Which Food Magazines Are You Signing Up For?

We're (still!) incredibly sad that we won't be seeing Gourmet in our mailboxes next year, and we've been hard pressed to decide which new magazine will fill the gap. Actually, this shake-up has made us take a fresh look at all of our subscriptions. Which magazines will you be getting next year?

It's far too easy to get carried away with magazine subscriptions - especially with all the great deals going on this time of year. But we know that if we sign up for too many, we'll never have time to read all of them.

Next year, we're trying to be choosy and pick a balance of magazines that will inspire us, teach us, and feed our curiosity. We're also trying to support a few of our favorite mainstream magazines (because who knows what financial shape they're really in) as well as a few good quality smaller-press magazines.

Here's what we'll be looking forward to every month:
1. Saveur - We've always loved this magazine for its great writing. Saveur always surprises us with the breadth of what they cover and we make discoveries about new ingredients and cuisines in every issue. (Subscribe here)

2. Fine Cooking - This will be a new subscription for us, and we're looking forward to getting a good dose of practical kitchen knowledge every month. Their recipes always sound tasty and very do-able back in our home kitchen. (Subscribe here)

3. The Art of Eating - This small magazine from Ed Behr in Vermont has become our arm-chair travel guide. Every issue takes us somewhere new and introduces us to artisan producers all over the world. The articles are well-researched, incredibly detailed, and highly satisfying to food nerds like us! (Subscribe here)

4. Remedy Quarterly - The first issue of this zine-like magazine is due out in another month or two, but the sneak previews on the magazine website were enough to get us to take a year's subscription. We're really looking forward to this homey, craft-oriented magazine from a new generation of food lovers. We think their kick-start subscription drive just closed, but they will soon be accepting subscriptions through their website: Remedy Quarterly.

Which magazines are you thinking of taking next year?

(Image: Emma Christensen)

Comments (45)

Food & Wine! It'll be my second year getting it, and it makes my day whenever I see it waiting for me in the mailbox!

I also get Yankee Magazine since I live in New England.

Bon Appetit and Vegetarian Times.

Bon Appetit. We love it.

I will not be renewing my Cooking Light subscription...

I got a Fine Cooking subscription as a gift, from a former employee of the parent company (Taunton Press) and it quickly became my favorite food magazine. I love it. If I had to choose just one magazine to get, this would be it.

And, though it's not strictly a food magazine, I love the recipes in Southern Living. It's the whole reason I get that magazine.

I'm a big fan of Imbibe...its like Gourmet for the drinking class!

I'm a little confused about my Gourmet subscription actually. I got a card saying I'll be getting Bon Appetit in its place (I think I had one of those 2 year deals), but I already get Bon Appetit! They're sister magazines, and I got the original subsciption as part of one of those 2-for-1 things....so what the heck?

Anyway, my absolute favorite has always been Saveur, and I will continue to get that. I hate Food and Wine, it feels like a giant book of ads. Hmm, I feel like I should check out Fine Cooking more closely now!

Food & Wine...Some of the recipes are overly complicated but a lot of the recipes are excellent. We already get their cookbook every year.

I know it's a little spammy, but last day to get Food & Wine and/or Real Simple for $5 at Amazon (http://bit.ly/5Mt0s4). :) Also some other good titles (I got Travel Leisure!)

Nobody here reads Cook's Illustrated?

I get Food and Wine and Everyday Food. I got Food and Wine free for airline miles, but I really love it, and Everyday Food I like enough to pay for, which is saying something I guess. :) Basically I am focused on simple, easy to make recipes since I cook every day and only occasionally have time for more involved recipes.

Gastronomica is such a great magazine! It doesn't have many recipes (sometimes just one) but the food writing is so educational.

Joannie - Thanks for the tip.

Benfest - I read/use Cook's Illustrated online. I don't have their print membership. I don't feel like I am missing out on anything. Also, they send some pretty extensive emails with a lot of information.

Vegetarian Times!

Big fan of Everyday Food, for the reasons stated by cransell-- I cook every day. I turn to the internet or my cookbooks for fancier more involved stuff, although I've made some Everyday Food recipes that are pretty spectacular.

I get hand-me-down copies of Saveur and I love it!

This may be too pedestrian for some people, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE everyday food. It has great basic recipes. I also agree that Cook's Illustrated is fantastic, but recipes can be repeats.

I got a free subscription to Bon Appetite and feel pretty meh about it.

I would encourage everyone to check amazon every week for its magazine deals. I got Cooking Light a few weeks ago for $5.00 a year and Food and Wine is currently $5.00 a year.

Another vote for Fine Cooking - my favorite cooking magazine, great recipes, lots of good information.

I subscribe to The Art of Eating but not really for recipes, more for the travel/food combo.

Isn't Food & Wine an Amex publication? It seems like a lot of ads.

Hello! This is Kelly from Remedy Quarterly. We're thrilled to be in such great company!
We'll have our shop up soon, but in the meantime you can email us for subscriptions at hello@remedyquarterly.com.

Cheers!

I like Eating Well & Vegetarian Times. I received a free issue of Edible Los Angeles (http://www.ediblelosangeles.com/Site/) which I really liked, but it is difficult to subscribe to.

I definitely second the vote for Fine Cooking--I adore this magazine, and I feel like it's one of the few that I actually cook out of (rather than just enjoying the pictures and articles!).

Fine Cooking! Still one of the best cooking magazines out there, although I don't like it as much since they changed the format and went a little more mainstream. I'm also still signed up for Everyday Food, though the recipes aren't challenging or particularly exciting, it's still full of good ideas for quick dinners and lunches.

I'm almost embarassed to admit how many I get: Cooking Light, Bon Appetit, Food and Wine, Everyday Food and Martha Stewart Living. At least the Food and Wine was free with a purchase I made elsewhere....

But I love them all and it seems as though I go in stages as to which magazine gets the most cook-time invested. If nothing else, they are a great diversion and an inspiration.

Cooks Illustrated, it's the only one I subscribe to, and probably the only one I ever will. The only frustrating thing about it is that you have to flip through months worth of covers to find the recipe you want to use.

I'm actually taking a hiatus from cooking magazine subscriptions this year. My shelves are bulging with issues of Gourmet, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Eating Well and Cooking Light, and I've barely plumbed their depths. I also have tons of "to try" recipes pulled from non-cooking magazines.

I decided that I need to spend at least a year cooking from the issues I have, before I order any more.

I don't think Everyday Food is pedestrian. As for the recipes not being exciting or challenging, that's probably true, but it gets me cooking on weeknights as opposed to ordering in. Sometimes you cook for sustenance, sometimes you cook for excitement. I prefer both ways to taste good.

Check out amazon.com for some really great deals on magazines! I ordered Food and Wine for $5, as well as Real Simple for $5!

Martha Stewart Living and Everyday Food.

I get the Cook's Illustrated bound annual, and buy a new comprehensive index every 3 years or so ($15?).

Though we eat meat, I grew up with Vegetarian Times. My partner, who is the real cook in our house, now swears by it as their recipes are well-tested and usually pretty fail-proof and need the most minimal tweaking. He was utterly thrilled when my mom gave us several years of back issues.

I get Sunset more for local travel and gardening, but their recipes are generally pretty darn decent, too.

I'm in the UK, so most of these are too expensive to even think about. I read Olive from time to time (a BBC magazine). But how could I ever get through all the recipes? There are more than a hundred every issue (as the covers proudly proclaim) and I read dozens of food blogs online as well. My own cookbook shelf is bulging with books I really love, so... I think that I don't need any more magazines in my life at the moment.

I get Bon Appétit and a gift subscription to Cooking Light (though I'd cancel it if I could, I rarely read it and hardly cook from it).

I'm trying out Saveur and Food & Wine in lieu of Gourmet (sob!), though I haven't been impressed with Food & Wine in the past. I'll definitely have to check out Fine Cooking. Gastronomica is amazing, but pricey.

Thanks for the tip about Imbibe; I'll be checking that out as well.

I will miss the monthly joy that was Gourmet magazine! Bon Appetit will just have to do...

I too am a subscriber to Cooks Illustrated, and Sunset (for those of us in the west).

I also subscribe to Nutrition Action. Not necessarily a "cooking" magazine, but plenty informative nonetheless. It does not accept advertising, and is published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (www.cspinet.org). It gives a lot of nutrition info and science behind what we're eating.

I subscribe to Saveur and Cooking Illustrated (although I'm intrigued by that bound annual, @dimsum; I've never seen that!). Also intrigued by Imbibe from the other commenters.

Letting my Cooking Light subscription lapse; in theory, I appreciate it, but it feels a little too spread-thin with lifestyle content for my taste.

I'm going to sound like a huge nerd but I get Saveur, Cook's Illustrated, Cook's Country, Vegetarian Times (a gift), Mutineer, and Food Arts. All of them are good in different ways.

Oops, clearly I meant Cook's Illustrated. *sigh*

No subscription for me but for Xams we're getting my Aunt a subscription to Super Food Ideas. Its a budget cooking magazine with every day recipes.

Fine Cooking (renewing subscription) and food and wine (new subscriber, but always buy on the news stand)

I subscribe to most of, if not all of, the UK ones (since I'm living here), amongst them Olive, Good Food and Delicious.

When it comes to the US ones I used to get most issues of Gourmet and Saveur from Border's. I'm still debating whether or not to sign up for a Saveur subscription now.

However, I have it from good sources that Santa will be bringing me a subscription for Chile Pepper magazine. ;)

// Mike

Like Sarah9876, I'm in the UK and have a bulging cookbook shelf and kitchen notebooks crammed with so many gleaned and pinched recipes that I'll never have time to cook them all.
However, BBC magazines have a great offer at the moment, £1 for 3 issues of Olive magazine! - It seems rude not to take them up on their offer, although I realise this is probably only for UK readers.

Have all the Gourmet subscribers gotten cards indicating they'll be receiving Bon Appetit? And have the December Bon Appetit's gone out?

I'm a Gourmet subscriber who has yet to receive anything from Bon Appetit. I'm wondering if I should contact them about finishing out my subscription....

I get Saveur and EatingWell. Cook's Illustrated got too repetitive for me. I keep going back and forth about Saveur but the past couple of issues have been great. EatingWell has always been a good source for everyday recipes for me.

I keep meaning to subscribe to The Art of Eating. Maybe this year I finally will.

For those that used to get Gourmet...
I personally can't stand Bon Appetit, and didn't want that subscription as a substitute. So, I called and actually was able to cancel my subscription and get a refund. It's worth a shot! Or, they were also offering that I could switch to any other magazine put out by their parent company?

To add to the fray, here's an article about a new publication called Canal House Cooking, from former Gourmet and Saveur editors. Looks like the twist is that it combines food and cocktail recipes. So far published only 3x/year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/02/dining/02canal.html?_r=1&ref=dining&pagewanted=print

I love Cooking Light magazine. Great recipes, on the lighter side, but not TOO light. Lots of great articles on food, travel, health & fitness.

Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country