I like to cook--sometimes--though I've never considered myself much of a "foodie." I've never read Gourmet. But, I DO love well-written food--it always makes me want to cook more, to learn all those little secrets that take food from "fine" to "delicious." So I figured that Ruth Reichl's memoir of her time as editor of Gourmet would at least give me some inspiration to do some cooking. It definitely did, and it also provided a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the world of Condé Nast--I do love a good insider look at publishing. Gourmet was an institution of the magazine world, known for its meticulous recipe-testing process and for catering to the luxury eater.

As such, its staff lived in a rarefied food world--upscale and out of reach for most. As editor, Reichl toed the line between maintaining the luxury brand and bringing it down to Earth for a new generation of socially conscious readers. Ultimately, Gourmet was undone by its owners' reluctance to move it into fresh spaces (can you imagine a publication now resisting a website?), but Reichl's somewhat unconventional journey to editor and her fight to keep the magazine alive made for fascinating listening.