Condé Nast to discontinue Gourmet Magazine

by Larry Geller

Unbelievable. But if it is in the New York Times, it must be true.

Condé Nast will close Gourmet magazine, a magazine of almost biblical status in the food world, it was announced on Monday. Gourmet has been published since January 1941. Also being shut down are the Condé Nast magazines Cookie, Modern Bride and Elegant Bride, according to an internal company memo that also was sent to reporters on Monday.

The Times website has another article reporting that Gourmet editor and one of the centers of New York’s food world Ruth Reichl was surprised at the news. And they promise more in their Dining section tomorrow (Wednesday).

New York Times reporter investigates the meat industry

by Larry Geller

I was going to write about the New York Times blockbuster article, E. Coli Path Shows Flaws in Beef Inspection, which is a long, tough look at the meat industry and the USDA. But I see that David Shapiro has beat me to it. Please click over and read Where's the beef? You don't want to know.

Good, it would make me sick all over again if I had to summarize that NY Times story.

I’ll add two things to what David has posted: first, Hawaii is mentioned, the tainted raw minced beef at a Japanese restaurant here. Second, I want to point out that the Times includes its source documents as links throughout the article. Good bloggers do this, and I’m glad to see newspapers adopting the habit. Maybe there’s a future for (some of) them.