Vittles #1
210 x 260mm, 166 pages
London
Editors: Jonathan Nunn, Sharanya Deepak, Rebecca May Johnson, Adam Coghlan and Odhran O’Donoghue
Designer: Dan Biddulph
‘Modern Food and Culture’
Another print magazine arrives from a digital platform, in this case London-based food SubStack Vittles. The newsletter has already established a strong voice online, addressing food more as an object of political agency than merely a meal on the table. It’s great to have an opinionated food magazine on the shelves!
This intelligent mix of polemics and restaurant tips transfers well to print. The hard line of much of the content is softened by the design, which references a mid-20th century Englishness that is at odds with yet balances the reading in a satisfying manner. It’s great to have an opiniated food magazine
Best of all, in a world full of food magazines, this one is genuinely surprising. One moment you’re enjoying a nostalgic look back at 1987–the most pivotal year in London dining apparently—with food writer Fay Maschler, the next you’re sharing tales of late night refueling at the Brixton branch of McDonalds. The River Café podcast is mocked with a venn diagram of guests to date; the current obsession with Guinness is well skewered by Ana Kinsella; and brands reaching out to hip subcontinental food makers for their DEI programmes are teased. Plus puzzles, a photographic essay, recipes and more.