Reviews For Saveur Magazine


Under the Yum-Yum Tree

Saveur is the perfect gift for armchair travellers, photographers or wanna-be chefs. The pages are dripping with gorgeous photography of culinary anthropology. Even if you don't like to cook Saveur will provide you with hours of fantasy adventure.
Do an experiment and take them up on their first issue free offer and leave it on the breakfast table. Between a cereal box and National Geographic, Saveur will win even by your kids. It's more likely to be read than the National Geographic and packs an equal educational wallop. My only caution...be prepared to take your kids to an exotic destination once they've read their first issue.


Recommended:
Yes

Gourmet or Not

This magazine is for anyone who loves good food and learning about the places where the dishes come from. Delightful photographs of the dishes, ingredients and of the places where the dish originated. Educational as well as informative, I learned more about the Galacian area of Spain where my grandfather came from and now have some wonderful recipes and photos of the region. The recipes are very easy to use, and give helpful information on where to find special ingredients. A must have magazine for anyone who enjoys cooking or eating. Saveur has recipes from all over the world, it is like a tour guide for food.


Recommended:
Yes

The world beyond hamburgers...

This magazine has been criticized, rightly or wrongly, for being too upper crust, too advertisement laden, too expensive, too 'foofy' looking, etc. These are the opinions of others. Right or wrong, I proffer mine...

I am fortunate to live in a town (Portland, Oregon) that has a large quantity of accessible, competent ethnic restaurants; P-town residents that know better won't claim that our ethnic food is better than the best found in Seattle, LA, SF, NYC, etc., but we have good, ethnic food only minutes away.

Unfortunately, I've also been to many cities where ethnic food is just not common or hard to find. This is where I think Saveur magazine could be of best benefit. Like National Geographic, Saveur magazine provides an opportunity to visit new culinary worlds. With excellent integration of local history and lush photography, I can't think of a better way to encourage people to try different culinary traditions. I found the issue on Korean cuisine to be especially excellent--as a Korean-American, I was surprised to read and learn about new things about my own culture's cuisine--from someone who wasn't even Korean!

I appreciate that Saveur encourages people to keep old traditions alive (a la Slow Food movement) while opening one's mind to new culinary avenues. The inclusion of a blurb on my friend's wine in the Top 100 issue (Sineann) was a surprise--a wine with microscopic (sub-200 case)production, and untraditional location (the Columbia Valley, near Hood River, Oregon). Ahem, did I mention: NOT FROM CALIFORNIA? Exceptions do happen...

It won't hurt to read the magazine and other books, while you're at it (my favorite authors include Marcella Hazan, Julia Child and Emeril Lagasse). Try making the recipes, and form your own opinions.

As a note: those who live in cities with few ethnic restaurants would probably have even fewer ethnic food stores. In that case, why not try a natural foods store? You'd be amazed what your local hippie supermart might have--vegetarians tend to eat a wider array of cuisines than the average carnivore. In lieu of that, talk to your local grocer.

Salute!

Recommended:
Yes

Recommended For: Anyone

The Best for Fun Food

I say "fun" because food should
be a pleasure, as well as an
exploration of the new and
different. One of the great strengths
of this magazine is that you
can get most of the ingredients
without having to visit a particular
store somewhere in the depths of
New York City. The people creating
the recipes are making the effort
to make preparing the food easier
for American cooks.

"Coffee table" magazine? I don't
think so... "Food and Wine": now that
is a magazine more devoted to showing
breathless closeups of beautiful
food. You can't eat it, and you can't
find the ingredients, but it looks
lovely. Yes, the photography in
Saveur is very nice, but that
just enhances the experience for me.

I am a former subscriber to a LOT
of food magazines. Gourmet lost it
when they went PC, and you can never
find the very special ingredients
they mention, unless you live
on a particular street in NYC. F&W
already mentioned. Williams/Sonoma had a
nice magazine, but now sadly gone.

I also like the travel aspect to
the articles, which is generally
much more "real" travel than you get
in other food magazines. As an
example, Gourmet will send a reporter
to the most expensive hotel/restaurant
in Italy, while Saveur will explore the
wonderful food and drinks to be found in
the Italian countryside.

I think the best compliment is that
other food magazines are stealing
ideas from Saveur, in hopes of grabbing
the same audience. A theme shows
up in Saveur, only to be repeated
a month or two later in Food and
Wine.

Perfect? No, but Saveur is working
on it, having had some ups and
downs in the last few years. I
think that the patient is recovering
nicely at this time (6/03).

Not your typical cooking magazine

Saveur isn't in the same genre as other cooking magazines, and it is for precisely that reason that I give it a five-star rating. While I love my Bon Appetit and Cooking Light, Saveur is a completely different way of looking at food and cooking. It's far more cultural and in-depth than any of these other magazines can possibly be, given their target audiences. If you really want to take an in-depth look at food and culture, I highly recommend Saveur. The recipes that are included are very cookable. But this is a magazine you'll certainly want to read as much as you cook from it. It's not going to have recipes that you make on a busy weeknight. Rather, these recipes are cultural investigations and weekend projects. They're great for entertaining if you have friends who are as curious about culture and food and who love to experiment as much as you do. After reading Saveur and trying the accompanying and well-chosen recipes, you'll have a much greater appreciation for culture and food. Saveur really gets to the heart of the spiritual joy of eating and sharing food. If you can't travel, Saveur truly is the next best thing, and in this respect, is a highly "accessible" resource.

Fantastic magazine with excellent photography and stories

To me, Saveur is almost more about travel than it is about food. The articles tend to be about cuisines set in the context of their geographic and cultural origins. Rich photography and personal stories give you a flavor of the people and places behind familiar and new dishes. Articles in Saveur have inspired me to take several trips, to places I would not have otherwise considered, and seek out amazing little hole in the wall shops and restaurants.

If you love to travel, cook, and eat, you will love Saveur!

Great Read!! Cover to Cover

I love this magazine because it gives the background and history of food. When I get the magazine each month,I have to read it right then and there. I finally found out where Salisbury Steak originated. In Ohio, by a doctor during the Civil War. Not in England. The photography is beautiful and some of the stories are memories of what the certain food means to them. They make you want to try everything in the magazine. Saveur is not pretentious as "Food and Wine" or "Gourmet." It is nice to read about regular people that make great food at reasonable expenses. Subscribe to this magazine!

I LOVE THIS MAGAZINE!...

This is simply a beautiful magazine, printed on heavy, glossy paper. Its pages contain many beautiful photographs of different foods, wines, and the countries from which they originate. It is not only a food and wine magazine with wonderful recipes that are easy to follow, it is also a travel guide of sorts with a great deal of information on other countries, their food and wine, their restaurants, and their culture. Usually included are some fascinating historical details of how a custom associated with a particular food may have come about. The articles are invariably well-written and offer a wealth of fascinating information.

I am a tea lover, and I love going to afternoon tea with its repast of scones, dainty sandwiches, and light cakes. So, I particularly enjoyed an article that the magazine recently had that focused on tea. It transported the reader to Devon, England with its afternoon tradition of tea and scones, accompanied by clotted cream and jam, which is often referred to as a cream tea. Of course, a beautiful bone china tea pot and bone china cups are essential to the having of a proper cup of tea. This, too, is discussed in the article. Photographs of an authentic village tearoom in Devon were included, as well as recipes for making scones, tea sandwiches, black currant jam, strawberry jam, and Victoria Sponge Cake.

The article went on to discuss how clotted cream is made. It interspersed the discussion with personal anecdotes from those who make clotted cream. A guide was included for Devon in terms of where to stay, where to eat, and where to go for tea. The article went on to discuss the differences among the various available tea experiences, detailing what constitutes an afternoon tea, a cream tea, and a high tea, and giving some of the historical underpinnings of each. I so enjoyed this article! Even if I never physically go to Devon, I feel as if the magazine had transported me there, as it was vividly drawn by so expert and sure a hand. The magazine has these types of articles in every issue, covering regions from all over the world, including those in the United States.

The magazine also contains a helpful section titled, "The Pantry", which is a guide to resources that have to do with food products and kitchenware related to articles in the current issue of the magazine. This makes it invariably easier for the reader, who may wish try some of the more esoteric recipes, to find what one needs. It is little wonder that I love this magazine. Those who are interested in wonderful food, excellent and easy to follow recipes, other cultures and customs, as well as traveling, will simple adore this magazine. It makes a wonderful gift. I know, because this magazine was a gift to me and one for which I am grateful, as it is a gift that one gets to enjoy again and again, each and every month.

For those who are into 'the food of love' and love to cook

My husband has subscribed to Saveur since the beginning. He is a former Gourmet subscriber who had that mag for almost 5 years. Saveur is an honest, earthy, lush magazine that will enlighten you about other cultures and help you to enjoy their cuisine. It is not chock full of ads like some other cooking mags. The writing is excellent and the recipes are such that you can actually cook them. The food is covered with an emphasis on authenticity and respect. If you love the unpretentious food of the world--the food of love-- you will love Saveur.

National Geographic meets Bon Appetit

What a beautiful magazine (full color pictures on glossy paper), and what interesting stories behind each food. The recipes are sometimes doable, although most of the time I just like to read about the exotic ingredients in each.

A must have- makes the living room look very sophisticated!

Menu