There are more Food & Drink magazines available than you can shake a cocktail at, one or two of the better known ones are available at your local supermarket but step into somewhere like WHSmiths and there’s a whole rack to choose from ranging from your general publications to your more specialist titles, such as Gluten Free.
We take a look at some of the main contenders and how they differ.
First up BBC Good Food
Price: £3.99
Content: This one is a big glossy read. Their market seems to be the food lover with a bit of extra dosh to splash out, loves their food programmes on TV, has a family and likes to plan ahead. The issue we look at has features on up market kitchen equipment, seasonal cooking, gifts for food lovers, British Producers, Artisan Cheese, hampers, food trends, meals to make and freeze and a heavy dose of celebrity chef, supermarket taste test. What’s new this month.
The language is informal and friendly and seems to be aimed at the non-professional foodie who knows a bit from watching tv and what’s to try new recipes. If they were a person they’d be the ones there for a friendly chat with advice.
Was it easy to read? – yes, short punchy features and articles.
Did you want to buy it again? – Yes, lots of recipes and features that are relevant to me. Recipes which are relatively easy to follow.
What is it for? – recipe ideas and keeping the reader up to date with new products. Aimed a the celeb chef loving home cook.
Advertisers:A mix but many the slightly more expensive brands including Neff, Ferraro, Kettle chips, Nespresso, Kenwood, Lindor, Lidl
Recipes featured: 125
Next we turn to: Delicious
Price: £4.10
Content: Longer articles and features, celebrity recipes, more Adventurous recipes with more pricey ingredients more advanced cooks tips, excellent feature towards the end of the mag to make use of leftover ingredients from the main recipes. Glossy cover and feels expensive,
The issue we look at features – Things to do that month, readers letters, cooking a roast, this months ‘Wish list’, Seasonal recipes, features on food critic feature – Jay Rayner, Waiter feature, Desserts, Mid week meals, Spotlight on a particular seasonal veg, Back to basics cooks tips, Fondue, How to make use of left over ingredients from recipes in mag, Store cupboard clear out, Cookery school test, Great restaurant road trip
The language is informal but seems aimed slightly more at food connoisseur than the previous mag.
Was it easy to read? Yes, longer features than the BBC Good Food but all relevant.
How did it make you feel? Interested. Good articles made you want to read more.
Did you want to buy it again? Yes, slightly more difficult recipes than BBC Good Food but lots I’d try.
What is it for? News, features, recipe ideas.
Advertisers include: Miller, Currys, Baxter
Recipes 57
Eat in
Price: £2.50
Content: Everything about this one is basic, from the bright colourful blocky fonts to the recipes. The magazine itself feel cheap in your hand because of the thickness and type of paper used. The recipes are also short and use basic ingredients for basic recipes such as sausage casserole and cottage pie. Seems to be aimed at people with limited cookery skills and budget with a large feature on budget meal planning for a month.
Other features are , March /Seasonal ideas, Tested products, Reader recipes, Competitions, Wine Guide, Top 10 best buys this month. It does not rely on celebrity, having only one celebrity mention – an interview with Ken Hom. The language use is simple and to the point.
Was it easy to read? Yes, mostly relying on recipes it was not featured based.
How did I make you feel? It doesn’t grab you but its OK for leafing through for quick budget recipe ideas.
Did you want to buy it again? Honestly? Not really – there just wasn’t enough to actually read.
What is I for? Budget recipe ideas and planning.
Advertisers: Amazingly there is hardly any advertising with just two adverts for Febreeze and English Apples
Recipes: 110
Good Things
Contents: Selling themselves as ‘The Luxury Cuisine & Travel Magazine’, priced at £4.99, this is another glossy mag. It’s wide, it’s weighty. The first thing you see when you open the cover is an ad for champagne and the champagne lifestyle is sold to you throughout.
Features include, what we’ve learnt is the standard monthly relevant feature, but again its upmarket as this one includes the Abu Dhabi Food Festival. They even advise on the colour of the month for cooking. The magazine is split into sections – House, Entertaining, dining and culture. Other features include, recipes, restaurant review, celebrity interview (Ken Hom again)
Contributors are more along the lines of restaurateurs than celebrity chefs! There are features too on restaurant design and recipes from around the world including Korean cuisine.
Was it easy to read? It was an interesting read which took the reader on a tour of cuisine from around the world which was actually fascinating.
How did it make you feel? A cross between inspired and poor. Lots of recipes I’d like to try and places I’d love to visit but you’d need to wealthy to live the lifestyle they sell.
Did you want to buy it again? Yes. If I can’t afford to visit the locations, I can at least try the recipes using ingredients typical of the countries, it was also educational.
What is it for? The wealthy foodie, dreamer or experimental cook.
Advertisers: Include Aga, Yardley, boutiques an up market producers.
Recipes: 56
So which would we buy? There is a market for all of them but personally my favourites were Delicious for fact it wasn’t as celebrity based as the BBC Good Food magazine and featured more articles but Good Things is the one to be seen on your coffee table. An inspirational magazine, written by professionals for the absolute foodie.
By Tanya Raybould
