...and, of course, these days, we high-powered business women don't ever cook...and why would we want to read about food?

When M.F.K. Fisher was asked why did she choose to write about food and hunger, she replied, 'When I write about hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth, and the love of it . . . and then the warmth and richness and fine reality of hunger satisfied."

(It should be noted that Ms. Fisher, one of the world's finest writers and leading gourmands, also cooked with cream of mushroom soup.) 

Firstly, the term "middle-class" has lost all meaning.  Seemingly everyone now thinks of themselves as "middle class" (including people who make over $250K a year, which puts them in the top 3% of the nation.)  Sorry, lazy marketers, your middle isn't mine.

Then there's those holiest of holy in marketing - demographics!  "Middle class people won't/will buy..." "18-year-olds will..." "Baby boomers won't...."  Never mind that any demographic slice contains millions of individuals (most with access to more information and goods than ever before, including "luxury" goods via one-click at Amazon)...and every zip code has outliers. (All that purple in the last electoral map should give marketer a clue. Tip to the "Big City Fellers": Drive through "flyover country" sometime and count satellite dishes.  Those rubes could be watching PBS...or C-span...or BBC...while eating imported tuna fish.)  

Middle class, my holey sweatpants - here's what really happened with Gourmet:

Conde' Nast has had their head in the sand for years.  Ad pages have been dropping for years.  The Web has been around for years. Hello? Publishers? You had your chance to lead change.  Instead, you denied it was happening.  Finally, CN pulled their head out of the sand and went  into knee-jerk panic mode and hired McKinsey to save the day.  So, as always happens when companies panic - it came down to the magic of "CUTTING COSTS!"  Of course, I believe the editor of Vogue was able to keep her car service...wouldn't want her to take the subway...along with us middle-class unwashed, now would we?   (Personally, I think Vogue is the most useless magazine on the planet - all hoo-ha about fashion, culture and history aside. Yes, I read "The Devil Wears Prada" amd the bit about the navy blue sweater...yawn.)

The number-crunchers produced a lot of spreadsheets.  And, I'd bet my next pair of dollar store flip-flops that they were mostly freshly minted MBAs who aren't particularly interested in food, haven't read Gourmet, and  didn't do any actual subscriber research or analysis.

CN - and McKinsey - were unable to think outside the box.   CN ponied up a huge fee. McKinsey produced their typical binders filled with pie charts...and off we go.   Totally focused on the short-term (which cynic that I am - methinks was partly to save the head honcho's "performance" bonuses this year and next) - with little thought given to brand loyalty and strengths. 

CN could have avoided all this, if they had gotten out of their little mink-lined, oligarchic rut....Think not? Consider Cook's Illlustrated (which I also love, and buy the hardcover annual collections every year...AND buy back issues whenever I find them.)  

Things change. Economies go up and down. People aren't numbers.

The time to plan change is when things are still working.

I'm going to go find my bound edition of Gourmet from 1957 and read some of M.F.K. Fisher's classic articles...including one on the martini, perfect for Friday.

P.S.  Reading Recommendation: M.F.K. Fisher, The Art of Eating - a collection of several of her books. I keep it by my bed for ready dipping and re-reading.  The link takes you to an excerpt. I bought a copy just to lend to friends.  You can probably find it at your local library.

More on Gourmet and the folly of CN: Eating Their Children at Conde Nast