Food fright

10/12/2009

MOST anyone who cooks for

pleasure has a favorite from the 69-year history of Gourmet magazine, that one dazzling dish that is probably difficult to make, contains expensive ingredients, and is just delicious.

Gourmet, America's upscale food bible, is closing, a victim of declining advertising sales. We are sorry to see it go.

Gourmet was all that its name suggests.

Its critics and feature writers visited the world's best restaurants, most fertile vineyards, most lavish resorts - all places united in their love and respect for food that was special and exquisite.

The publication, considered snobbish by some, actually was an equalizer.

Subscribers who could afford such luxuries and those who could imbibe only vicariously through its pages shared the experiences equally. It offered readers a greater understanding of how food is raised and grown, preserved and prepared.

Gourmet was well-written and beautifully illustrated. Its pages provided a slice of the good life that few can afford and - this was the bonus - a chance to re-create it at home. Good thing we saved the old issues.