I was so sad when I read about the closing of Gourmet and several other Conde Nast magazines. (And I’m still missing Domino and Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion!) But the loss of Gourmet is truly the end of an era.

When the magazine debuted, there was literally NO other magazine like it. It promoted the idea of adventurous dining, cooking on a more creative level with fresh ingredients and an international flair. It was the first magazine to put forth the idea of a stylish and elegant presentation. It urged us to savor time spent in preparing a delicious meal, sharing it with friends and family, and taking time to DINE, not WOLF our food. Mealtime was, for Gourmet readers and devotees, a special place in the day to spend in enjoyment of good food and good company.

Well, it does seem that the bell is tolling for the magazine industry, and I for one am very sorry to hear that distant sound getting closer and closer. I’ve always been a "mag hag" - I’ve adored reading magazines from National Geographic to Vanity Fair to The New Yorker to People to Vogue to Country Life … I could go on and on. There is something magical and au courant about a good magazine. It is both an escape from daily life and a close-up of daily culture. It is depressing to lose one as classic and insightful as Gourmet. Let’s hope that if the economy spikes upward, Conde Nast will reconsider and get it back up and running.

This is very sad - Gourmet was one of the first of this type of magazine and an excellent example for those that followed or copied. Ruth Reichl is always welcome down her in Aus - I would love to read her reviews in our papers or our foody magazines. It’s strange - down here - I am pretty sure food magazines outsell most of the other magazines, food shows on TV are huge and cooking is becoming more and more popular.

How could you not love them - food and wine are heaven. :-)

I’m a very adventurous cook (and a pretty good one) and I enjoyed looking at Gourmet every now and then.  Their kazillion-item recipes could be daunting though! I remember trying one in the mid-’80s and realizing that 14 of the mile-long list of ingredients made simple, plain-old…ketchup!

So I made the recipe — and it turned out fine — but I squeezed a half-cup of Hunt’s Ketchup from the bottle in my fridge and crossed out about a quarter of their recipe.

Gourmet will be a loss, but in this era where everyone and anyone is a "chef," or can have their recipes published in a book, this is not a surprise. I used to exist on Gourmet in grad school when I was also a young mother/spouse  -  it always obtained the secret recipes from great resaturants for me!

If Julia was on PBS today she wouldn’t survive. Julia was supplanted by the chatty, narcissistic, flamboyant bloke who runs his self-procaimed America’s Test Kitchen, and all the women ‘under’ him, and guards his recipes to the point of $$$ only. How boring.

Cooking is an art, and Gourmet maintained its status.

Thank you, Gourmet.