magRush2013: The Gourmand #1

If you enjoyed the bright yellow pilot issue of The Gourmand last autumn, you’re going to love the first ‘real’ issue, just out now.

At a heftier 122 pages and perfect bound, issue one (the earlier one was dubbed issue zero) is a magazine finding its feet very quickly. Food seems to be an endless source of inspiration for magazine publishers these days, but The Gourmand team are having the most fun with their subject. Gustav Almestal’s glossy tribute to gluttony and lust (above) and Paolo Di Lucente’s shadowy shots of New York’s diners (below) provide two extremes of photography.

Paul Davis contributes illustrations based on conversations overhead in restaurants (above), while Patrick Baglee offers a history of fifties publication The Compleat Imbiber, with a beautiful set of spreads reproduced full size (below). A simple clean design ethos lets all these elements fit together seamlessly.

Visually, then, The Gourmand is very strong, but the written content is just as engaging. This piece about hotdogs and artist Hawk Krall (below) is a typically rich combination of a great story backed up by strong images.

The edit-design team behind the mag, Marina Tweed and David Lane, deserve congratulations on creating such an enjoyable new magazine. Their enthusiasm for their subject and for magazines shines from the pages.