RIP Gourmet Magazine

By Queena Kwok

I am mourning the demise to my favourite magazine, Gourmet has been around for the last 68 years, as a faithful reader and foodie, I came to appreciate the exquisite tips and recipe over the years, this great magazine has helped elevate my level of passion and enthusiasm for all things culinary.

The brilliant pictures found within the pages of Gourmet made food exciting for me, so much so that when I moved out of my parents house at  age 15,  it was the articles in Gourmet which became both very alluring and encouraging. After learning the cooking basics from friends and roommates, I would then try out the simplest of their recipes as a teenager.  I recall, starting things of  with appetizers and deserts, and eventually moving onto the more complex entreé.

Gourmet was loved by me, because not only did it provide readers with recipes, it provided help with menu planning.  It educated me on ingredients and cooking techniques; it was my little guidebook when I planned dinner parties during my college years…while everyone else was serving beer and chips at their parties, I served duck, lamb chops and smoked salmon.

The magazine taught and satisfied my love and curiosity for game meat. Rarely would I find articles in other culinary magazines tackling ingredients such as venison, rabbit, duck, bison…etc. It was my inspiration for the now “Annual Bunny Feast”, think about it, what 24 year old wouldn’t be intimidated by an ingredient like rabbit? I was reading one day a recipe on rabbit stew and realized that with careful planning, I too could work with game meat.  The first year was a small affair, with about 5 people, but over the years it has became somewhat of an Easter Debauchery with bunnies and wine. The Bunny Feast is now an annual Easter tradition for me and my college buddies, going 6 years strong.

November is your last chance to catch Gourmet, I call on all foodies to celebrate the legacy of this great magazine and cook something from its last issues. Also check out recipes at Gourmet.com (yes, they still have bunny recipes for us game lovers)