Dusting Off Good Food IP
The recent Gourmet moment begs the question: What other un-alive brands could get a reboot?
I really enjoyed following the news that Gourmet is back via a team of industrious and possibly troll-minded journalists. If you hadn’t heard—and by now, I’d be shocked if you haven’t—the summary is that Condé Nast allegedly let the trademark of long-dormant food magazine Gourmet lapse. Sam Dean, a writer I follow and enjoy, spotted this some time ago and, along with some colleagues, launched a new version via newsletter—not on Substack but on Ghost. This is yet more proof of the very interesting year ahead for food media, which I wrote about a few weeks back. Props to Jessica Testa at the New York Times for landing this great story—the streets are talking!
This whole episode got me thinking about what else is out there in the world of food media, not just magazines but also cookbooks, restaurants, and products. The craving to remember the past (nostalgia, some call it) bulldozes through our online culture. All these 2016 social media posts have been fun to follow, and it’s one example of how cool old things can be engaging for all generations. Here are a couple more cool old things that I see as being ready for a reboot. The big caveat is that I have no idea who holds the trademarks or if there are already reboots in the works—this is just a list of older things that I simply like.
The Galloping Gourmet
I keep hearing chatter for bringing back “stand-and-stir” TV programming—that is, programming in which the preparation of a dish or three is demonstrated over the course of 30 minutes. It’s what we used to call “food TV” (LOL). I see this as a sign that people are craving more Ina-style television (she’s still the best to do it) as counterprogramming to the glut of competition shows that currently dominate, with perhaps diminishing returns, although I am certain that reality food TV still rates far better than the quieter stove-side shows mostly reserved for PBS. But—what about bringing back The Galloping Gourmet, the show I loved as a kid and whose host, Graham Kerr, was profiled on TASTE back in 2017 and is still alive at the age of 91?
As Heather Arndt Anderson wrote: “He was a good-looking amalgam of Peter Sellers and Guy Fieri, he was jet set in the golden age of air travel, and his show was a goddamn sensation.” Indeed, the show ran from 1968 to 1972 (and was later rebooted for two seasons in the ’90s) and appeared on reruns through the 2000s, blending Kerr’s heightened swagger with real cooking smarts. Eli Sussman, Carolina Gelen, Nicola Lamb, Max Baroni, Maxine Sharf—I can see you all galloping around a TV set.
The Underground Gourmet book series
Back in 2012, I found a near-mint-condition copy of a revised edition of The Underground Gourmet at Bonnie Slotnick, and I have kept it on my desk ever since. The book advertises “where to find great meals in New York for less than $3.00 and as little as 50 cents” and was cowritten by Milton Glaser and Jerome Snyder in 1966, an offshoot of their legendary New York magazine column that still runs today. The restaurants are long gone, but there’s something extremely nice about picking up the printed city restaurant guide of a generation past.
In a reboot, the Glaser design could most certainly remain—with no photos, limited spot illustrations, and a pocket-size trim. New York magazine’s food department is a stacked deck these days, even with recent departures by Adam Platt and Chris Crowley for greener pestos, and the savvy marketers at the Vox-owned publication could roll this out with a companion issue and perhaps even a podcast/video series. I envision the release as limited and being updated every couple of years. Print media collectors would swoon. Related: check out Laura McLaws Helms’s deep dive into The Underground Gourmet Cookbook, which I have not seen in person but am now seeking out.
Matt Goulding + Roads & Kingdoms [Obsessive, Evocative, Singular] travel books
I certainly know who holds the mark for these books, and I’m just putting this out there as a fan of Matt Goulding and his crew at Roads & Kingdoms. Goulding wrote three books—Rice, Noodle, Fish; Grape, Olive, Pig; and Pasta, Pane, Vino, all published, impressively, between 2015 and 2018. You can buy them on Kindle or seek out the printed works. What are they, exactly?
Returning to Rice, Noodle, Fish after a decade, I’m still excited by Goulding’s ability to effortlessly capture scene after scene after scene, introducing readers to obscure chefs and producers while bringing in a lot of himself, which is the strength of the series. He’s the avatar for the reader, seeking enlightenment through the musings of a third-generation seaweed farmer or master salumi producer. I turned to a random page in Pasta, Pane, Vino, and it’s right there. “I got my shit together. Slowly. It started in the classroom, through the penetrating rhythms of repetition. Knead, shape, stretch, dress; insert, rotate, remove—over and over, dozens of pizzas every morning flying out of the ovens before lunchtime.” He’s writing about a pizza class in Naples. The page is basically coated in tipo 00. I would love to see this series come back with a new installment.
Molto (Not) Mario
We’re staying in Italy, and we’re back to food TV. Mario Batali will likely never appear in a new TV production ever again, and for good reason. But this doesn’t discount the singularity of the Molto Mario series and the fact that Batali’s encyclopedic knowledge of regional Italian cooking, paired with his light touch with fork, flour, and egg during hundreds of fresh pasta demonstrations, made for really compelling TV.
The show’s format is just exceptional: hosting lectures about the foods found in a specific region of Italy while three tableside guests soak it in. There are many Molto Mario episodes available on YouTube, and I dip into the archive with some frequency. David Chang uses a similar format with Dinner Time Live, but the chaos of live TV and celebrity guests doing bits is less appealing than Batali’s calm explanation of dishes to relatively random diners (though Michael Stipe asking about cooking a crimson sauce for “somebody who is allergic to garlic” is a pretty great celeb commentary).
Plus, it’s Italy. There’s an endless demand for these specific recipes—like a rustic soup from Torino, or the “Ricotta Thrice” of Roman desserts. I can watch this all day. Batali is hardly a singular talent, and with a solid production team, there’s definitely another chef out there who has the chops. For example, I’ve just become hip to Massi Cooks Italian. Promising!
Rax
I thought a lot about restaurant IP, and my list kept getting longer. That’s its own conversation, but for now, I’ll just say that Rax (aka Rax Roast Beef) should come back to life for the logo alone. Update: Rax is alive and well—in Ohio!
Great read!
Amazing