
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!