Goodbye Gourmet

NYT reported that Conde Nast just announced that it is folding three magazines including Gourmet.Gourmet Magazine has been around since 1940. This truly is a sad day for the Food Industry. I have learned so much about food and I have cooked some amazing recipes from this magazine. I am sad to see it fold.

My favorite issue, which sits on my desk all the time is the Southern Cooking Issue with essays from Edna Lewis. The essay, in which Lewis shares a lifetime’s worth of experience, was the inspiration for this entire special issue and its exploration of southern cuisine. A granddaughter of freed slaves, the late Edna Lewis left home when she was just 16 years old and went on to become a renowned chef at Manhattan’s star-studded Café Nicholson. With her four cookbooks, she was a pioneer for regional American food, spread the gospel of genuine southern cuisine, and inspired a generation of home cooks. Through her essays she explores what it means to be southern. It is beautifully written where she writes about southern food, weather, people and day-to-day life. Being from the south- it make me smile and think about things that I do or my mother does that is southern. Essays like this in Gourmet makes the magazine so unique and something I will miss. It is not just a recipe or food critic writing about a meal. The magazine talks about food and politics, food and race, food and culture....Something I think is important when you write about food.


"Southern is a mint julep. A goblet of crushed ice with a sprig of mint tucked in the side of the glass, plain sugar syrup the consistency of kerosene poured over the ice, then a jigger of bourbon. Stir and bruise the mint with a silver spoon. Sip and enjoy. Southern is a hot summer day that brings on a violent thunderstorm, cooling the air and bringing up smells of the earth..."

"Southern is a seafood gumbo of crab, okra, tomatoes, scallions, onions, green pepper, bacon, garlic, and herbs. Southern is fresh-made corn fritters, light and crisp enough to fly away. Southern is an okra pancake in a cornmeal batter. Southern is a platter of deviled crabs prepared with soaked slices of white bread torn and mixed with chopped onion, fine-cut scallions, melted butter, fresh-ground pepper, cayenne, eggs, and the best crabmeat. Baked in the oven, served hot, a morsel to die over. Southern is a pitcher of lemonade, filled with slices of lemon and a big piece of ice from the icehouse and served with buttermilk cookies. Southern is a delicious chicken salad at a bride's luncheon."

She ends her essay by saying, "The world has changed. We are now faced with picking up the pieces and trying to put them into shape, document them so the present-day young generation can see what southern food was like. The foundation on which it rested was pure ingredients, open-pollinated seed-planted and replanted for generations- natural fertilizers. We grew the seeds of what we ate, we worked with love and care."

Click here to read whole article!