Food Glossies Focusing on Comfort Food, Inexpensive Dishes
A piece in the New York Times today states the obvious: Upscale food magazines are reacting to the economic downturn by focusing on recipes and stories about meatloaf, macaroni and cheese, and burgers instead of missives on the joys of
foie gras, caviar, and Kobe beef.
The cover from the various March issues tell all:
- Bon Appétit: "Comfort Food Now" is a coverline; the photo is shephard's pie
- Food & Wine: Root vegetable gratin, a fancy-pants casserole, is the cover
- Gourmet: Grilled ham and cheese sandwich on the cover
Interestingly, the story barely mentions the web at all, which is kind of strange when you think about it.
There was nothing in the story on the effect that the internet in general and blogs specifically are having on the food glossies. It was as if the story had been written during the last recession and just spruced up with some fresh quotes.
The reality is that at this moment people passionate about food have many wonderful sources to go to for recipes, food news and entertainment, and restaurant reviews. As a result the food glossies no longer have a monopoly on food lovers' attention.
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3 Comments:
I've been noticing that the glossies have been focusing on comfort foods. While I enjoy a lot of the recipes, it is kind of a bummer because I feel like part of the joy of those magazines is escapism--finding foods to dream about , even if it might not be in my budget or immediate scope. I'm really interested by your comment about how the web isn't mentioned though. I think that I definitely use blogs as more of a go-to source for inspiration these days.
cakespy at 12:43PM on 03/02/09
i concur with cakespy about the escapism side of glossies. it goes along with my french laundry cookbook... i'll probably never fully put to use the way i do other books, but it functions as dreamy food porn anyway.
maybe the times avoided mentioning the web b/c newspapers & print media in general are struggling hard to compete with it?
gastronomeg at 4:00PM on 03/02/09
I agree that quite often I read glossies for escapism, but also to get ideas for new and different ways to cook up the same old ingredients. I wish that both print media (cookbooks and magazines) would spend more time telling us how to eat well with smaller amounts of key ingredients than just going to the old standby comfort foods.
There's nothing wrong with Shepherd's Pie or Root Vegetable Gratin. I've been making a lot of gratins myself lately. But it's also possible to take a half a pound of shrimp or half a pound of beef and stretch that into a meal for 4. Use some of the more expensive ingredients as flavorings rather than the main focus of the dish.
Even though I write a food blog, and I'm on the Internet 12 hours a day, I still love picking up my cookbooks and flipping through them.
cooklocal at 6:44PM on 03/02/09