The Demise of Gourmet
October 6, 2009
Gourmet was once a great American magazine about travel and the art of entertaining and cooking. It was literate and restrained, with photographs of exquisitely decorated tables set for meals with no people in sight. These scenes were fantastically suggestive and encompassed everything from intimate aprés-ski parties to large Easter buffets. The travel articles were evocative and well-written; the recipes were flawless.
The magazine was debauched under the reign of former New York Times food writer Ruth Reichl, who turned it into a journal for urban “foodies” with their decadent obsession with chefs and the hottest restaurants. She defaced it with photographs of smiling models, a violation of the Gourmet aesthetic which always left something up to the imagination, and filled it with bizarre recipes that called for exotic ingredients in uninviting combinations.
Condé Nast announced on Monday that the 69-year-old magazine would shut down, blaming it on the economy. It had to go. Old bound editions of the magazine will be treasured for years to come.
