Dueling Food & Wine covers for home subscribers (left) and newsstand (right).
We're always fascinated by the choices food magazines make in what to put on the cover each month.
What, for instance, drove the decision for Bon Appétit to put pasta on their May cover when other magazines went with more summery dishes? And how did Fine Cooking end up with ribs on the June/July cover, when most magazines went with burgers?
We're sure these issues are debated long and hard (and hopefully over plates of delicious food from the test kitchen).
But the thing about magazine covers that most fascinates us is when they decide to do two covers -- one for subscribers and another for newsstand. We see this most often in the fall, when we've noticed several magazines doing this for their Thanksgiving issues.
While we were at the supermarket recently, we saw the newsstand edition of Food & Wine's "best new chefs" issue. We were surprised to see the newsstand cover, featuring a beautiful shot of Green Tomatoes with Pistachio Relish, rather than the group-shot cover home subscribers received.
The choice totally makes sense to us. It stands to reason that home subscribers -- more likely to be foodies -- would take more interest in which chefs appear on the cover. The casual shopper at a bookstore or supermarket might be more drawn to a beautiful food photo. (Now, whether the more casual shopper is interested in a green tomato dish is a whole other question.)
Which cover do you prefer? Below -- take our (first!) poll. Plus, find out what those funny symbols are in the bottom right of each magazine cover.
Continue reading "Battle of the Food & Wine Covers, Plus QR Codes On Covers" »