Food Mags Slum It

For evidence that the moneyed classes are hurting, too, look no further than the March issue of Gourmet magazine, which features a ham sandwich on its cover. This was the highlight of a Sunday New York Times article about how the high-end food magazines are slumming it, sort of, in response to the sinking economy.   Gourmet has also launched a new feature on what to do with leftovers. Food & Wine's March issue includes a guide to choosing cheaper wine. Bon Appetit offers a feature on throwing a "low cost" pizza party.

"As the high-end magazines try to survive a shaky 2009, it is out with the truffles, in with the button mushrooms," wrote the Times' Stephanie Clifford. Two of the aforementioned magazines, Gourmet and Bon Appetit, are very similar and are both published by Condé Nast, which, as a whole, has seen both circulation and advertising revenue go into a downward spiral in recent months.

So, should Gourmet and Bon Appetit be merged, as many industry observers have suggested? Not gonna happen, says Charles Townshend, the publisher's CEO. They are "completely different magazines," he told the Times.

"You may live to eat those words, Chuck," responds Gawker's Hamilton Nolan. "Eat them in a very sophisticated and attractive meal, with a nice bottle of wine."

Who knows, maybe Townshend is right. Maybe riding out the recession while going slightly downscale in the meantime is the right strategy. But both of Condé's food mags are victims of the rising number of more egalitarian titles, such as Every Day with Rachel Ray, Cooking with Paula Deen, and Martha Stewart Omnimedia's Everyday Food, which have seen their circulations rise even as the magazine industry has slid into a depression.

What's most telling about this is that those kinds of magazines were growing fast, at Condé's expense, even before the recession began.