Save Me the Plums

Gourmet magazine, founded in 1941 by Earl R. MacAusland, was the first American magazine dedicated to fine food and wine. The magazine was published monthly from January 1941 to October 2009. MacAusland owned the magazine and worked as editor-in-chief from 1941 until his death in 1980. After MacAusland’s death, executive editor Jane Montant took over as editor-in-chief. She held the position through the magazine’s acquisition by Condé Nast in 1983 until 1991. Under Montant’s leadership, Gourmet transitioned from a food magazine to a lifestyle magazine, expanding its focus to feature articles on wine, leisure, and travel. As Save Me The Plums details, Ruth Reichl was hired as editor-in-chief of Gourmet in 1999, after the unsuccessful tenure of Gail Zweigenthal. Reichl maintained the role until the magazine’s closure in 2009 due to declining advertising sales as a result of the 2008 recession.

In its early years, Gourmet focused primarily on cooking European food and the restaurants of New York City, publishing recipes and reviews. The magazine’s most popular feature was “You Asked For It,” in which editors solved readers’ recipe problems and reverse-engineered popular recipes. As the magazine grew, it began to publish more standalone articles, including travel diaries, features on produce suppliers, and histories of food. From the beginning, Gourmet featured the work of acclaimed American writers, including M.F.K. Fisher, George Plimpton, Ray Bradbury, Junot Diaz, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. In addition to the monthly magazine, Gourmet also published a series of special editions on topics like grilling and entertaining, as well as two cookbooks.