"subscription" news and stories

I have mixed feelings about cookbooks that are compendiums of other books and magazines because there is the sense that you can get all the material at other sources, often in sources that are already available to you. The Bon Appetit Cookbook is one such book, with 1,200 "best-loved recipes" from the magazine. On one hand, the recipes are excellent and you can be assured that have all been tested again and again by editors, cooks and readers. In short, it is a pretty reliable book and it is convenient to have everything in one volume. On the other hand, if you enjoy scouring Epicurious for recipes and reading the feedback from users every time you cook, you will not get that same satisfaction from the book.

To differentiate it from the site, the book has plenty of illustrations and lots of cooking tips to help you through even the most complicated recipes. To help push you over the edge of indecision when it comes to making the purchase, because a tangible cookbook is a wonderful thing, the price of the book includes a one year subscription to Bon Appetit. As of writing this, the Amazon.com price is $23.07 - definitely a good price for the set.

Source

Back in January, I got a letter from CHOW Magazine, telling me that they were temporarily stopping the publication of their print edition in order to regroup. In the interim, their website, Chow for Now, put together some good content. Today I got a small card in the mail telling me that (a) CHOW has been acquired by CNET Networks, Inc., the same folks responsible for the recent facelift of Chowhound.com, and (b) that the rest of my subscription to CHOW would be fulfilled by a subscription to Intermezzo, a food, wine, home and travel magazine. I've leafed through a few issues of Intermezzo in the past, but was never compelled enough to actually buy a copy. Sigh. So far, I think the new Chowhound site is great, mainly because of the searchable forums with RSS feeds. I'm assuming that sometime soon a blend of Chow and Chowhound will take shape. Chow.com is still pretty much vacant, aside from a place to leave an email address for launch news. With any luck, the type of content that made CHOW such a great publication will begin show up online.

I recently received an email from CHOW Magazine informing me that, as a CHOW subscriber, I can expect to wait at least six months before I see another issue in my mailbox. Apparently CHOW is taking another hiatus. As the email explained, CHOW is taking a break for two reasons: 1) to develop a better online counterpart to their print magazine and 2) to drum up enough money to keep their publication going without further interruption. I don't see anything to that effect on their current website and, in fact, they still have their subscription form up.

Personally, I've enjoyed every issue so far and I hope they get back on their feet soon.