Abstract

Presents articles on cooking and entertaining, including recipes, kitchentools and serving suggestions for all occasions.
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Reviews (25)

Practical recipes and a fun online community too!
Each issue of Bon Appetit is filled with recipes that make home cooking interesting. Articles on topics related to food, wine, restaurants, and travel provide some light reading, but the emphasis is on recipes ranging from simple ideas for dishes based on store-bought ingredients to elaborate meals entirely from scratch. Most are geared toward those of us who have some cooking experience but also have a life outside the kitchen, and allow you to achieve surprisingly good results with relatively little effort. The recipes are seasonal and often trendy, but not weird; ingredients can usually be found in well-stocked supermarkets. One of the best features isn't even in the magazine - it's the way all the recipes are available for review on the Epicurious web site. If you like Amazon reader reviews, you will love Epicurious recipe reviews, which let you reap the benefit of a whole community's experience with each recipe. Subscribing to Bon Appetit gives you the best of both worlds - a magazine you can read at your leisure, wherever you like, and a community of cooks with whom to share ideas if you wish.

Great Cooking Magazine
Bon Appetit is such an underrated magazine for people who like to cook.

I am a longtime subscriber, and I have kept all of the past issues. The magazine is always full of both easy and sophisticated recipes. You will really love the November and December issues, with Thanksgiving and Christmas/Hannukah recipes.

The photography, the recipes, the product descriptions, the cookbook reviews, this magazine has it all.

In comparison to its closest rivals, which I perceive to be Gourmet, Cook's Illustrated, and Cooking Light, Bon Appetit is the clear winner. Gourmet is too high end, with a sparse design style. Cook's Illustrated lack the photography that is essential to a cooking magazine. In my view, Cooking Light is both too niche and too low end.

Bon Appetit sets the perfect tone. Don't let the title scare you away.

It Used to Be Better
I am a long-term (soon not-to-be) subscriber. 10 years ago, you would get this magazine and end up keeping the whole issue because there were so many good recipes. Not any more! Since William Gaines passed away and Barbara Fairchild took over, it's become a love letter to yuppies who frequent gourmet markets. Like the Aug. issue: under Every Night Cooking they suggest Portuguese Clams with Linguica and Tomatoes. Not at my house! And the people they profile are not down-to-earth every day people, but wealthy yuppies at their summer home in the Hamptons trooping to the beach with their Sancerre and couscous. Give me a break! Even the Thanksgiving issue isn't a keeper anymore. I'll thumb through my 1995 back issues and dream of a simpler time.

Great food, but not for a budget
I love fine food and wine, but some of the recipes this past year have been way out of my league. I have never heard of some of the ingredients they ask for, and wouldn't have a clue where to find them! Of the ones I have tried, however, they all were very good (albeit time consuming). I love the pictures and the articles, but I just don't have the money to keep up with the food.

Great cooking magazine.
Nice Editor-In-Chief. Nice pictures of the food. Recipes are laid out nicely. ... Read more

Abstract

Articles and product information for wine enthusiasts.
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Reviews (14)

Review of the Decade, 100 points! Oh please...
Wine Spectator is the most prominent and widely available wine criticism magazine and as such it has been endlessly pilloried. Well, they deserve it - one recent issue's cover story was "Danny DeVito and Rhea Pearlman, Hollywood Power Couple!" How ridiculous can you get? The pages are littered with articles devoted to wealthy Californians and their extensive cellars; one recently spent an entire article on a rich man who helps his rich friends by cataloguing their cellars on, gasp, a spreadsheet! Yeah, it's like that.

Wine Spectator has also been criticized for the way it uses hyperbole to the extent that no one believes them when they're right anymore. Oenophiles now wait for Robert Parker (Wine Advocate) to back them up before believing it. "Best Vintage since 1961" and "Vintage of the Century" and "Vintage of the Decade" are far too common copy, coming once a year or so.

The vintner profiles hold some interest, but don't fool yourself, you read this magazine for the scoring. Wine Spectator has the resources to taste more wines than any other English language publication (that I know of) and despite some strange results, are generally good at evaluating the bottles in question. As I've noted elsewhere, in spite of the hyperbolic headlines, the Spectator is stingier than Robert Parker for rating wines "Outstanding." The caveat is that a lot of wines get bunched up in the 84-86 point range, although I suppose that matches my experience.

By comparison to the Wine Advocate, I find Wine Spectator scores much more inconsistent. This makes sense because the Spectator has a larger staff and it's difficult to establish a common benchmark across all of the offices and tasting panels. In their favor, they do review a fair number of lower priced wines, more than their aforementioned colleague, and their reactions are more or less in the ballpark as to where I'd put them if I were doing the reviews. But know when using the Spectator to allow some give on either side, a confidence interval, if you will.

It might be terrible that a magazine wastes its first three quarters of every issue on mindless fodder for social climbers. It might be tasteless that they spend so much time promoting the notion that wine is an investment, instead of an immensely enjoyable consumable commodity. But those of us with big brains and modest credit ratings know that there is much to be salvaged from the back of each issue. We also know that Parker is the first point of reference.

The Magazine That Created The Modern Wine Snob
Used to be on the most pretentious types walked around talking about vintages and vinyards and things like nose and legs and such. Thanks to Robert Parker and The Wine Spectator, now every pretentious yuppie with a few bucks can be heard to go on and on about "roasted plum scent" and "tobacco undertones" and other such pretentious rot. Stores have contributed to this mess, too; go into any wine shop or grocery and you'll see bottles with tags saying "Wine Spectator 87! Rasberries and Citrus!" and other nonsense.

Truth of the matter is 90% of the wines found in The Wine Spectator will never be found in your local wine shop, so all these reviews are just fodder for pretentious yuppies. And in any case, wine is a personal and subjective matter that cannot be reduced to a simple number. Save the money you'd spend on this, and instead make friends with your loal wine merchant. He or seh will give you far better advice. Unless, that it, he or she is a fan of Parker....

Attractive magazine focusing on upmarket wines
Wine Spectator is an enjoyable magazine that's well-laid out and often interesting to read. However, it mainly focuses on pricey wines (as it should, being a pricey magazine), and the articles about wine-related subjects like matching cheese with wine are sometimes lacking in depth. Still, it's a pleasant magazine which immerses its readers in the culture of wine, and each issue does highlight a few modestly-priced wines.

The One I Get
This is the wine magazine I get. It has good timely information and coverages most aspects of wine. One weaker area is cooking, but there are other magazines for that and I look for WINE coverage in a wine magazine. The format is large (about twice the area of a normal magazine), which can be cumbersome and not so easy to read when standing in line and reading. The layout is clean and edited well. The columns are informative and on-topic. All in all, probably the only wine magazine that I will continue to get on a regular basis.

a LIFESTYLE magazine
The fact is that Wine Spectator is about the most inconsistant, beholden to special interest, pseudo-wine magazine ever! Their reviews are indeed gushing...I challange anyone to find a single negative comment. They say tastings are blind and comments are registered before the bottles are revealed so I would like to know how they consistantly come up with bottle-specific comments like, "this is a good Grange, but not quite up to the standards of previous vintages." ...Tasting is also done by panal highlighting another weakness: Usually, you can learn the palate and preferences of a particular reviewer, compare them to your own, and weight that person's ratings accordingly...here you have no idea which so-called 'experts' have reviewed a particular wine, so this tool is lost. Additionally, none of the WS reciewers, to my knowledge, posesses either a 'Master of Wines' or a 'Master Sommielier' certification. While extremely difficult to earn (Robert Parker has failed the MoW test twice), either should be a prerequisite for a professed expert (or at least one of them). For real wine enthusiasts, subscribe to decanter; for the more casual drinker, food&wine presents a much better value. ... Read more

From Amazon.com

Focusing on a central theme in each issue, such as 25 party ideas (number 25: nautical party) or 35 quick and tasty dishes, Food & Wine indulges a broad range of culinary connoisseurs and thirsty enophiles. Expect a number of well-rounded recipes and festive commentary on the theme at hand, but don't expect that Food & Wine will be weighed down by said theme--each issue also contains a home shopping guide (in case you need to know where to purchase a green bamboo tray), restaurant reviews, a Drinks/Wine section, and shorter articles that run from "Win a Date with a Chef" to "The Joy of Slow Cooking." --A.J. Rathbun ... Read more

Reviews (17)

the most over-rated food magazine
I subscribed to Food & Wine for a while and was continuously disappointed. The articles are on the superficial side and more importantly a lot of the recipes and product reviews are not as well researched as they should have been. I experienced more than one flop trying their stuff. The magazine tries very hard to be trendy and pick up the latest and greatest in the cooking and restaurant scene without being careful enough in deciding what is actually an important or meaningful trend rather than a fad. This magazine can't hold a candle to "Bon Appetit" or "Gourmet".

Paris Restaurant Reviews
While I would hardly call myself a wine connoisseur, I do enjoy this magazine for the articles and recipes.

The Columns in the September 2002 issue include:

From the Editor - an always inspirational look at what is happening in the food world by Dana Cowin

"Fashions in food do come and go, and that's okay. Food should involve a sense of discovery. There's excitement in trying a new ingredient or visiting a new culinary destination." -Dana Cowin

Contributors
Letters
Web Chat - with Joyce Jue

How do I cure my new wok?
What are some important wok rules?
Should I stir-fry all of my ingredients at once, or cook meat separately?
What kind of soy sauce should I use?

Pairing of the Month
News & Notes
Home
Travel - an article about Mexico
Restaurants - The best new places to eat in Paris
Master Cook
Entertaining
Well-Being
Kitchens - the newest gadgets and kitchenware
Wine Matters
Wine Guide
Fast - Basil Chicken Curry with Coconut Rice
Directory

Last Bite - Plum Tart

The recipes are ranked according to "fast," "healthy," and "make ahead." They include soups and starters, salads and vegetables, pasta and rice, fish and shellfish, meat, poultry and desserts.

I always look forward to receiving this magazine and I
don't even drink! ;)

A Trendy Disappointment
Maybe I was just hoping for too much from one magazine - a good wine magazine with some recipies thrown in. The recipies are good, but the wine secion is a sparse and unsophisticated afterthought. The articles are truly grating, focusing in agonizing detail on the trendy parties thrown by the editors' friends. There is a place for a magazine like this, but don't let the name fool you; this publication is really more of an entertainment lifestyle magazine than a food magazine. What is most definitley is NOT is a wine magazine.

Yummm
Hey, hey, hey -- Grilling in the USA! This is the lead article in in the first issue of Food and Wine I ever got, and as the summer approaches, and I am ready. I just pulled my grill out of the garage last week, as the temperature is warming up. This is what I love about this magazine--they are timely, and somehow know what I'm thinking.

Yes, I know--many are thinking about grilling now. This doesn't lessen the value of the magazine for me; it comes monthly with seasonal dishes and ideas for parties, formal and casual, as well as general items that would be appropriate all year round. The grilling article this month concentrates on atypical grilling possibilities -- grilled salmon with dilled mustard glaze; grilled Maryland soft-shell crabs with tartar sauce; grilled pork tenderloin fajitas; barbecues leg of lamb; many other things, including the grilling essentials (from taste-oriented requirements such as dried vines and herbs to practical needs such as mitts and a brush).

That issue of magazine also had An Ode to Beer & Baseball, another apropos article, with the subtitle which reads:

'Forget Chardonnay. The only drink that can do justice to baseball is a lukewarm, sudsy, mass-produced domestic beer.'

Now, you might not agree with this (I personally would prefer a higher-grade beer with my low-standard hot dog at the ballpark), but from this you can see this is not just a 'woman's magazine', as so many magazines of this sort get labelled.

The magazine is well-organised, well-pictured (I like to see the way food is supposed to look), and well-written; it has an index of recipes in the back of each issue, separated by food types--soups and starters, salads, eggs, vegetables, pasta etc., fish & shellfish, meat & poultry, desserts, condiments & sauces, and (in this particular issue) salsas. They also index types of cooking (formal, fast, etc.), wine recommendations and reviews, and places.

Past issues included a gatronomic tour of the restaurants of San Francisco, as well as Amsterdam. One previous issue did a 'tour of the islands', which took in not only Caribbean islands, but also Tahiti, Madagascar, and Australia. There is always at least one international article in Food and Wine which discusses both local cuisine and restaurant options, as well as how to recreate some of the dishes at home.

The section on wines is always of particular interest to me. A recent issue included a useful guide to 10 common blunders with wine, which includes storage tips, glassware cleanliness (don't destroy a good wine with a glass which has a soapy residue!), serving sequences, and more. The preceding issue kept with it's island theme by going over the best wines from islands by wine experts from 12 top resorts; earlier in the year articles included tips for getting best buys at restaurants (how to really read a wine list), how to buy to build a collection, and how to determine value in the confusing world of French wines.

One article I highly recommend comes from the February 2000 issue, The $100 Dinner Party, which discusses chef Julia Serrano from the Picasso restaurant in Las Vegas and his construction of an elegant dinner party for 10 that only cost $100. Then it has pages of wonderful tips for those on a limited budget (like poor struggling seminary students!) on how to build good and memorable menus on a shoestring.

I was given a subscription to this magazine as a gift from someone who despaired of my Domino's diet, and I have maintained the subscription due to the wonderful variety of articles, the interesting writing style, and the temptation the magazine inspires each month.

Bon appetite!

Food & Wine is excellent in all regards
"The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it" (Oscar Wilde)

Great food and superb wines tempt me. Thus, I am an aficionado of food magazines. Three magazines (Food & Wine, Gourmet, Southern Living) nested in my mail box monthly and all of them satiate my longing for great food and wine.

Food & Wine is supreme. It promotes dishes that are 1) fast, 2) healthy and 3) can be made ahead and each recipes gives you the time needed to prepare, the recipes' calories, fat and the carb. count.

I really like the table of contents "Recipes" page, where all the magazine's recipes are categorized much like a cookbook (Soup&Starter, Salads&Vegetables, Pasta, Grains&Breads, Fish/Shellfish, Poultry, Meat, Desserts).

When there are recipe photos they are good to very good (more photo would be a welcome addition) thus enticing you to attempt the recipe.

One suggestion for improvement would be a column of "best buys" wines or "Good wines under $10". Most of the wines that are profiled are, for me, expensive (i.e. 1/2003 issue 'Ice Wines' $52, $75, $65 $17, $35, $40).

Food & Wine is excellent in all regards and highly recommended. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Good value but not top-level
Wine Enthusiast magazine is a second-class (but not third-class) cousin to Wine Spectator magazine. Based on my reading experience with the magazine over the last year, it offers fewer articles and fewer tasting reviews. The quality of the editorial/opinions is close to comparable, though. This magazine can be a reasonable choice to read and, since it does cost just a bit less than Wine Spectator, it can offer reasonable value. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Not As Good As Wine Spectator
Although this magazine has excellent reviews of wines (the sections on "value" wines is outstanding), it falls short of some areas of "Wine Spectator". However, it is a smaller format and easier to carry around, read on a plane or have on your living room table. Worth considering and sampling a couple issues. I had originally given this four stars, but since it is such a good value for affordable (i.e., everyday) wines, I give it five stars. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

An Invaluable Source of Wine Information
Parker is the leading consumer analyst for the wine industry. Anyone serious about wine should subscribe to the Wine Advocate. However, I'd be doing an injustice as a reviewer if I didn't mention that you can purchase it online via Parker's eRobertParker website for only $60/year.

Fruitbomb, Fruitbomb, You're a Fruitbomb...
There is quite a cult of personality around Robert Parker, the founder of Wine Advocate. It's hard for an oenophile not to be jealous of Mr. Parker, tasting fine wines from dusk 'til dawn, and he's certainly revered. Positive Wine Advocate reviews on relatively low priced wines have caused sellouts at my local wine warehouse mere hours after they'd sent out the email.

Wine Advocate is a serious magazine that looks more like a trade publication or hobbyist's classified page. There are no photographs, illustrations, advertisements, or lifestyle articles. Ever. It suits the magazine well, however, and no one ever levels the same criticisms that are hurled at Wine Spectator (e.g., advertising skews the ratings, numerous vapid articles). The beige pages are filled with enticing reviews and vintage summaries. His coverage of the Rhone region is unmatched and his coverage of the Bordeaux, while controversial, also seems accurate to me.

That said, there are a few myths. Parker himself claims that his 50 point system (which runs from 50-100) is better than the 20 point scale used in other publications (which run from 80-100, but are really more like 70-100). Having said that, no one really pays attention to anything less than an 80 in either system, and those with a good local store using the point system to choose a wine (simplistic and narrow-sighted, but common) won't consider less than an 86. Even so, I conducted a survey on the two web sites and Parker consistently rates more wines 95+, in some vintages up to three times as many (as a percentage of wines tasted), than Wine Spectator. I don't mind this at all, though, and find that my tastes match Parker's fairly consistently and that his descriptions use certain words as a tip off as to what I won't.

A few criticisms that I do care about: Parker's distaste for Burgundies is legendary and in spite of the fact that the region has had mixed results for the past few years, I have tasted some truly amazing wines from the region, but they never seem to make his pages. Of course, for the entire 2000 vintage, Wine Advocate has tasted a whopping 35 wines. Perhaps they don't submit themselves for critique, but no comprehensive wine guide would be without them. (He hired another gentleman, Pierre Rovani, to cover this region for him back in 1996.) There is also a weird neglect of German Riesling. This appears to be dissipating somewhat this year, but it's confusing nonetheless.

Coverage, at least of Italy, looks to be expanded this year with the hiring of a third critic (Daniel Thomases, devoted entirely to Italy says the bio).

It bears mention that the articles from this magazine appear on the web site (which has its own, separate fee) thirty days after the paper issue is mailed to subscribers. The magazine is also more expensive. Thus, the only advantage to the magazine, aside from being able to bring it to the store, is that you get a slight jump on those who only subscribe to the site.

Whatever medium you choose to view it in, this is my preference for wine publications, despite its shortcomings. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Wine Maker Wonderful
This is indeed a wonderful resource for all winemakers.
I learn so much from this magazine.
It is well worth the price.

Good source of home winemaking tips
This magazine is a really good source of winemaking tips for the home winemaker. Throughout the year, this magazine provides a very solid set of articles that cover a wide variety of topics. The articles are written at a level appropriate for the non-chemistry major in college who is interested in making wine. Every edition of the magazine seems to include at least one article by a commercial winemaker -- and there seem to be additional brief tips often contributed by other winemakers as well.

Like any magazine, some of the articles are less useful but, on the whole, this magazine is solidly recommended if you are either an aspiring winemaker or even someone who already has the home winemaking bug. For what it's worth, this magazine also complements "From Vines to Wines" by Jeff Cox which is a good, single source book for home winemaking. ... Read more