We're a cooking website, sure, but we still love the old-school cooking magazines. I have a few favorites stacked up here on my desk for inspiration, and I'm willing to pay for a select few to arrive monthly, hang around on the kitchen counter, grease-spattered, for a week or two or stashed in my bag for subway rides. Call me old fashioned, but I like to hold the paper and dog-ear recipes to try.
But the question everyone's asking is, with more and more people getting their content online, will the food magazines survive the economic slump?
Last year we asked you Where Do You Find Your Recipes and many of you said you go online. But with such a roster of major food magazines still being published, someone must be using them. I know I am.
Tell us below: do you think food magazines will take a hit as many print publications have recently? Given what Apartment Therapy has seen in the shelter category (Domino, House & Garden, O at Home and Blueprint have all folded), one might guess that some culinary titles will have to fall. If so, which do you think will survive, and which do you find dispensable?

Comments (28)
CI is so practical and has so much good information in it and combined with America's Test Kitchen I think it should be around forever.
I'm also impressed at what looks to be a new direction that Gourmet is heading. I'm really enjoying the styling in the last couple of issues.
couple more thoughts:
CI also has a subscription based website--I'm pretty sure it's the same content plus more than the magazine so who knows about the longevity of the magazine.
And the styling in Gourmet is such that a computer monitor would not do it justice in my opinion--there are some really nice photos which look fantastic on paper.
My understanding is that the sales are actually better right now because more people are cooking to save money than ever before.
I will second the concept that the CI website is phenomenal. I finally ponied up for a subscription, and the engineer in me is still gleeful. The recipes are great.
As far as magazines go, I tend not to love getting lots of paper clutter in my mailbox, but I do love swinging by the grocery store racks when I'm feeling uninspired by the ideas swirling around my own brain. I probably end up picking up a magazine every other month or so when I find one that inspires my culinary side at the grocery store.
Unfortunately magazines, like newspapers rely on ad revenue and not subscriptions to make money.
(Except for my favorite Cooks Illustrated!!!)
Rumor had it on another cooking blog that Gourmet would be a casualty as Conde Nast owns it AND Bon Appetit.
I personally prefer Gourmet over Bon Appetit but I haven't subscribed (or bought one) in ages (one only needs so many magazines, ya know?).
I subscribe to tons of food magazines. Love them. Unfortunately, this may not be enough to make the difference.
I really hope Gourmet stays around. Since Ruth Reichl got there the magazine has struck a really nice balance between
1. eye-candy stuff I only aspire to make
2."weeknight recipes" that I actually cook
3. at least one article that examines the environmental or economic or ethical impacts of how we eat.
I guess I'm just a little worried that the agro-business giants that keep the advertising budget up are going to retaliate for all the slow food/slave picked tomatoes/death of the family farmer articles Gourmet has run in the last two years. I'll be really upset if they do.
I am so bummed that Domino and House & Garden folded.
"I guess I'm just a little worried that the agro-business giants that keep the advertising budget up..."
Similar thoughts here cedargr0. Have you read the latest issue of Saveur (the one above)?
check out the "Reporter" piece:
Reporter
"You've probably heard of the food-services giant Sysco; you probably haven't heard that the company is going green."
By Indrani Sen
It appears that these magazines are aware of the possible scenario you brought up and are going to great lengths to preserve this relationship. The article is about Sysco yet names like Chez Panisse, Dan Barber and Per Se are used in the article--names most people would not expect to be associated with a 30 billion dollar food corporation.
Ruth Reichl is amazing. What an inspiring woman. I would be sad to see Gourmet fold after all the wonderful changes she has made. I love the articles and even the feel of the pages.
I subscribe to Everyday Food and Gourmet.
All I know is, I received my Bon Appetit yesterday, and made the Spanish Manchego cakes listed at the very beginning of the mag this afternoon, sans chorizo. AMAZING. If I make one recipe a month from the mag, it's fine.. I just love the inspiration, and I too read it on the subway.. it's very relaxing and I enjoy imagining eating all those wonderful meals.
@ Jen: Conde Nast has been suffering a lot in the recession, given that they own Domino, and owned Jane which folded a few years back. All the good magazines are going by the wayside.
I don't see Everyday Food making it, because Martha has such a huge empire, and both Living and Body Soul cover eating. Also, I could see Conde Nast putting Gourmet Bon Appetit together, especially since Epicurious archives all the recipes.
Between my mom and I (we swap magazines amongst the two of us) we subscribe to more than we care to admit. However, I get at least one recipe out of each issue; some are keepers and some aren't. If anything, it's a great way to get inspired and a relaxing diversion.
When it comes to browsing for recipes/inspiration, I'm still attached to physical cookbooks and magazines. Something about the pictures, the act of turning the pages, that makes the recipes more real.
I'm a Bon Appetit fan myself; the redesign last year (or was it 2007) reinvigorated the whole brand, so I hope it gets to stick around. Cooks Illustrated, to which I also subscribe, doesn't even accept advertising; it's also been robust about franchising (with books, shows, Web sites, etc.) so I suspect it'll survive.
As for the others, Cooking Light will probably make it by virtue of its diverse focus: articles on fitness and makeup bring in a different crowd of advertisers than just food. Everyday Food's massive subscriber base will probably help it weather the storm.
The rest seem like a crapshoot to me, and will depend on whether the sales teams are able to convincingly argue that people reach for their publication when they decide to start cooking at home more often.
I subscribe to Bon Appetit, Martha Stewart Living, Body Soul, and Real Simple. The only one I paid for was Bon Appetit (my favorite). The others were though frequent flier miles or gifts.
I like Bon Appetit a lot, especially since their "make-over" within the last year. I would definitely trade both Living and Body Soul for Everyday Food, but that is because I am most interested in the food/recipes. I like the idea of Real Simple, but I never really get anything out of it.
Wow-- am I the only Cooking Light fan here? Their recipes are easy to use, but not boring; and fairly mid-price. Too bourgeois maybe?
@nicole612--Definitely not! I LOVE CL! They are great for beginner cooks like me, and they are so unique! BTW their cover is GORGEOUS this month (see above). An what's even better is that their delicious recipes are somewhat healthy, lots of fresh produce. I hope they don't go under, it's just not the same online, even though I am an avid food blog follower. I still love magazines. (sorry, I'm really all over the place today.)
I rarely buy food magazines, but everyone I know who does isn't going to stop. I often buy summer issues of vegetarian times but that is it.
However, I would estimate that I only spend more money on rent that I do on food. I have a weakness for well aged cheeses, good balsamic vinegar, and organic cold-pressed olive oil, not to mention artisan breads... I hardly make enough to get by as a student right now, but no matter my finances, good food is a must!
Fun topic, although worrying. I'd really suffer the loss of Gourmet. Maybe I'll have to take another look at Bon Appetit. Sigh. It's been a year or so, and I didn't like the old layout very much. I find the content of Saveur pretty good but the layout really confusing, so I don't read it much.
I used to get Everyday Foods, and I have a stack of torn out recipes from those books that I use all the time. But after a while every issue started looking the same. Probably because they don't do articles and they don't do super fancy, and there's a limit to how many easy-ish family friendly meal plans that exist even in the Martha-verse. They do have the best cookie recipes on the planet, however.
Nicole, Cooking Light isn't too bourgeois, exactly. My roommate used to get it, and some of the recipes are great. But I never was happy with the baked goods I made from there, possibily because they were always using low-fat versions of everything, and I only buy the old-fashioned stuff, so I wasn't ever truly following the recipe. My own fault, I suppose. But really, who has Eggbeaters in the house? Maybe if you've just had a quadruple bypass?
ive been getting cooking light for probably a year now, and it always seems hit or miss. there wasn't really much in the most recent issue that really struck me, but there have been some good ideas, at least. still, i hope it sticks around.
and ive been thinking of getting a CI subscription. one of my former coworkers worked on the site quite a bit, and he said it's fantastic.
I am in love with Gourmet and would be incredible heartbroken if it didn't make it.
@cedargr0, you really summed up why it's so amazing.
I receive Gourmet and Bon Appetit (that subscription combo seemed too good to pass up), and I enjoy Gourmet much more than BA, although both are nice. Everyday Food is the one I recommend for new cooks or newly married folks who now have to get dinner on the table every night. It is great, although 3 years into it I did find it repetitive, as mentioned. Plus, I had learned enough to think up my own simple recipes.
I think that food mags have a better shot at sticking around than home mags. We've all still got to eat and it is cheaper to cook your own, but I seem to have survived without much home decor for lo these many years!
i read this post a while back about the success of cook's illustrated (in its many forms) and found it quite interesting:
http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/1518-how-cooks-illustrated-thrives-while-others-are-dying
the fact that they have managed to not just survive in a time when so many print publications are failing, but also *grow*, hadn't occurred to me before, but it's pretty amazing - they not only have a growing base of print subscribers, but many of those people also pay for an online membership! i certainly fall into that category, and CI is also the only print subscription i own.
I get Delicious magazine (Both the UK and Australian edition) and Olive every month, and occasionally buy Donna Hay Magazine. I hope they all survive :)
Yes, I'd say a combination of people staying home to cook more yet still craving more varied food than Hamburger helper, plus possibly some families temporarily cutting back to one breadwinner due to job difficulties so someone is actually home to cook, plus the perfect sales placement the magazines have in the checkout aisle will help most food-recipe magazines stay afloat.
Besides, if you ask fans of an online food blog where they get their recipes, you shouldn't be surprised when they say "online." ;)
Now, the foodie magazines that focused more on fancy restaurants and such... they may have a problem. But I'm willing to bet a lot of magazines are realizing it's smarter right now to focus on cooking at home, and how to get the best bang for your buck (even when going gourmet).
Gourmet is my top food magazine w/CI a close second. Both fulfill needs (cooking as an art and cooking as a need).
I love Cooks, but I just canceled my online subscription. I found the new format more difficult to navigate, and I have so many wonderful cookbooks to use (some of them Cooks). Plus there are sites like The Kitchn or Epicurious if I"m looking for something that's not in my cookbooks, or for fresh inspiration.
I don't miss it at all.
Saveur is by far my favorite of the bunch, I feel it's for people who truly love everything about food, rather than those who like to cook & eat. Their feature stories and photography are beautiful and their recipes have soul.
Accodring to magazine trade pubs, Saveur is the only one in the category whose ad pages are growing. Its pages spiked 11% in March compared with a year earlier. In contrast, Gourmet’s pages plunged 48%, Bon App’s fell 29% and F&W’s dropped 22%.
Interestingly enough, Saveur is not allowing the recession to influence its approach to food. “You don’t see ‘budget’ anything in my book,” Publisher Merri Lee Kingsly says.
Perhaps she'll eat her words as the year wear on...