It took them a while??? They’ve been more environmentally friendly than most magazines for at least a year now--I would say of all the food magazines I know, they’re the best at incorporating environmentally responsible tips and articles. They switched to the non-glossy, recycled content paper last year (who else has done this? no one), and every issue has tips on topics such as sustainable seafood, green shopping (whatever that means), which method of barbecue has the least env. impact, etc.

SJ: It’d be nice if Food & Wine bothered to promote its eco-activities. Gourmet magazine may have glossier paper, but it does far more in-depth reporting on issues of sustainability and food politics with its Politics of the Plate section. And it can be hard to relate to Food & Wine’s suggestions to go green by buying $2,000 induction cooktops and $5,000 kitchen islands.

It just seemed rather harsh criticism, considering there are many clueless publications out there--Fine Cooking, Cook’s Illustrated, A Taste of Home, god forbid--who refuse to acknowledge that we can’t eat willy-nilly anymore. It’s necessary to consider the consequences.
I do enjoy Politics of the Plate, but the cynical side of me is only able to see it as niche marketing--you know, and here’s our section for those weirdo environmentalists. Actually changing something, even as small as a choice of paper, rings more true for me.

True. It’d be nice if Gourmet had actually shown the buzzing bees in their berry-cake photo, for example, instead of agonizing over getting a bug-free shot.

Culinate - you may need to do a little more fact-checking before posting your articles.

FOOD & WINE’s August issue isn’t its first eco-friendly and the other activities aren’t their first either. The magazine started creating its Grow for Good campaign in 2006 well before buying local became a hot media topic. They then launched the campaign at the 2007 Classic in Aspen and generated close to $500,000 to support sustainable agriculture activities by the year end. The campaign was re-launched at this year’s Classic to benefit Wholesome Wave Foundation. Additionally(and for the second year), FOOD & WINE has made significant efforts to “green” its Classic, including introducing a really great recycling program for all materials (food, paper, wine corks, etc.). I can’t confirm but I believe the magazine is printed on recycled content paper as well.

Let’s not criticize these great efforts but salute the magazine for doing the right thing in a quiet way and not for the headlines.

Anonymous: We subscribe to Food & Wine magazine here at the office and read it regularly. In the past two years, we haven’t noticed the magazine plugging any of its eco-efforts — until the current issue came out. If you can name a previous eco-issue of the magazine, please let us know.
We’re not criticizing the magazine’s eco-efforts at all; we’re simply saying that Food & Wine should promote its green efforts more. Going green in “a quiet way” seems like embarrassed silence to us.

I’m the Editor of Food & Wine, and I wanted to thank you for writing up our August issue. I’d like to clarify one point...We published our first eco issue in 2006, also in August, that also promoted fantastic local food, environmental responsibility, etc. In the same year, we launched the Grow for Good campaign to raise money for sustainable agriculture. Being eco minded is extremely important to us. So much so that we try to address green subjects in every issue. We will work hard to better highlight our eco efforts.

Dana: Thanks for writing and pointing out the August 2006 eco-issue of Food & Wine — which just predates our office subscription, otherwise I’m sure we would’ve mentioned it. We did appreciate the locavores story (February 2007), and liked Lettie Teague’s take on organic wine in the current issue: “Wine drinkers who really care about how a wine is made need to get to know its producer.” We’ll drink to that.

Caroline - I would rather a company be socially responsible because it is the right thing to do, not for the headlines or self-promotion.

A lot of the “green-washing” we’re seeing right now is driven by companies that are more focused on the flash rather than the quality of their efforts.

Why not use your forum to say “bravo” Food & Wine instead of questionning why they don’t promote their efforts more? And while you’re at it, issue a challenge to other magazines to step up.

I don’t need a company to tell me what they’re doing ... if their efforts are genuine, sustainable and good, then they will speak for themselves. There is nothing “embarrassing” about that!