Save Me the Plums

Throughout Save Me the Plums, Reichl suggests that Gourmet is representative of major changes in the American publishing industry in the late 20th century. The changing relationship between the magazine and the American public reflects larger cultural changes, especially in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Although Reichl falls in love with Gourmet after reading adventurous food stories as a child, when she begins her career, the magazine is full of “prissy pieces about pricey restaurants and fancy resorts” (10). During her interview, she was critical of an article on Thai food written by an “expat surrounded by servants and living in regal splendor” (9) in Bangkok. For Reichl, the article epitomized the ways Gourmet had lost touch with most of its readers. She reflects that the Gourmet of the late 1970s and early 1980s “reflected that particularly American sense of entitlement” (86) that developed in the post-war decades.

By the late 1990s, Gourmet had been purchased by Condé Nast, reflecting the growing tendency towards conglomeration in American media. Because the Condé Nast brand stands “for luxury, class, and fashion and owned a lot of high-end magazines” (12), the Gourmet brand was forced to adapt to its new parent company’s vision.