R.I.P Gourmet Magazine?

One of our office favorites, Gourmet, may not last through the end of the year, according to Eater.com. Shockingly enough, it appears that the economy had something to do with it.

"Gourmet will probably not see the end of the year. Its parent company, Conde Nast, can no longer rely on the huge profits of the newspaper portion of the Newhouse family business...It owns Gourmet, Bon Appetite, and epicurious.com. Conde Nast simply owns too many titles in this category. From 2004 to 2008, Gourmet’s ad pages have dropped from 1,364 to 955, with a 24% drop last year. January’s ad pages were down another 32%."

Read more of the story here or here.

This makes me particularly sad for Ruth Reichl, former food critic for New York Times and grande dame of Gourmet. I read her book Garlic and Sapphires a little over a year ago, and couldn't stop jabbering about it to absolutely everyone around me. "Have you read Garlic and Sapphires? No? Why are we even still talking??"

But perhaps there's a silver lining. The lining that surrounds the interwebs, of course. So let's take a vote: Should Ruth Reichl start a food blog? (I say YES).

EDITOR'S NOTE: A reader brought it to our attention that this information does NOT come directly from Eater.com, but rather 247wallst.com, which Eater.com sourced. You can read the original piece by Douglas A. McIntyre here.

Thanks for keeping us accountable, Anonymous! Anonymous also let us know that this piece, titled "Twelve Major Media Brands Likely To Close In 2009," includes editorial mistakes...suggesting that the grim prediction for Gourmet may be questionable. (But - to give credit where credit is due, we should also mention that McIntyre is the former president of Financial World Magazine and also used to work for Time, Inc. - not just Joe Blow Blogger.) If there is evidence to the contrary about Gourmet, proving that the magazine has a big, vibrant future ahead of it, that would dreamy to us here at P&P....and I imagine to most in book publicity.