Practical recipes and a fun online community too!

Each issue of Bon Appetit is filled with recipes that make home cooking interesting. Articles on topics related to food, wine, restaurants, and travel provide some light reading, but the emphasis is on recipes ranging from simple ideas for dishes based on store-bought ingredients to elaborate meals entirely from scratch. Most are geared toward those of us who have some cooking experience but also have a life outside the kitchen, and allow you to achieve surprisingly good results with relatively little effort. The recipes are seasonal and often trendy, but not weird; ingredients can usually be found in well-stocked supermarkets. One of the best features isn't even in the magazine - it's the way all the recipes are available for review on the Epicurious web site. If you like Amazon reader reviews, you will love Epicurious recipe reviews, which let you reap the benefit of a whole community's experience with each recipe. Subscribing to Bon Appetit gives you the best of both worlds - a magazine you can read at your leisure, wherever you like, and a community of cooks with whom to share ideas if you wish.

Not so inspiring

I have been reading Bon Appetit off and on for the past five years or so, and I have been comparing them to Gourmet (subscribe) and Food & Wine. I have seen the quality of the content diminish over the past years. The Recipes Request section has frankly begun to offend me- swooping too low.

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.

It Used to Be Better

I am a long-term (soon not-to-be) subscriber. 10 years ago, you would get this magazine and end up keeping the whole issue because there were so many good recipes. Not any more! Since William Gaines passed away and Barbara Fairchild took over, it's become a love letter to yuppies who frequent gourmet markets. Like the Aug. issue: under Every Night Cooking they suggest Portuguese Clams with Linguica and Tomatoes. Not at my house! And the people they profile are not down-to-earth every day people, but wealthy yuppies at their summer home in the Hamptons trooping to the beach with their Sancerre and couscous. Give me a break! Even the Thanksgiving issue isn't a keeper anymore. I'll thumb through my 1995 back issues and dream of a simpler time.