Today is a sad day for foodies: Gourmet Magazine is closing.
For one who was professionally nurtured and creatively developed by this standard bearer of culinary periodicals, it is indeed a loss! And, I do not know where to begin.
‘Gourmet Mag’ was an integral part of my life since my graduation from Johnson and Wales, back twenty-five+ spring-times ago. I lived for their eclectic, monthly covers and the editors’ incisive food commentary. The additional information on travel and life, in general, was just a welcomed added dimension.
Yes, I digest culinary magazines – page by page, picture by picture. I, cunningly, anticipated the cover and, somewhat sinisterly relished the months that I beat them to the punch — having already cooked the main cover dish on ABC7 or tossed the idea on my blog.
Michael Green, the famed wine consultant from Gourmet Magazine and I cruised to Alaska several years ago on a Crystal food and wine spectacular. In typical, practical ‘Gourmet’ fashion, Michael taught me that fine wine should be judged not on price point, but on the deeper nuances of ‘dish matchability’ and individual taste-preference.
On an even more personal note, my step son, Sean, delivered a subscription to Gourmet on our first Christmas together – and has followed through ever since.
The times they are a changin’: not all for good, not all for bad – and many, simply, with raw emotion that manifests a changing economy – and a new order of things!