The 9 Best Food Magazines of 2021

Gastronomica

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Are you an intellectual with a love for gastronomy? Do you seek out hard-hitting essays while snacking on the best that your local cheese shop has to offer? If so, you’ll love Gastronomica. The publication seeks out the latest interdisciplinary research on the intersection of food and culture and publishes it in between poetry, words from noted historians, scholars, and chefs, and vibrant art that celebrates the joy and the craft of food. Your intellect and imagination will both be captured. One reviewer calls it “a delicious mix of intelligence and diverse topics.”

Cook's Illustrated

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For the most effective, tastiest recipes, tested by an army of professionals with proven techniques (plus an explanation as to why everything works), turn to Cook’s Illustrated, culinary school in print. Its aim is to figure out why recipes work and, sometimes more importantly, why they don’t work.

Have trouble cooking fish? Want to bust some myths about marinating? Want to really understand how to cook with apples? This magazine covers it all. The issues include step-by-step illustrations, photos, tips on substitutions, reviews of popular ingredients and cooking technologies, and more. You’ll master skills you never thought you could and have a greater grasp on the ones you were already comfortable with. For those who really care about cooking delicious, no-fail recipes, Cook’s Illustrated is your magazine.

Food & Wine

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This mainstream magazine has you covered on restaurants, recipes, travel, wine, and cocktails. You’ll gain a new repertoire of great recipes from around the world, get a sense of the best restaurants from Naples, Florida, to Naples, Italy, understand which kitchen tools are indispensable and which are fleeting trends, and more. You’ll find food, design, and travel inspiration, new ingredients and techniques to try, and spots to flag for future vacations. All in all, absolutely worth your time and money.

Saveur

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Are you a person who plans every trip based on where you’ll eat? If so, Saveur is for you. There are recipes for simple dishes that could benefit from a bit of technique (think salsa, scrambled eggs, salads) and stories and recipes about dishes from around the world, like potato-stuffed paratha, Palestinian roast chicken with sumac and red onions (mussakhan), and Danish rye bread (rugbrød). The photography is beautiful, the stories are compelling and will give you a case of wanderlust, and the recipes will keep your home cooking fresh, interesting, and varied. Even the more complicated options are doable in a home kitchen.

Milk Street

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Christopher Kimball, founder of Cook’s Illustrated, has a brand-new magazine, called Milk Street (after the location of its headquarters in Boston). In it, you’ll find the best new recipes and techniques from around the globe, lots of great food content, and no ads. Kimball writes on the Milk Street website, “There is no ‘ethnic’ cooking. It’s a myth. It’s just dinner or lunch served somewhere else in the world.” If you feel similarly about the wealth of food awaiting you from across the globe, dive into Milk Street!

Whetstone

Buy on Whetstonemagazine.com

Traditional food media has recently gone through somewhat of a reckoning for its role in reinforcing white supremacy. Whetstone was founded in 2017 by food writer and former sommelier Stephen Satterfield and consultant Melissa Shi, celebrating food origins and culture. In it, you’ll find stories about topics like the Salvadoran diaspora, a search (and a fight!) for biodiverse avocados, home cooking in Kyrgyzstan, and more.

Whetstone is proudly led by a team of women and people of color, explaining on its website, “We believe that diversity isn’t just noteworthy, it’s what makes our work so essential. When the gatekeepers are diverse, so too are the stories, its tellers and their experiences.”

Toothache

Buy on Toothachemagazine.com

Toothache, the indie food magazine for chefs, by chefs, is great for professionals looking for a more industry-focused magazine that will keep them abreast of the goings-on of their colleagues. The website explains, “We essentially made this a collaborative project and gave chefs blank pages. We then let them add whatever images, recipes, and writing that they wanted.”

Baking recipes are by weight (as, you know, a professional baker would do it), industry leaders, such as Alex Stupak and Mei Lin, are featured, and if you know what you’re doing in the world of food, there’s really nothing like it.

Cherry Bombe

Buy on Cherrybombe.com

Cherry Bombe was founded by two women—Claudia Wu and Kerry Diamond—who had spent time in editorial and fashion (in fact, they worked together for a time at Harper’s Bazaar) and wanted to create a print magazine celebrating women and food. The name, said Diamond in an interview with Fast Company, is about “food, femininity, and a kind of fierceness in two simple words. It sums up what we’re all about.” In it, you’ll find gorgeous photos, profiles on female stars in the food world, and upcoming trends. Perfect for the food-loving trendsetter of the group!