We’re marking the one-year anniversary of Gourmet Live by looking back and ahead—and, of course, by eating birthday cake. Go ahead, have dessert first (a tenet we believe strongly in) and make the cake recipe your first stop in this issue. Kemp Minifie, the longtime test kitchen director of Gourmet, developed the birthday cake of all of our dreams—an exceedingly moist yellow layer cake with the creamiest chocolate frosting ever—just for the occasion.
Savor a slice while you browse our birthday wish list or read our ten most popular stories from the past year, including hits from Molly O’Neill, Barry Estabrook, Manny Howard, and Rick Bragg, plus a conversation with actress Julianne Moore. Then dive into a new piece that’s sure to be on next year’s best-of list: a conversation with Eric Schlosser, also by Barry Estabrook.
If you’re new to Gourmet Live, the stories mentioned above will give you a taste of what we’re all about. For a look at what our print predecessor was all about when it launched 70 years ago, check out our reprint of the first Gourmet magazine cover and editor’s letter, dated January 1941. Reading editor Pearl V. Metzelthin’s introduction got us thinking about the word gourmet itself, so we asked food historian Megan Elias to delve into the origin of the word and its evolving meaning.
Paper is the traditional gift for first anniversaries, which led us to wonder about the relationship between food and paper. For another fascinating history lesson in this issue, read our account of that relationship, starting in the second century B.C. in China and continuing to today’s edible menus served by molecular gastronomists.
As we celebrate our first year of publication, we’re celebrating another milestone: From now on, each issue of Gourmet Live will be available in its entirety at Gourmet.com. Please share the news with friends—especially those who do not own an iPad or iPhone. Making all of the articles available free and online is our gift to you, so you can access provocative, informative, and intelligent conversation about food from virtually any platform. (So with all due respect to New Yorker cartoonist Pat Byrnes, we think we’ve got you covered, digital cooks!) And here’s another anniversary present for you: the chance to win a luxuriously delicious five-night trip for two to Hong Kong. Details in this issue!
What would you like to see in Gourmet Live in our second year of publication? Tell us via Twitter or Facebook, email us (gourmetlive@condenast.com), or post a comment on our blog.
Cheers!
The Editors of Gourmet Live