Food Magazines

[weinoo]

I confess - I subscribe to a few food and drink magazines - without looking, I'd say Saveur, Gourmet, Cook's Illustrated, Food Arts, Fine Cooking, Italian Cooking and Living, Wine Spectator, Imbibe, Bon Apetit, and a few I'm sure I'm forgetting. Along with non-food weekly periodicals and a daily NY Times. And we live in a one-bedroom apartment - my cookbook collection numbers over 500 and my wife is a fairly avid reader and book collector as well.

So, I'm wondering - do you keep your food magazines or do you toss them after reading? I've taken to cutting out a recipe here and there and the occasional article about somewhere we might be thinking of traveling to and then tossing the 'zine, because there just isn't any more room for this stuff.

What do you all do?

[Bueno]

I confess - I subscribe to a few food and drink magazines - without looking, I'd say Saveur, Gourmet, Cook's Illustrated, Food Arts, Fine Cooking, Italian Cooking and Living, Wine Spectator,  Imbibe, Bon Apetit, and a few I'm sure I'm forgetting. Along with non-food weekly periodicals and a daily NY Times. And we live in a one-bedroom apartment - my cookbook collection numbers over 500 and my wife is a fairly avid reader and book collector as well.

So, I'm wondering - do you keep your food magazines or do you toss them after reading?  I've taken to cutting out a recipe here and there and the occasional article about somewhere we might be thinking of traveling to and then tossing the 'zine, because there just isn't any more room for this stuff. 

What do you all do?

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If they've got more than say, 3, articles or recipes that I find especially well-written and interesting or that I plan to make in the near future, it'll become my newest coffee table addition. Otherwise, I give them away to friends and family and let them worry about disposal. Even still, I've amassed about a hundred, and given away at least .. 3 hundred or so, over the years.

[Marlene]

Certain ones like demos in Cooks Illustrated or Fine Cooking I keep. I always buy the Fine Cooking yearly volume and then I'll pitch that year's magazines. Others, like Bon Appetite or Gourmet, I usually save to read on planes, etc, and mark recipes I want to try.

Those magazines tend to pile up around the house, until I have a huge stack, at which point, I have to go through each magazine, decide if I still want to try the recipes, or review ones I have tried. Those get transfered to my recipe software, then the magazine gets pitched. Of course, it takes 6-8 months before I get around to this though, so cooking magazines end up everywhere in my house.

[Curlz]

I've finally gone down to 2 subscriptions (Cooking Light and Gourmet this year) because I finally realized that side-by-side they were so similar each month! Do I really need 18 different cranberry sauce recipes every November? Hardly.

CL has been a staple for as long as I can remember, and the other 1-2 rotate depending on who offers the best deal (i.e. Gourmet for $12/yr). As I read them, I turn down the corner on any page that's of interest, and then I try to get on the magazine's site and download those recipes so I can give away or toss the magazine. Despite that, there are still small stacks of them in the house--along with too many cookbooks and other food writing. No question where my interest lies when you look around my place, though! Food. And moose! (not that there's anything wrong with mousse, either...)

[Miami Danny]

Great topic...I've whittled down my food magazine subscriptions to Food Arts and Sante. These seem to have the most information, with recipes and demos you are less likely to see anywhere else (like Wily Dufresne's 'Egg Roll' or Kurt Gutenbrunner's 'Riesling Sauerkraut'). They also have a lot of business-oriented columns and articles by people who are actually in the business. I seem to stack these up, and actually refer to them every now and then. I stopped everything else (still getting Saveur, though that's due to run out) because it all started to seem so familiar, and the writing so bland. I get design magazines like Surface and Wallpaper, and these behemoths are a fresh respite from food magazines, many of which seem to be written for people who have just picked up their first food mag. I try to make sure that last month's issue is out of the house before this month's arrives. Otherwise, I toss it when I get the new one. That being said, I do have a big stack of 'special' issues (Italy, Spain, Chicago, Paris, etc.) on the porch, which I glance at and try to toss but can't bring myself to.

Edited November 8, 2007 by Miami Danny (log)

[Kim Shook]

Oh, I have way too many magazines, going back years. My process is to go through them and read what I want, then go through again and write down the name and page # of recipes that I want to make. Then I tape the piece of paper on the front page of the magazine. The idea is that I will go back to them and make them sometime. I do it often, but I have so many that I won't ever finish them. I also use the same process with cookbooks.

Kim

[weinoo]

I guess the weird thing with these magazines (and I've been cutting recipes out of various pubs. for like 20 years) is this. Last night, I wanted to make a pretty simple recipe - something that I knew I had cut the recipe out of a magazine specifically for this purpose. Started looking through my files, sneezing at the dust, etc.

Then, I typed the recipe into Google and it was on my screen in 2 seconds. So, do I really need to be even using my scissors any more - probably not. But there is something to be said about holding the hard copy in my hands.

[Bueno]

Great point!

With the availability of recipes online these days (either through the magazine website itself, or BLOGS, TV Networks, author's websites, forums like eG, etc..) it almost makes print media pointless. The articles are really becoming the only draw, in addition to the tactile appeal (which I'll admit, is a huge part of why I still subscribe -- to have things to put on my tables) and possibly the transportation ease.

[Chris Hennes]

I've got my subscriptions pared down to Cook's Illustrated and Fine Cooking at the moment, so we're not at the crisis level anymore... the books are another story...

[Pebs]

I've reduced my food magazine consumption to Cooks Illustrated. I'll ocasionally buy an interesting issue of some other food magazine from the news stand. The issues I will not part with are the Christmas Cookie issues I've bought in the past.

You can get any recipe that appeared in Bon Appitite, Gourmet, and Cooking Light on line for free. You have to subscribe to the interenet page of Cooks Illustrated for an annual fee so I keep those magazines.

A couple of years ago I figured out a way to sell my surplus magazines. I had a garage sale and instead of selling them by the issue, I tied 6 magazines together with a satin ribbon and sold the bundles for $2.00. I sold all 20 or so bundles in about an hour. I don't think I'd have sold any of them if they were individually priced. At least not nearly as many.

Cindy

[weinoo]

A couple of years ago I figured out a way to sell my surplus magazines.  I  had a garage sale and instead of selling them by the issue, I tied 6 magazines together with a satin ribbon and sold the bundles for $2.00.  I sold all 20 or so bundles in about an hour.  I don't think I'd have sold any of them if they were individually priced.  At least not nearly as many. 

Cindy

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Good job, Cindy...now, if I only had a garage...

Which I did when I lived for a number of years in San Jose...I'll never forget when I moved back to NY, and had to clean out the garage, how many magazines went down to the dump.

[heidih]

So, I'm wondering - do you keep your food magazines or do you toss them after reading? 

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I accumulated trunks full and when we remodeled a few years ago I was forced to pare it down. When I went to the local library booksale area I found they had most of the magazines already, several sets of each, and for sale for pennies. So I went thru all of mine and just kept the ones that spoke to me with a food memory or article. Then in preparing to sell the current house in 18 months, I went thru them again. Out of all the Gourmets, I ended up just cutting out the whole Laurie Colwin series and pitching the rest. I still subscribe to Saveur, but mostly as the result of a kid in the neighborhood begging me to buy a fundraising magazine subscription. I plan to keep what I have for a year and then sort out. The internet as a recipe source, and world-wide food blogs currently satisfy the visual and anecdotal needs.

[Toliver]

As for magazines, I rip as I read. Then the magazine goes in the trash.

Regarding recipes on the internet, there was another discussion here about people being able to collect and print recipes from the web in a personal cookbook.

Why kill a tree for that?

I use Microsoft Word. I cut & paste from web sites into my document, noting the source in case I need to return to it. Then when I need to make a recipe, it's easy to print out just what I need. If I had a computer in my kitchen, I wouldn't even need a print out.

[rconnelly]

So, I'm wondering - do you keep your food magazines or do you toss them after reading? 

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I accumulated trunks full and when we remodeled a few years ago I was forced to pare it down. When I went to the local library booksale area I found they had most of the magazines already, several sets of each, and for sale for pennies. So I went thru all of mine and just kept the ones that spoke to me with a food memory or article. Then in preparing to sell the current house in 18 months, I went thru them again. Out of all the Gourmets, I ended up just cutting out the whole Laurie Colwin series and pitching the rest. I still subscribe to Saveur, but mostly as the result of a kid in the neighborhood begging me to buy a fundraising magazine subscription. I plan to keep what I have for a year and then sort out. The internet as a recipe source, and world-wide food blogs currently satisfy the visual and anecdotal needs.

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i know you have Laurie's work but her two books are complete works and a lot less messy.

Can someone help me with the titles? At the moment they escape me.

[JeanneCake]

Home Cooking: A writer in the kitchen

and

More Home Cooking: a writer returns to the kitchen

These have been at the bedside night table for years.

[Toasted]

Another food magazine addict here. This is my system: cut out the recipes I want as I read, stick them in a large zip lock bag, later organize them into photo albums ( the ones with just the single big page for photos) according to apps., veggies, baking, etc. Now I can just flip open to a recipe and the plastic protects it from stains or sticky cooking fingers. I also do the same thing with recipes that I download. It seems like a waste of time, not to mention paper, to go find a certain recipe I only use a few times a year and keep printing it out. I try to keep one of the albums in my car at all times so I can organize the recipes while waiting for appointments or during one of the kid's sport practices. If the recipe has a photo I try to include some or all it to remind my self why I wanted to make it in the first place.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Question: does anyone have a simple and reliable avenue to subscribe to "Elle a Table", Saveurs" (please note that this is the French periodical, not our 'Saveur'), "Regal", "Vin et Cuisine"?

Many thanks in advance. These mags are super expensive at my international mag dealer, and super heavy (to hear my husband's rants but worth every effort) to suitcase home from France.

[aliénor]

Question: does anyone have a simple and reliable avenue to subscribe to "Elle a Table", Saveurs" (please note that this is the French periodical, not our 'Saveur'), "Regal", "Vin et Cuisine"?

quote]

i think i have solved the food magazine pack rat syndrome. i have given subscriptions to three food magazines to our local library. in this manner i can read them, xerox what i want and keep my livingroom free of those mags. of course, i still receive a few to keep by my bedside. but in this manner i feel virtuous and help my library to boot. i wish others would try this method..... to help rid them of the magazine pack rat syndrome (mprs!)

[Dieck]

I have piles and piles of food magazines. Generally I rip as I go, picking recipes I want to make someday. And now I have piles and piles of ripped pieces of paper all over my house.

Last week I made a recipe for the first time that I had ripped out of a periodical in 1996. It took me 11 years to make the recipe. I wish I could say it was worth the wait.

[prasantrin]

Question: does anyone have a simple and reliable avenue to subscribe to "Elle a Table", Saveurs" (please note that this is the French periodical, not our 'Saveur'), "Regal",  "Vin et Cuisine"?

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You might have already tried this, but have you contacted the magazines directly? Most American magazines can be delivered to non-US addresses at a slightly higher subscription rate (for example, I think I pay $30/year to have my Fine Cooking delivered to Japan), so perhaps the publishers of your magazines have a similar system. Check the fine print near the front of the magazine that discusses subscriptions, and you may find a rate for international subscriptions.

ETA--I did a search on Elle a Table's website, and it looks like if you want to subscribe, you have to go through Express Magazine. It's not cheap--$69/year, so I don't know if that's better or worse than what you're paying now. They have Saveurs, and Cuisine et Vin, too.

I have piles and piles of food magazines. Generally I rip as I go, picking recipes I want to make someday. And now I have piles and piles of ripped pieces of paper all over my house. 

You need some page protectors and a good binder. If you're feeling really ambitious, you can get some dividers and organize your binder(s) by type--main dishes, desserts, etc.

Edited February 1, 2008 by prasantrin (log)

[prasantrin]

Certain ones like demos in Cooks Illustrated or Fine Cooking I keep.  I always buy the Fine Cooking yearly volume and then I'll pitch that year's magazines. 

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I really wish I had done that, too. I love Fine Cooking, and the Dec./Jan (Nov/Dec?) 2000 issue had a couple of my favourite cookie recipes in it, but the magazine disappeared or got misplaced. It's a lot harder to misplace a book than a magazine.

[PastryGuru]

I never throw away a food magazine. If I see something of interest, I'll mark it with my color coded tabs, and copy it at work using our nice color copier. (Hey, I use most of those recipes for work, too! ) I'm afraid that if I rip out a page, I'll miss something on the other side.

Since my last move, my friends and family swore that if I move again, they would take care of the furniture; but I would need to hire professional movers to move the books and magazines.

That was four years ago. (You can only imagine what my apartment looks like now.)

[PastryGuru]

Home Cooking: A writer in the kitchen

and

More Home Cooking: a writer returns to the kitchen

These have been at the bedside night table for years.

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Outstanding books! I am re-reading them this month. It's a shame that the writer is no longer with us. She is one of the few writers that inspires me to run to the farmer's market and spend the day in the kitchen cooking for anyone who's hungry.

P.S. If anyone has any old issues of Saveur or Cook's Illustrated that you need to unload, please let me know. For the love of God, don't throw them away! I'd be more than happy to pay for the shipping and a little extra for your troubles.

Edited February 2, 2008 by PastryGuru (log)

[chefjerky]

I collect Saveur, Cook's Illustrated, & Art Culinaire. I too have pack rat syndrome and cannot part with them. They used to be in stacks, constantly falling off of my bookshelves. To remedy that, I purchased a heavy duty three hole punch from an office supply catalog and organized them in large, three ring binders by the year. Of course the Art Culinaires are hard bound already so they are not an issue. I find my self looking at them a lot more now then ever.

[markk]

Not too long ago, for reasons of space, I threw out 25 years of Gourmet magazine. I tried to donate them to a library, but they weren't interested, and as you can probably imagine, it's a lot of space. And I live in a colossally large apartment.

Now I throw each issue of a magazine out when the next one comes. I am a pack-rat and would love to save them, but I know it's impossible. Sometimes a magazine will devote a whole issue to a city that I love to visit, and then I'll save that issue. Other than that, out they go.

Books are another matter. Food books have taken over my house, because I cannot bring myself to throw a book out.