killed our appetite when we heard it. Gourmet, that trend-defining, indeed gold standard of food magazines, is closing. The November issue will be its last. This comes after publisher Conde Nast hired McKinsey & Company to do a three-month study which advised it to cut costs at several magazines. Apart from Gourmet, it is also shutting down Cookie (a parenting magazine), Modern Bride and Elegant Bride. But Gourmet is the shocker, given its near ‘biblical status’ (The New York Times) in the food world.

It killed our appetite when we heard it. Gourmet, that trend-defining, indeed gold standard of food magazines, is closing. The November issue will be its last. This comes after publisher Conde Nast hired McKinsey & Company to do a three-month study which advised it to cut costs at several magazines. Apart from Gourmet, it is also shutting down Cookie (a parenting magazine), Modern Bride and Elegant Bride. But Gourmet is the shocker, given its near ‘biblical status’ (The New York Times) in the food world. And more so because Conde Nast has decided to continue with its other food title, the recipe-heavy and less cerebral Bon Appetit. With sections like ‘Politics of the Plate’, Gourmet was, for many of us, the window to intelligent and persuasive writing on food. Not to mention, the marvellous food photography. Pray it’s not The New Yorker and Vanity Fair next.

gourmetlast issue