This month, CJR presents “Required Skimming,” a daily miniguide to our staffers’ beats and obsessions. If we overlooked your favorite too cool for school food mag, please tell us in the comments.
Lucky Peach The patient zero of cool-eats, David Chang’s quarterly journal is perhaps the only food magazine that could successfully run a gender issue (and an apocolypse issue). The McSweeney’s release publishes the work of heavy hitters (Anthony Bourdain, Ruth Reichl) alongside photo essays of octopuses sunbathing.
Modern Farmer Starting with what happens before the restaurant, Modern Farmer is a cerebral look and our ever adapting farming culture. The first issue features a grow-it-yourself cocktail guide alongside a feature on a breed of invasive wild boars, wreacking haavoc on wildlife from Florida to Berlin.
Gastronomica At 12 years old, the oldest of the quarterlies uses food as a paradigm to deep dive through culture, history, and literature. “The more we know about our food, the greater our pleasure in it,” chimes the magazine. Knowledge may be alluring, but its stunning photography doesn’t hurt.
Remedy Quarterly Inspired by community cookbooks and family recipies, Remedy runs the best-kept secrets from inspired chefs, “whether professional food writers or top-noch grandmas.”
Gather The bi-annual magazine is oriented like an elaborate meal–amuse bouches, starters, mains, and desserts–with a themed mixtape to set the mood. Don’t scoff; Gather’s produced some of the most imaginative food features, and it won a James Beard award this year for visual storytelling.
Diner Journal Published by oh-so-hip Brooklyn restaurateur Andrew Tarlow (Diner; Marlow & Sons), the quarterly magazine is a sharing space for recipes–like Beer Braised Rabbit and “Frozen Lump”–from Tarlow’s restaurant family. (Diner’s bartender, Anna Dunn, even serves as editor in chief.)
Alexis Sobel Fitts is a senior writer at CJR. Follow her on Twitter at @fittsofalexis.