In a dramatic move that will affect writers around the country, magazine publisher Condé Nast will cease monthly publication of Modern Bride, Elegant Bride, Gourmet, and Cookie.
In addition, an internal memo notes that Gourmet‘s publishing footprint will be maintained: “Gourmet magazine will cease monthly publication, but we will remain committed to the brand, retaining Gourmet‘s book publishing and television programming, and Gourmet recipes on Epicurious.com,” wrote CEO Chuck Townsend. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt just published “Gourmet Today,” a cookbook edited by Gourmet editor-in-chief Ruth Reichl.
Amazon.com has a letter from Reichl about the state of the contemporary cookbook publishing market: “These days you hear a lot of gloom and doom about the state of American food. It’s certainly true that if you want to focus on the negative, there’s a lot to despair about. On the other hand, the opposite is also true. I wrote my first cookbook in 1971, and when I see the difference between what was available then and the food that now fills my supermarket, it makes me want to go dancing down the aisles.”