History
Early history (1956–2010)
''Bon Appétit'' was started in 1956 as a liquor store giveaway and was first published as a bimonthly magazine in December of that year in Chicago. It was acquired by M. Frank Jones ofMove to New York (2010–2019)
The magazine's headquarters was moved from Los Angeles to New York City in early 2011. Concurrent with the move, Barbara Fairchild, the editor since 2000, was succeeded by editor Adam Rapoport, who was previously the Style Editor at Condé Nast's '' GQ'' magazine. Prior to joining ''GQ'', Rapoport edited the restaurant section at '' Time Out New York'' and worked as an editor and writer for the James Beard Foundation's publications office. In 2011, ''Bon Appétit'' launched the "Bite me" advertising campaign, which had an estimated $500,000 budget that included print and online ads, billboards, posters, and sweepstakes. The ad campaign came after a period of "sluggish performance" following its sibling magazine ''Gourmets cancellation in 2009, during which a limited number of readers and advertisers shifted to ''Bon Appétit''. During the same period, other food magazines, such as '' Every Day With Rachael Ray'' and '' Food Network Magazine'' thrived. ''Bon Appétit'' sold 632 ad pages in 2012, which was a one percent increase from 625 ad pages sold in 2009 but a decline of 27 percent from the 867 ad pages sold in 2008. Condé Nast reported 1,452,953 paid subscriptions and 88,516 single copies in 2012 for the period ending November 2012. The median age of its audience was 48.4, of which 74% were female. In August 2014, Condé Nast combined ''Bon Appétit'' and '' Epicurious'' into a single digital food platform led by Pamela Drucker Mann, ''Bon Appétit'' Senior Vice President and Publisher. Adam Rapoport was named Editorial Director of ''Epicurious''. Starting in the late 2010s, ''Bon Appétit'' was noted for increasing their web presence through the use of social media, their website, and their YouTube channel. From 2018 to 2019, ''Bon Appétit'' saw a 40 percent increase in video revenue and a 64 percent increase in subscriptions generated from digital channels such as social media plugs, podcasts, and newsletters. The company worked to leverage the popularity of ''Bon Appétit's'' YouTube and streaming channels towards increasing magazine readership. This included the November 2019 edition of the magazine, which had eight separate covers featuring the staff of the ''Bon Appétit'' Test Kitchen seen on the channels. As well, advertiser interest increased, with many companies being drawn to the connections the shows’ hosts have with their audience. These companies included Goose Island Beer, The Mushroom Council, Mitsubishi, Kerrygold and Glossier.Racism allegations and fallout (2020–present)
On June 8, 2020, Adam Rapoport resigned as editor-in-chief after a photo of him in brownface was posted by food and wine writer Tammie Teclemariam onYouTube channel
History
Beginnings and success (2012–2020)
In 2012, ''Bon Appétit'' launched a YouTube channel primarily featuring traditional "hands-and-pans" cooking tutorials. On October 21, 2016, the first episode of ''It's Alive with Brad'' debuted. The series began with videos of Brad Leone, the Test Kitchen Manager at the time, in the ''Bon Appétit'' Test Kitchen demonstrating recipes for foods with microbial food cultures, but later moved on to more general recipes as well as outdoor segments at agricultural and food processing sites, including a cocoa farm, a sea salt harvesting facility, and a sausage factory. The series features a casual, unproduced style and comedic editing. The series was edited by Matt Hunziker and filmed and produced by Vincent Cross until Cross's departure in early 2019 to fellow cooking YouTube channel, '' Binging with Babish''. It was subsequently filmed, produced, and edited by Hunziker, whose style has been credited with shaping the aesthetic of the entire ''Bon Appétit'' YouTube channel, including shaky cam-style filming, frequent cameos by non-featured chefs, and a focus on kitchen mistakes. In July 2017, '' Gourmet Makes'' with Claire Saffitz debuted, in which Saffitz attempted to recreate or elevate popular snack foods such as Doritos, Twinkies, and Gushers. ''Gourmet Makes'' consistently trended on YouTube and developed a cult following on social media. Saffitz's work has been described as taking "junk food staples and...elevating them from their humble processed beginnings into wonders of gastronomy." The loose and personality-driven style of ''It's Alive'', along with ''Gourmet Makes'', are noted as contrasting the "curated ndposh" brand of ''Bon Appétit'' and were described by ''Resignations and restructuring (2020–present)
After the resignation of editor-in-chief Adam Rapoport in June 2020 and the subsequent fallout regarding inequitable pay for staff and contributors of color, the channel became inactive and all members of the Test Kitchen stopped filming videos. Two months later, Rick Martinez, Sohla El-Waylly, and Priya Krishna announced they would be permanently leaving the ''Bon Appétit'' YouTube channel due to a continued lack of progress in resolving issues at Condé Nast Entertainment. Molly Baz, Gaby Melian, Carla Lalli Music, and Amiel Stanek made similar announcements soon after, followed by Claire Saffitz in October 2020. Later that month, the channel relaunched with a video helmed by the new leadership of Dawn Davis, Sonia Chopra, and Marcus Samuelsson, announcing seven new hosts: DeVonn Francis, Tiana “Tee” Gee, Melissa Miranda, Samantha Seneviratne, Christian “Chrissy” Tracey, Harold Villarosa, Rawlston Williams and Claudette Zepeda as well as the return of Brad Leone, Chris Morocco and Andy Baraghani.Productions
The entire lineup of on-camera staff and contributors at ''Bon Appétit'' appear in the series ''From The Test Kitchen'', which features more traditionally structured instructional recipe videos, as well as ''Test Kitchen Talks'', with videos of the chefs competing in cooking challenges and answering common cooking questions. Several other series feature the individual chefs. Chris Morocco stars in ''Reverse Engineering'', in which he attempts to reverse engineer a recipe by a celebrity chef from taste, touch, and smell alone. Carla Lalli Music starred in ''Back-to-Back Chef'', in which she cooked along with and instructed a celebrity in preparing a dish while facing away from each other and using only verbal instructions. The series' guests included Natalie Portman, Antoni Porowski, Ninja, Miz Cracker, Braun Strowman and more. Additionally, chefs Bobby Flay, Daniel Boulud, and Gordon Ramsay have guest hosted the series. ''Bon Appétit'' has filmed several collaborations with other notable YouTube channels, including '' First We Feast'' and '' Binging with Babish'', with Sean Evans of '' Hot Ones'' and Andrew Rea of ''Binging with Babish'' appearing on multiple ''Bon Appétit'' series, and ''Bon Appétit'' personalities appearing on ''First We Feast'' and ''Binging with Babish's'' respective series. El-Waylly's first appearance on YouTube after the ''Bon Appétit'' YouTube channel became inactive was teaching Rea to temper chocolate, before eventually moving entirely to the '' Babish Culinary Universe'' with her own show titled ''Stump Sohla''. Several other guests have appeared on ''It's Alive'', including Elias Cairo of Olympia Provisions, chef Matty Matheson, chef Samin Nosrat, and musician Orville Peck. Videos are produced by Condé Nast Entertainment and were filmed in the ''Bon Appétit'' Test Kitchen on the 35th floor of the One World Trade Center in''Bon Appétit'' staff and contributors on YouTube channel
Current
Former
Podcasts
In 2014, ''Bon Appétit'' launched a podcast titled the ''Bon Appétit Foodcast''. The series was hosted by former editor-in-chief Adam Rapoport, and featured notable guests such as Ina Garten, Gordon Ramsay, and Mark Bittman. A number of the staff at ''Bon Appétit'' regularly appeared on the podcast to discuss their recently published recipes. On June 17, 2020, a final podcast was released, announcing that in light of the departure of Rapoport and the ensuing fall out, the podcast would have a new host and a new name, as well as feature a greater range of contributors and developers. On June 10, 2021, a new podcast was launched on the same podcast feed, titled ''Bon Appétit Healthyish''. The podcast was planned to be a six-episode miniseries hosted by Amanda Shapiro. After the six episodes, the podcast was again renamed on August 19, 2021, to ''Food People'', and was still hosted by Shapiro.Best New Restaurants in America
Since 2009, ''Bon Appétits editors, including Andrew Knowlton, Senior Editor Julia Kramer, and Amiel Stanek, have put together a list of the "Best New Restaurants in America". The list is released annually at the end of August for the September issue, and begins with a 50-restaurant shortlist that is then narrowed down to "The Hot 10" list. The first two years, the list was not in a specific order. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the food industry, no list was released in 2020. In September 2021, it was announced that there would not be any list for a second year in a row, with a "Heads of the Table" list released in its place. The list featured restaurants, chefs, and organizations that worked to benefit their communities and those most impacted by theEditors-in-chief
* James A. Shanahan (1956–1961) * Alan Shearer (1961–1962) * Charles Walters (1962–1963) * Betty Paige (1963–1964) * W. C. Carreras (1964) * Floyd Sageser (1964–1965) * M. Frank Jones (1965–1976) * Paige Rense (1976–1983) * Marilou Vaughan (1983–1985) * William J. Garry (1985–2000) * Barbara Fairchild (2000–2010) * Adam Rapoport (2010–2020) * Amanda Shapiro (2020) (Interim Editor) * Dawn Davis (November 2020–April 2023) * Jamila Robinson (August 2023–Present)See also
* Las Vegas Uncork'd * List of food and drink magazinesReferences
External links