I Killed Gourmet

Today's news of Gourmet's imminent closure makes me wonder whether I killed Gourmet magazine? Was my newly-minted, modest little blog the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back? Was I the flap of the butterfly wings that eventually caused the hurricane that closed Gourmet? Hardly, but one does wonder whether the thousands of people like me sharing our cooking thoughts online, and the millions of people like you and me reading about cooking online drove one more stake into the heart of old media. Do we live in a better world if Gourmet can no longer exist? Certainly, food and cooking blogs, cooking shows and celebrity chefs, even movies about all of the above have spread a love of cooking far beyond what Gourmet will ever do. It is the sad, but inevitable progress spurred by technology and mass appeal. I am thankful for my present and future, but I do desperately hope that food magazines continue. There is something special about curling up with those glossy photos and feeling the flip of the pages on the fingertips. Meanwhile, last week I cooked straight from a recipe on my laptop on the kitchen counter. Gourmet, rest in peace.