Dara writes:
I enjoy reading food magazines, and have regularly bought Gourmet and Food & Wine in the past. I treat these a little as I do Vogue or Bazaar, as voyeurism. Though I do actually cook, and while I am inclined to go to the market and purchase Italian olive oil, buying Dolce and Gabbana is not a habit.
Recently I picked up Bon Appetit. The magazine is bright and lively, but a bit less interesting to someone who has spent a lot of time in the kitchen. In the January issue of Bon Appetit, "taste combinations" were trumpeted as the new thing, but caramel and fleur de sel is so two years ago! In the February issue, one of the first pages featured a recipe for "beef and dark beer chili." Maybe it's because I don't like chili, period, but that version sounds particularly repellent, not to mention expell-ent.
Expanding from food, BA mentioned that if you want to head to the "hippest perfumer in New York," head to Bond Street. Actually, there are now shops in NYC where one can have perfume created in the shop especially for oneself and these custom-design shops, such as the Christopher Brosius Studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, are definitely the next big thing.
The out-of-date advice and outre food photographs make me question the magazine--as have others before me, such as this blogger who assails BA for completely fouling up on their advice about sushi in Los Angeles.