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  #1 (permalink)   Report Post  
Dawn
 
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Default Gourmet vs Bon Appetit?

Howdy all,

It's school fundraising time and I'm looking at buying a magazine
subscription for the kiddies...

Given a choice between Bon Appetit and Gourmet, which would you choose
and why? I think I used to subscribe to Bon Appetit years and years ago,
but I have no idea what either magazine is like these days.

Mostly I do simple home cooking, but I entertain on occasion, and I
enjoy trying new recipes.



Dawn


  #2 (permalink)   Report Post  
Nancy Young
 
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Default Gourmet vs Bon Appetit?

Dawn wrote:

> Given a choice between Bon Appetit and Gourmet, which would you choose
> and why?


I stopped subscribing to Gourmet, I found myself getting through the
whole magazine in maybe 10 or 15 minutes. All ads and many of the
articles I didn't find interesting. Pages and pages about restaurants
I'll never visit, stuff like that.

Don't get me wrong, Bon Appetit is guilty of the ad overload, too,
but there is a lot more content I find fun to read.

My opinion. Bon Appetit.

nancy
  #3 (permalink)   Report Post  
Snowfeet1
 
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Default Gourmet vs Bon Appetit?

ditto - Bon Appetit
  #4 (permalink)   Report Post  
levelwave
 
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Default Gourmet vs Bon Appetit?

Dawn wrote:

> Howdy all,
>
> It's school fundraising time and I'm looking at buying a magazine
> subscription for the kiddies...



I picked up both of these Mags not too long ago to see which I liked
better myself... Bon Appetite was more of a "handbook guide" for
cooking with black and white photos of cooking/cutting techniques every
few pages... It also featured some (as they claimed anyway) non-biased
reviews of various foods/products which was nice... Gourmet had some
decent articles but *way* too many Cadillac adds... If there was a gun
to my head I would pick Bon Appetite... but basing my assumptions on one
months readings neither impressed me...

wait... now that I think about it I didn't get Bon Appetite at all...
Maybe it was Cook's Illustrated?... sheesh... nevermind...

~john!

--
What was it like to see - the face of your own stability - suddenly look
away...

  #5 (permalink)   Report Post  
Nancy Young
 
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Default Gourmet vs Bon Appetit?

levelwave wrote:

> I picked up both of these Mags not too long ago to see which I liked
> better myself... Bon Appetite was more of a "handbook guide" for
> cooking with black and white photos of cooking/cutting techniques every
> few pages...


> wait... now that I think about it I didn't get Bon Appetite at all...
> Maybe it was Cook's Illustrated?... sheesh... nevermind...


(laugh!!!) My eyes opened wide when I read your description of
Bon Appetit. Yeah, you got Cook's Illustrated.

nancy


  #6 (permalink)   Report Post  
Rick & Cyndi
 
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Default Gourmet vs Bon Appetit?

"Nancy Young" > wrote in message
...
: levelwave wrote:
:
: > I picked up both of these Mags not too long ago to see which
I liked
: > better myself... Bon Appetite was more of a "handbook guide"
for
: > cooking with black and white photos of cooking/cutting
techniques every
: > few pages...
:
: > wait... now that I think about it I didn't get Bon Appetite
at all...
: > Maybe it was Cook's Illustrated?... sheesh... nevermind...
:
: (laugh!!!) My eyes opened wide when I read your description of
: Bon Appetit. Yeah, you got Cook's Illustrated.
:
: nancy

=========

While I know this wasn't one of the choices given... I received a
free copy of Saveur (sp?) a while back and liked it far better
than Gourmet, Bon Appetit, and Cooks Illustrated- combined!


--
Cyndi
<Remove a "b" to reply>


  #7 (permalink)   Report Post  
Quando6
 
Posts: n/a
Default Gourmet vs Bon Appetit?


>Howdy all,
>
>It's school fundraising time and I'm looking at buying a magazine
>subscription for the kiddies...
>
>Given a choice between Bon Appetit and Gourmet, which would you choose
>and why? I think I used to subscribe to Bon Appetit years and years ago,
>but I have no idea what either magazine is like these days.
>
>Mostly I do simple home cooking, but I entertain on occasion, and I
>enjoy trying new recipes.
>
>
>
>Dawn
>
>
>
>
>

.....I subscribe to both, and though both have their certain appeal, I would
choose Bon Appetit over Gourmet. I think Gourmet is too New York city oriented,
but it does give one news about what's happening in the food world.

Quando(Mike)
  #8 (permalink)   Report Post  
 
Posts: n/a
Default Gourmet vs Bon Appetit?

On Sat, 11 Oct 2003 19:12:41 GMT, Dawn >
wrote:

>Given a choice between Bon Appetit and Gourmet, which would you choose
>and why? I think I used to subscribe to Bon Appetit years and years ago,
>but I have no idea what either magazine is like these days.
>
>Mostly I do simple home cooking, but I entertain on occasion, and I
>enjoy trying new recipes.
>

Frankly, I've never really enjoyed Gourmet all that much. Too much
restaurant and "big" stuff, not enough cooking.

I really like Taunton's Fine Cooking, but Bon Appetit takes a fairly
close second. I've yet to make a "bad" dish out of Bon Appetit, and
the instructions (I'm not a huge "recipe" person, but if it's the
first time I'm making something, I like it. Once I've got it down, I
can usually just get through it without written direction) are clear
and pretty easy to follow.

BTW, I like the "RSVP" section in Bon Appetit. Folks write in
commenting on dishes the enjoyed at fine restaurants/hotels/B&Bs, and
the Bon Appetit staff contact said establishment and provide the
recipe. They had a flourless chocolate cake that was to die for.

Bob
  #9 (permalink)   Report Post  
Richard Periut
 
Posts: n/a
Default Gourmet vs Bon Appetit?

wrote:
> On Sat, 11 Oct 2003 19:12:41 GMT, Dawn >
> wrote:
>
>
>>Given a choice between Bon Appetit and Gourmet, which would you choose
>>and why? I think I used to subscribe to Bon Appetit years and years ago,
>>but I have no idea what either magazine is like these days.
>>
>>Mostly I do simple home cooking, but I entertain on occasion, and I
>>enjoy trying new recipes.
>>

>
> Frankly, I've never really enjoyed Gourmet all that much. Too much
> restaurant and "big" stuff, not enough cooking.
>
> I really like Taunton's Fine Cooking, but Bon Appetit takes a fairly
> close second. I've yet to make a "bad" dish out of Bon Appetit, and
> the instructions (I'm not a huge "recipe" person, but if it's the
> first time I'm making something, I like it. Once I've got it down, I
> can usually just get through it without written direction) are clear
> and pretty easy to follow.
>
> BTW, I like the "RSVP" section in Bon Appetit. Folks write in
> commenting on dishes the enjoyed at fine restaurants/hotels/B&Bs, and
> the Bon Appetit staff contact said establishment and provide the
> recipe. They had a flourless chocolate cake that was to die for.
>
> Bob


I stopped my subscription about 2 years ago; don't know if it has
changed, but it was loaded with ads.

Richard

--
"..A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava
beans and a nice chianti..."

Hannibal "The Cannibal"

Silence Of The Lambs 1991

  #10 (permalink)   Report Post  
alzelt
 
Posts: n/a
Default Gourmet vs Bon Appetit?



Dawn wrote:

> Howdy all,
>
> It's school fundraising time and I'm looking at buying a magazine
> subscription for the kiddies...
>
> Given a choice between Bon Appetit and Gourmet, which would you choose
> and why? I think I used to subscribe to Bon Appetit years and years ago,
> but I have no idea what either magazine is like these days.
>
> Mostly I do simple home cooking, but I entertain on occasion, and I
> enjoy trying new recipes.
>
>
>
> Dawn
>
>

My suggestion for you is to go to www.epicurious.com. That site contains
both Gourmet and Bon Appetit, articles and recipes.
--
Alan

"If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion, and
avoid the people, you might better stay home."
--James Michener



  #11 (permalink)   Report Post  
 
Posts: n/a
Default Gourmet vs Bon Appetit?

On Sun, 12 Oct 2003 01:33:03 GMT, Richard Periut >
wrote:


>
>I stopped my subscription about 2 years ago; don't know if it has
>changed, but it was loaded with ads.
>
>Richard
>


Sorry Richard, stopped your subscription to which? I agree both
Gourmet and Bon Appetit have far more ads than I'm happy with. I only
buy Bon Appetit if there's something in particular that appeals to me.
I'm more likely to buy Fine Cooking, which at least doesnt appear as
ad-laden.

Problem is the actual question was B-A vs. Gourmet. Between those two,
I'd stick with the former.

Bob
  #12 (permalink)   Report Post  
Aria
 
Posts: n/a
Default Gourmet vs Bon Appetit?

Definately Bon Appetit...It's the one mag that I can't do without. Even
though I save many many recipes on the site Epicurious, I still like the
photos and the class of the magazine. There's something to be said about
having it in your hands as opposed to online.
I thought Gourmet was boring and most of the recipes were too difficult or
involved ingredients that were a bit too esoteric for me.

"alzelt" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> Dawn wrote:
>
> > Howdy all,
> >
> > It's school fundraising time and I'm looking at buying a magazine
> > subscription for the kiddies...
> >
> > Given a choice between Bon Appetit and Gourmet, which would you choose
> > and why? I think I used to subscribe to Bon Appetit years and years ago,
> > but I have no idea what either magazine is like these days.
> >
> > Mostly I do simple home cooking, but I entertain on occasion, and I
> > enjoy trying new recipes.
> >
> >
> >
> > Dawn
> >
> >

> My suggestion for you is to go to www.epicurious.com. That site contains
> both Gourmet and Bon Appetit, articles and recipes.
> --
> Alan
>
> "If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion, and
> avoid the people, you might better stay home."
> --James Michener
>



  #13 (permalink)   Report Post  
Frogleg
 
Posts: n/a
Default Gourmet vs Bon Appetit?

On Sat, 11 Oct 2003 19:12:41 GMT, Dawn >
wrote:

>Given a choice between Bon Appetit and Gourmet, which would you choose
>and why? I think I used to subscribe to Bon Appetit years and years ago,
>but I have no idea what either magazine is like these days.
>
>Mostly I do simple home cooking, but I entertain on occasion, and I
>enjoy trying new recipes.


No Cooks Illustrated or Cooking Light? IMHO, both Bon Ap and Gourmet
have turned into heavy packages of ads. A few years ago I would have
said Gourmet, hands down. Now, with the (sometimes perfumed!) ad
pages, both mags appear to have more material on 'what you must buy'
than 'what you might cook.' If only those two are available, I suggest
a coin flip.
  #14 (permalink)   Report Post  
Jean B.
 
Posts: n/a
Default Gourmet vs Bon Appetit?

Dawn wrote:
>
> Howdy all,
>
> It's school fundraising time and I'm looking at buying a magazine
> subscription for the kiddies...
>
> Given a choice between Bon Appetit and Gourmet, which would you choose
> and why? I think I used to subscribe to Bon Appetit years and years ago,
> but I have no idea what either magazine is like these days.
>
> Mostly I do simple home cooking, but I entertain on occasion, and I
> enjoy trying new recipes.
>
> Dawn


I subscribed to Gourmet for decades, from the time I was in my
late teens. I gave up getting it a few years ago. It is almost
totally worthless now. Go with BA.
--
Jean B.
  #15 (permalink)   Report Post  
Jean B.
 
Posts: n/a
Default Gourmet vs Bon Appetit?

Frogleg wrote:
>
> No Cooks Illustrated or Cooking Light? IMHO, both Bon Ap and Gourmet
> have turned into heavy packages of ads. A few years ago I would have
> said Gourmet, hands down. Now, with the (sometimes perfumed!) ad
> pages, both mags appear to have more material on 'what you must buy'
> than 'what you might cook.' If only those two are available, I suggest
> a coin flip.


Cooking Light is one of my favorites, but that was not part of the
original question.

--
Jean B.


  #16 (permalink)   Report Post  
sf
 
Posts: n/a
Default Gourmet vs Bon Appetit?

On Sat, 11 Oct 2003 19:12:41 GMT, Dawn
> wrote:

> Howdy all,
>
> It's school fundraising time and I'm looking at buying a magazine
> subscription for the kiddies...
>
> Given a choice between Bon Appetit and Gourmet, which would you choose
> and why? I think I used to subscribe to Bon Appetit years and years ago,
> but I have no idea what either magazine is like these days.
>
> Mostly I do simple home cooking, but I entertain on occasion, and I
> enjoy trying new recipes.
>

I ahven't looked at either in years, but I prefered Bon
Appitite over Gourment because it had more recipes I
actually USED. Do you have an option to select Cooking
Light? It's pretty good.
  #17 (permalink)   Report Post  
Dawn
 
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Default Gourmet vs Bon Appetit?

Frogleg wrote:

> On Sat, 11 Oct 2003 19:12:41 GMT, Dawn >
> wrote:
>
>
> No Cooks Illustrated or Cooking Light? IMHO, both Bon Ap and Gourmet
> have turned into heavy packages of ads.


Some other possible options are Food&Wine, Light&Tasty, and Quick Cooking.

I seem to recall that Food&Wine was real light on recipes, and heavy on
articles about how to be a cultured snob, and we don't drink wine anyway.

The other two I have never heard of.

I'm thinking I may go by Barnes and Noble and see if I can find
newsstand issues of any of these titles....


Dawn

  #18 (permalink)   Report Post  
texpat
 
Posts: n/a
Default Gourmet vs Bon Appetit?

I've subscribed to both, and find that I'm much more likely to try the
recipes from Bon Appetit than from Gourmet. Many Gourmet recipes have
hard-to-find ingredients, and take all day to put together.

Probably great for the really serious cook, but I have a life apart from the
kitchen.

"Nancy Young" > wrote in message
...
> Dawn wrote:
>
> > Given a choice between Bon Appetit and Gourmet, which would you choose
> > and why?

>
> I stopped subscribing to Gourmet, I found myself getting through the
> whole magazine in maybe 10 or 15 minutes. All ads and many of the
> articles I didn't find interesting. Pages and pages about restaurants
> I'll never visit, stuff like that.
>
> Don't get me wrong, Bon Appetit is guilty of the ad overload, too,
> but there is a lot more content I find fun to read.
>
> My opinion. Bon Appetit.
>
> nancy



  #19 (permalink)   Report Post  
 
Posts: n/a
Default Gourmet vs Bon Appetit?

On Sun, 12 Oct 2003 16:15:57 GMT, Dawn >
wrote:

>Frogleg wrote:
>
>> On Sat, 11 Oct 2003 19:12:41 GMT, Dawn >
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>> No Cooks Illustrated or Cooking Light? IMHO, both Bon Ap and Gourmet
>> have turned into heavy packages of ads.

>
>Some other possible options are Food&Wine, Light&Tasty, and Quick Cooking.
>
>I seem to recall that Food&Wine was real light on recipes, and heavy on
>articles about how to be a cultured snob, and we don't drink wine anyway.
>
>The other two I have never heard of.
>
>I'm thinking I may go by Barnes and Noble and see if I can find
>newsstand issues of any of these titles....


Dawn - kind of depends what you want most. They both honestly have
faults and virtues and best for one isn't best for another.

I agree with people that BA has more recipes you're more apt to
actually use, but I also find all the stuff in it about dishes,
remodeling a kitchen and other decor sort of stuff really tedious.

On top of the recipes to impress more than to cook, Gourmet tends to
have too many restaurant reviews for my taste, in general and because
most of them are no place I'm ever going to go. BA has more the sort
of place you'd be apt to stop at on a cross country vacation. Gourmet
keeps you up on the NY & CA scenes and not a lot else. OTOH, Gourmet
tends to offer more/more extensive content for things like wine info
and travel/essays about a food related subject. Then again, back to
the recipes, I've always liked Gourmet's back page full of relatively
basic (for them) recipes on the same theme over BA's meaningless soft
interview with someone famous. Both have WAY too many ads now, in
general and ads pretending to be feature articles.

If I had to have only one or the other it would be BA because each
issue is more likely to have more I'm interested in. But I'd really
miss the occasional enormously enjoyable essay in Gourmet.

Kim
Make less less to reply
  #20 (permalink)   Report Post  
Jim Lahue
 
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Default Gourmet vs Bon Appetit?

Rick & Cyndi wrote:

> "Nancy Young" > wrote in message
> ...
> : levelwave wrote:
> :


<snip snip snip>

>
> While I know this wasn't one of the choices given... I received a
> free copy of Saveur (sp?) a while back and liked it far better
> than Gourmet, Bon Appetit, and Cooks Illustrated- combined!
>
> --
> Cyndi


I too like Saveur much more than Bon Appetit and Gourmet. I still
subscribe to
Bon Appetit but there are just too many ads and obstructions in the
magazine.

Jim Lahue





  #21 (permalink)   Report Post  
Jim Lahue
 
Posts: n/a
Default Gourmet vs Bon Appetit?

Dawn wrote:

> Howdy all,
>
> It's school fundraising time and I'm looking at buying a magazine
> subscription for the kiddies...
>
> Given a choice between Bon Appetit and Gourmet, which would you choose
> and why? I think I used to subscribe to Bon Appetit years and years ago,
> but I have no idea what either magazine is like these days.
>
> Mostly I do simple home cooking, but I entertain on occasion, and I
> enjoy trying new recipes.
>
> Dawn


I am more of a recipe person so I always preferred Bon Appetit over Gourmet
(which
is more of a "lifestyle" magazine). Both have way too many ads. I still
subscribe to
Bon Appetit (but I'll probably drop it after the current subscription runs
out). When I
receive an issue in the mail, I go through the entire magazine and strip out
all inserts
and "useless" pages (ads, articles that don't look interesting, etc) and I'm
usually left
with a magazine about 40% of the original size, which is what I read
through.

Jim Lahue

  #22 (permalink)   Report Post  
Dawn
 
Posts: n/a
Default Gourmet vs Bon Appetit?

Jim Lahue wrote:

> Rick & Cyndi wrote:
>
>
>>"Nancy Young" > wrote in message
...
>>: levelwave wrote:
>>:

>
>
> <snip snip snip>
>
>>While I know this wasn't one of the choices given... I received a
>>free copy of Saveur (sp?) a while back and liked it far better
>>than Gourmet, Bon Appetit, and Cooks Illustrated- combined!
>>
>>--
>>Cyndi

>
>
> I too like Saveur much more than Bon Appetit and Gourmet. I still
> subscribe to
> Bon Appetit but there are just too many ads and obstructions in the
> magazine.
>
> Jim Lahue
>
>
>


Oooh! Saveur is on the list. I had no idea what it was. Maybe I'll get
that one. Thanks for the reviews, everyone!



Dawn


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