The End of Gourmet? Say It Ain't So!

The downturn in the economy has already claimed more than a few victims. But we just heard saddening news about one potential addition to that list: Gourmet magazine.

According to analysis from the financial web site 247WallSt.com, the writing may already be on the wall:

Gourmet will probably not see the end of the year. Its parent company, Conde Nast, can no longer rely on the huge profits of the newspaper portion of the Newhouse family business. The magazine operation needs to go on a diet.  Conde Nast reaches the "food" market several ways. It owns Gourmet, Bon Appetite [sic], and epicurious.com.  Conde Nast simply owns too many titles in this category.

While we get why it's tricky to juggle both Gourmet and Bon Appétit, we would hate to lose Gourmet for one major reason: Editor-in-chief Ruth Reichl.

As we've mentioned before, Reichl's food prose is so fantastic it almost hurts. Her books are just brilliant. And her column in Gourmet is one of the absolute best parts of the magazine.

We know Ruth Reichl would land on her feet -- someone with such a deep love of food and cooking and such a great talent for sharing that love will certainly no go silent.

But her column is like an ongoing dinner-table conversation with the coolest friend of your family's, the one who can tell you where to find the best mussels in Paris as well as the best hot dog on your block.

Missing out on her voice would be a big loss, indeed. 

Not already getting Gourmet?  Do your part and subscribe.  You won't be sorry.