Bon Appetit (1-year)

However, I keep some of the old issues around- especially, some of the holiday recipes for the day when I actually will have to cook a turkey and I can't reach my parents. But my parent's stuffing recipes are better, anyhow.

If you want something for everyday, no-hassle cooking, this is probably the best choice. Pretty straightforward. Unlike Gourmet, this mag lacks helpful "the how-to" to supplement their recipes. For example, in the back of Gourmet, if they have a merigue recipe, they include a Julia Child step by step instruction.

I would also agree with a previous reviewer, who noted that sometimes it is hard to distinguish the articles from the ads. That speaks loudly.


My favorite cooking magazine   January 8, 2002
17 out of 19 found this review helpful

I've subscribed to Bon Appetit for about 20 years now and out of all the major cooking magazines I like this one the best. Gourmet is nice but focuses more on travel. Food and Wine is OK, but focuses more on wines. I like all the other cooking magazines for different reasons, but I think that Bon Appetit does a great job publishing fantastic recipes the best. The recipes are not usually quick, easy ones, but, then again I enjoy cooking somewhat complicated dishes that take time to prepare. If you love to cook and want to try some good recipes, then I highly recommend Bon Appetit.


Very Disappointed   September 29, 2004
L. Paulsen (Toronto)
17 out of 18 found this review helpful

I have subscribed to Bon Appetit for five years now, and have been noticing a downward shift in the magazine's quality for quite some time. As other reviewers have mentioned, when the magazine was edited by the late William Garry, I would frequently make at least half the recipes printed for the month. They were tasty, just complex enough to keep things interesting, and reliable.

Since Barbara Fairchild has taken over, the magazine has indeed gone too yuppy. My most recient issue, October 2004, brings yet another attempt to revamp its contents. The regular column, Every Night Cooking, which used to cover weeknight dinners that could be made fairly quickly, has been replaced by something else called Fast Easy Fresh. F.E.F's contents consist of only a handful of dinner ideas, along with other useless recipes such as Tangerine Granita with Vanilla Bean Cream (have you seen the cost of a vanilla bean lately?) and Smoked Paprika and Red Pepper Butter. When I'm looking to put dinner on the table in less than half an hour, flavored butter will not be the recipe I turn to first.

One last side note: Bon Appetit's advertising has gotten out of control. I consciously took note of the number of ads in my latest issue before sitting down to write this review, and, I kid you not, there were ads on every other page -- and that was the least of it. Sometimes I would flip ten pages without seeing a single recipe. I realize that the subscription price is not astranomical, like Cook's Illustrated's seems to be, but bear in mind that Cook's gives you a magazine full of recipes, and only recipes -- no ads accepted.

While the dishes I've recently made have come out fairly well, I don't usually test out recipes on dinner guests without first trying them on myself and my husband. I don't have that kind of confidence in Bon Appetit. On the other hand, when I've taken that adventerous step using Cook's, I've not been disappointed. Yes, Bon Appetit features beautiful photos (when the pages are not being sliced in half to accomodate an ad) but I'm not sure that with all my concerns, pretty pictures are worth my money.


Pretentious and useless   February 9, 2006
Ashia R. Low (North Chelmsford, MA USA)
17 out of 25 found this review helpful

A friend of mine got me a subscription to this magazine because I like Cooks Illustrated. This magazine is nothing but ads for snazzy expensive foods and restaurants. There are so few recipies in it I wouldn't call it a 'cooking' magazine. What few recipies they do have don't explain why they chose the ingredients used or give much detail at all.

If you consider yourself a 'foodie' who likes to go to fancy restaurants and likes to know what's hip on the latest gourmet food and wine, then this magazine might be for you. If, however, you like to cook and know what you are doing and why you are doing it, try Cooks Illustrated instead.


Bon Appetit has definitely changed...   October 7, 2005
Picadilly Pepperbottom (The Bay State)
14 out of 16 found this review helpful

I have been subscribing to Bon Appetit for close to 10 years and I decided to write this review because I feel the magazine has really changed...for the worse...over the last 2 years. I used to love BA because the recipes were fantastic, ideal for entertaining, mostly easy and/or fast, with a few exceptions, and not too "fancy" with hard to find ingredients and things that a lot of people, just don't cook. It seems like the magazine has become much more "high end", more like Gourmet , which I don't like. I love to cook but I don't like to spend hours and hours searching for ingredients and standing over the stove everytime I decide to do so.