my favourite foodie magazines: eat magazine

i love reading about food; i read far more food-related sites than i have listed on the sidebar, i comb used bookshops for out-of-print cookbooks that pertain to asian or pacific cuisines, i buy and read far more cookbooks than i'll ever actually use. when it comes to magazines, however, i'm like a crazy woman. i *love* magazines. i love the glossy paper and the pretty photos, the layout, the up-to-the-minute news and techniques, the surprise of getting one in the mail, and finding the time to pore through one from cover to cover.

unfortunately, one of my favourites is no more: eat magazine, an english language food magazine based in tokyo, folded in april, after four years and 16 issues. it was one of the funkiest magazines i have ever come across. each issue would take a theme and run with it: the first issue was entitled "temptation" and included essays on what they thought was the sexiest fruit, what food drove religious types to distraction, the most memorable meals they've ever had. my favourite issue was number 8: ritual, which shared the secrets of wine and cheese service, attended a jewish wedding in romania, exposed the oddities of japanese christmas and the intricacy of asian death rituals. not only was the writing first rate, but the packaging was exquisite--each magazine was crafted as finely as any art book.

i know that my current collection of publications screams bin! ebay! firetrap! but it will be a very long time before i part with any of my copies of this particular magazine. their website is still up, and back issues are still available. the publishers promise to return in another form sometime, but sometime isn't soon enough for me!


viva eat!