I’ve finally returned to school, and while everything is FAR FROM back to normal, I have to say, a couple cool things have happened to me:
1. I’ve successfully moved all my stuff into my new apartment.
2. I have a brand new set of dishes to work with, thanks Mom!
3. My subscription to Bon Appétit started while I was in Virginia, so I came back to two new magazines.
And I have to say, Bon Appétit is my new favorite thing ever.
See, I really, really like cookbooks with pictures. I’m not exactly sure why anyone would ever bother to make a cookbook without pictures, because how else would you know what the final product look like? I’m a pretty picky eater, and so I really tend to “judge a book by its cover” when it comes to food, because honestly, ugly food is just kind of depressing.
Interestingly enough, it’s also gotten to the point that I’m also picky about the quality of the pictures in cookbooks. No 2 X 3 inch black and white photos of pies, please.
I’m pretty sure I get this viewpoint from my mom, who likes to see food as an art form, and is crazy about William Sonoma, this photographer who does really amazing cookbooks. Naturally, since they’re in our house, I’ve spent a lot of time reading through these particular cookbooks because they’re available, and actually really cool.
The food in them is no doubt ridiculously complicated, and I’ve never even tried to make any of them, but the photos are so beautiful the books can provide quite a few hours of entertainment.
I don’t know what it is, it’s just crazy interesting to look at beautiful pictures of … food. (I know, I sound like Jazz, and being all “food is my deity,” but remember, in actuality Jazz would also probably just eat the pictures in the books and then state that “oh, wow, that paper tasted like paper.”)
So anyway, that’s where Bon Appétit factors in.
A) It’s a magazine, and therefore superior to a cookbook because it’s a series, and there is something different every month.
B)It’s different from other cooking magazines.
Most cooking magazines are designed for convenience and, well, for moms. They like to pack in as many recipes as they can (amidst billions of advertisements, of course), and they like to keep it real.
Bon Appétit, however, is admittedly rather snobby, and I think designed for young childless socialites who throw dinner parties. This is a good thing, though, because of this, it only has like 65-80 in a typical 130 page issue. Instead they have full spreads with just pictures. Even the advertisements are pretty, and almost every single recipe gets a photo of the finished product. I love it so much. Not only is it like looking at a magazine full of, well, art, but I also get a glimpse of what the finished product of the recipe would look like if I tried to make it (although admittedly, as a poor college student, I usually can’t afford to make anything I cook look as pretty as magazine food).
I guess the way I see this is that, for me, Bon Appétit is kind of like a fashion magazine in that I look at stuff and go “whoa, I wish.” Unlike $500 clothing, however, I actually have a chance of achieving some of the things in Bon Appétit.
Unfortunately, after reading the magazine, not only do I wish I pro enough to make my food look that amazing, but I’m also usually hungry. Which is why I’m now ending this post to go off and get lunch!
~Asterisk
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