Other than the early Julia Child shows, Gourmet was my portal to cooking beyond good New England fare. I quit subscribing when the perfume inserts got to me. They discontinued the "Gastronomie sans Argent" column, too, my favorite recipe source.

But when I picked one up at a news stand a few months back I was pleasantly surprised with how the magazine had seemed to keep up, not promoting waste, and covering food system issues while appealing to high end foodie tastes. So the demise of the magazine is not a pretty thing. The low and middle brow cooking magazines I've skimmed while waiting in line at the market are not covering the issues, and rely way too much on prepared foods as ingredients IMHO.

This opinion piece nails it, I think:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/13/what-gourmets-critics-mis_n_318418.html

And as someone who's had a brush with journalism over the last few years, it nails a few other things, too.