Somebody has to bring home the bacon

There’s a new food magazine that’s creating a lot of attention. Lucky Peach is a quarterly magazine about food and writing, described on their website as follows:

” Lucky Peach is a new journal of food writing, published on a quarterly basis by McSweeney’s. It is a mélange of travelogue, essays, art, photography, rants, and recipes in a full-color, meticulously designed format. Our aim is to produce a publication that appeals to diehard foodies as well as fans of good writing and art in general. Each issue focuses on a single theme, and explores that theme through essays, art, photography, and recipes.“

We’ve indexed the first three issues; you can find them here if you’d like to check out their recipe content. Issue 1 was the Ramen issue, issue 2 was the Sweet Spot, issue 3 was the Cooks and Chefs issue and the just-published issue 4 is on American Food.

And if you’d like to check out their food writing, Slate recently reproduced a two-part article from the latest issue. This article on Andy Warhol’s relationship with food provides a good example of a literary style and approach that is scarce in the food industry. It certainly makes an entertaining beach read if for nothing more than describing how Andy introduced sex to a Schrafft’s commercial:

“The screen fills with a magenta blob, which a viewer suddenly realizes is the cherry atop a chocolate sundae. Shimmering first in puce, then fluttering in chartreuse, the colors of the background and the sundae evolve through many colors of the rainbow. Studio noises can be heard. The sundae vibrates to coughs on the soundtrack. ‘Andy Warhol for a SCHRAFFT’S?’ asks the off-screen voice of a lady. Answers an announcer: ‘A little change is good for everybody.”

That’s not exactly how we remember Schraffts. Enjoy!