Best Food Magazines

The Best Food And Drink Magazines In 2024

Tessa ZuluagaAuthor

icon RESOURCE
Thumbnail Recipe Card

Recipe Card Template

Train your team with this recipe card template, a customizable Excel sheet that outlines recipe requirements for chefs and back of house staff.

Toast | BUILT FOR RESTAURANTS

In a world of Pinterest and Instagram Reels, there’s something uniquely satisfying about a publication you can purchase at a real newsstand to keep near the kitchen. These magazines also offer digital versions/subscriptions so you can have thousands of recipes at your fingertips.

Whether you’re seeking a reliable source of inspiration for your next menu special or a thoughtful gift for the food enthusiast in your life, these top publications offer a large variety of options. From exclusive interviews to in-depth features on global food trends, they will enrich your kitchen counter. Whether you prefer print or digital access, these magazines make it easy to find and enjoy a broad selection of recipes.

In this article, we’ll outline the best food magazines in 2024. Let’s get started.

What makes a food culture magazine great?

To create this list, we examined various elements that contribute to the excellence of a food and drink magazine. We focused on the factors that resonate with readers and reflect the dynamic nature of food culture. Here’s what we found to be crucial:

Quality of content

The core of any great food culture magazine lies in its content. This includes:

  • Recipes: Well-crafted recipes that are both unique and practical are essential. They should cater to a range of skill levels and feature diverse cuisines to appeal to a broad audience.

  • Articles: Thought-provoking articles that delve into food history, culture, and personal stories add depth and context. Engaging storytelling and insightful commentary enrich the reader’s experience.

  • Photography: High-quality, visually appealing photography can elevate a magazine’s aesthetic and make the content more engaging. Exceptional images of food not only attract readers, but also inspire them to try new dishes and techniques.

Frequency of publication

A great food and drink magazine maintains a consistent publishing schedule that keeps readers engaged and coming back for more. Whether it’s daily, weekly, or monthly, the frequency should balance regular updates with high-quality content.

Consistency in publication helps build a loyal readership and ensures that the magazine remains relevant and top-of-mind.

User experience

In today’s digital age, a great magazine must offer a seamless online experience. This includes:

  • Digital accessibility: The magazine should be easily accessible on various devices, including smartphones, tablets, and computers. A user-friendly website or app enhances the reader’s ability to explore content anytime, anywhere.

  • UX: Intuitive navigation, a clean layout, and responsive design are crucial for an enjoyable reading experience. Features like search functionality, interactive elements, and customizable content can further enhance user engagement. It also doesn’t hurt to have an overall nice-looking, clean publication.

Relevance to current food trends

To remain compelling and authoritative, a food culture magazine must stay attuned to current food trends. This involves:

  • Incorporating trends: Featuring contemporary topics such as plant-based diets, sustainability, or global food movements ensures the magazine is aligned with readers’ evolving interests.

  • Highlighting innovations: Showcasing new ingredients, seasonal foods, cooking techniques, and culinary innovations keeps the content fresh and exciting.

By focusing on these elements, a food culture magazine can stand out and provide valuable, engaging content that resonates with its audience.

icon RESOURCE

Menu Engineering Worksheet

Use this menu engineering worksheet, complete with intricate menu engineering formulas, to determine areas of strength and weakness in your restaurant's menu.

Toast

The top 25 food and drink magazines in 2024

Drumroll, please! Without further ado, here are the best food and drink magazines to read in 2024. (In no particular order!)

1. Eater

If you have access to the internet, you’ve probably read an Eater article, or 42 of them. Eater is a digital media brand dedicated to all things food and dining. The Eater brand comprises a national site covering food and dining culture, 23 city sites tracking local dining scenes across hundreds of maps, and more run by a diverse team of writers, editors, producers, and contributors.

You can find your city and choose your subscription options here.

2. Food Network Magazine

The Food Network Magazine includes everything you love about food — top-notch recipes, all-star chefs, must-visit restaurants, tried-and-tested product reviews, and more. Although the Food Network itself is known best for its exciting cooking competitions, the magazine features new, seasonal recipes each month that are worth the hype.

Sign up for your choice of newsletter(s) here.

3. Food & Wine

Food & Wine? On our top food and drink list? Who would have thought? All jokes aside, Food & Wine has long been a standout in the world of, well, food and wine. Known for its high-quality content, it continues to impress with its dedication to excellence in culinary and beverage topics.

Food & Wine’s award-winning magazine, website, social platforms, newsletters, podcasts, and more continue to dominate the industry. With rigorously tested recipes and the most trusted restaurant, drinks, culinary travel, and home coverage, the brand inspires and empowers people to discover, create, and devour the best in food and drink—every day and everywhere. 

You can subscribe to their magazine here and their newsletters at the top of this page.

4. Cook’s Illustrated

If you’re looking to sharpen up your technique, Cook’s Illustrated is a genuinely authentic publication. Here the writers test cookware and supermarket ingredients to find the best quality products for home cooks. They don't accept advertising, instead, they simply explore the science behind what makes a recipe tick. They ask questions, conduct experiments, and get answers—delicious answers that you won't find anywhere else.

If Elizabeth Zott was real, she’d certainly approve of Cook’s Illustrated!

Join now using this link.

5. Imbibe Magazine

Let’s talk about an outstanding drink-focused publication now.

Imbibe is a multi-platform drinks destination combining a print and digital magazine, website, newsletter, podcast, cocktail books, and drink-related events, including the annual global charitable initiative, Negroni Week.

With wide-ranging recipes, reviews, how-tos, interviews, and stories, Imbibe is a great go-to guide for beverage enthusiasts of all different kinds.

You can subscribe here.

6. Whetstone Magazine

If you’re looking for an incredibly diverse and somehow calming publication, check out Whetstone Magazine.

Since 2016 Whetstone has used food as a means of better understanding humans and the world. To date, they’ve worked with a team of global creatives representing over 80 countries. At Whetstone they believe that diversity isn’t just noteworthy, it’s what makes their work so essential.

This brand offers a magazine, newsletter, and podcast. Check out their different offerings here.

7. Milk Street

Christopher Kimball’s Milk Street is located in downtown Boston and is home to a magazine and a cooking school. It’s also where they record their public television and radio shows.

Milk Street Magazine provides a bi-monthly publication filled with incredible seasonal recipes. For example, their September-October 2024 edition features an oven-charred Brussels sprouts recipe with chipotle chilies and peanuts. Yum!

Check out their subscription options here.

8. Gastronomica

If you’re looking for a more in-depth perspective on food, recipes, and more, Gastronomica is a fantastic option.

Published by University of California Press, Gastronomica: The Journal for Food Studies is a peer-reviewed, interdisciplinary, international journal publishing critical, translational studies on food.

In the pages of Gastronomica, you will find examinations of historical trends and transformations in food and eating and much more. With cutting-edge research and explorations of food studies, Gastronomica is your go-to resource for understanding the social, cultural, and historical dimensions of food.

You can subscribe here.

9. Food & Beverage Magazine

If you’re a product innovator in the restaurant space, consider contacting Food & Beverage Magazine.

Food & Beverage Magazine is the first name in the B2B foodservice/hospitality information highway. This publication serves its readers with knowledge of the entire full-service industry.

Food & Beverage Magazine’s readers collectively serve over 13 billion meals annually. These full-service restaurateurs, executives, and decision-makers are responsible for $125 billion in annual sales. This is the main food and beverage trade magazine able to get products in front of decision-makers in the industry.

You can subscribe here.

10. Bon Appétit Magazine

Bon Appétit is a monthly American food magazine. You can think of this publication as America’s test kitchen. Each edition typically contains recipes, entertaining ideas, restaurant reviews and recommendations, and more. They also have a fantastic newsletter that features the latest and greatest recipes, articles, and cooking tips, and weekly letters from BA editors.

Subscribe to Bon Appétit’s newsletter today to get new recipes emailed to your inbox here.

11. Food and Travel Magazine

Food and Travel magazine has been around for over 25 years and is the world's leading gastronomic travel publication. This award-winning magazine transports readers on a culinary voyage with every issue. From fine cooking recipes to 48-hour city break guides, everything Food and Travel produces is foolproof and incredibly insightful.

Start traveling and eating well by subscribing here.

12. Edible Communities

Edible Communities is a large media organization devoted to telling the local stories and sustaining the efforts of the farmers, chefs, food artisans, fishers, vintners, and home cooks who feed North America. Their growing network consists of 75 independently owned, regional magazines across the U.S. and Canada. 

From Boston to Bozeman, Vancouver to Martha’s Vineyard, and New Mexico to New York, Edible Communities’ dedicated publishers lead the conversation about local and sustainable food and drink in their community. 

They also offer a podcast you can listen to here and you can find your local magazine here.

icon RESOURCE

Restaurant Operations Manual Template

Use this free template to easily outline all of your operating procedures and make day-to-day operations as consistent as possible.

Toast

13. East End Taste Magazine

East End Taste Magazine is an elevated online publication covering food trends and events on the East End of Long Island. It also covers destinations around the world with a focus on food and culture from a refined angle.

East End Taste serves as a premier online publication that brings the world to the Hamptons and to those who appreciate the upscale Hamptons lifestyle. They primarily cover the following categories: restaurant highlights, chef news, travel, events, specialty food, lifestyle, wellness and fashion.

14. Austin Food Magazine

Austin Food Magazine is a digital destination for all things culinary in Austin, Texas. Here, local cuisine is not only gaining global recognition, but it’s also transforming the food culture as its reputation spreads far and wide.

Whether it’s the allure of food trailers, brick-and-mortar establishments, or clandestine supper clubs, Austin Food seeks to satiate the appetites of locals through comprehensive reviews, captivating news coverage, and a wealth of culinary insights.

These digital pages are adorned with a visual feast of tantalizing photographs, thought-provoking editorial columns, honest reviews, and valuable guidance, all showcasing the eclectic buffet that makes Austin a true food lover’s haven.

You can subscribe here.

15. New Food Magazine

Through a variety of media, including a quarterly print issue, online articles, podcasts, and global events, New Food Magazine ensures that every corner of the food and beverage industry is represented, from farm fields to supermarket shelves.  

Check out one of their latest articles: In-Depth Focus: Health & Nutrition. This In-Depth Focus features articles from ADM and Yolé as they share their insights into the future of women’s health and the inspiration behind inclusive ice cream.

You can subscribe to New Food's free-of-charge journal and emails here.

16. Food Engineering

Food Engineering covers many topics from food and beverage sanitation and safety to packaging and sustainability.

Food Engineering honors the most innovative new food or beverage plant built in North America each year. The automation strategy, processing and packaging line design, and supply chain management plan of each plant project submitted are reviewed.

To get started, create an account here.

17. Food Business News

If you’re interested in the business side of the industry check out Food Business News. You can learn about food entrepreneurship, manufacturing, and service. This is also a great publication to find the best retailers and suppliers for your restaurant business.

Food Business News’ website features all different types of media to receive this information from articles to videos.

To subscribe to Food Business News magazine, click here and for their newsletters, click here.

18. Restaurant Business Magazine

Restaurant Business is a leading media brand in the commercial food service industry, with a focus on entrepreneurship, innovation, and growth.

Restaurant Business concisely shows growth-minded restaurateurs how to capitalize on trends, new concepts, changes in consumer tastes, new purchasing strategies, and peers’ best practices. Their editors track ideas and trends as they develop within key channel segments.

Subscribe today on the top right of this page.

19. Restaurant Magazine

If you’re looking to stay up on restaurant brand news, particularly for quick service restaurants. check out Restaurant Magazine.

RestaurantMagazine.com is a publication by RestaurantNews.com. This publication produces newsworthy updates in the industry. For example, they recently published an article: Original ChopShop Creates Additional Options for Protein Bowls with ‘Make It Original’ Menu, that dives into recent changes the popular, healthy quick service restaurant is making.

Make sure to check them out for similar industry news!

20. Good Food

Looking to make some good food? Good Food is a great publication for chefs and foodies alike. It features recipes, health and nutrition guides, appliance guides, and more. For example, if you’re cooking light they have a plethora of low-calorie recipes or if you’re searching for the best frying pans — Good Food has you covered.

Never miss an important guide again by subscribing here.

21. VegNews

Launched in 2000, VegNews is the largest vegan media brand in the world. It reaches millions of people each month across its print, digital, and social platforms and has won nearly every major award in the industry. The country’s best-selling plant-based magazine, every issue of VegNews is packed with today’s best vegan lifestyle content from food and fashion to travel, celebrity interviews, and beauty. In addition to its flagship publication, VegNews also produces websites, cookbooks, and even international vacations.

The VegNews team is experienced, savvy, and has been living the veg lifestyle for decades. Make sure to check out this publication for all vegan news, recipes, and more.

Subscribe here.

22. Chicago Food Magazine

Chicago Food Magazine explores Chicago's growing restaurant population. Follow along to read all about new restaurant openings, news, updates, and more. Readers can also filter by neighborhood to help narrow their specific search.

Never miss a Chicago meal again by subscribing here.

23. Saveur Magazine

Saveur is an online gourmet, food, wine, and travel magazine that publishes essays about various world cuisines. They also feature fantastic beer and wine pairing guides. We’re loving this article, A Winter Dinner with Beer Pairings, that explores pairing with different winter favorites from chocolate cake to maple glazed carrots.

Subscribe to the newsletter today here.

24. Cozymeal

Cozymeal features online cooking classes, online mixology classes, virtual wine tastings, online team building, and more. However, their magazine contains useful recipes and food guides. From important food updates like recalls to a healthy Trader Joe’s snack list, this magazine has a wide range of content.

Join the newsletter today at the top of this page.

25. Taste of Home

Last but certainly not least, we have Taste of Home.

Taste of Home was founded in 1993 on a simple premise: Home cooks are the best cooks. This publication has been sharing recipes and cooking inspiration with millions of people for three decades through its magazines, books, videos, and website. They publish a variety of different recipes, food news, health and wellness content, and more.

Subscribe today here.

Make sure to subscribe!

In the world of food and drink media, 2024 brings a diverse array of magazines that cater to different needs and interests. From hands-on cooking techniques and local food stories to global trends and beverage pairings, these top magazines offer inspiration and knowledge.

Whether you prefer a print magazine or the convenience of digital access, there's something on this list for you. As you explore these publications, you’ll find valuable recipes, insightful articles, and stunning photography that can elevate your kitchen experience and keep you connected to the latest in food culture.

If you’re searching for all things restaurant from industry news to cost control guides and free calculators, make sure to also subscribe to On The Line, a publication by Toast.

Is this article helpful?

DISCLAIMER: This information is provided for general informational purposes only, and publication does not constitute an endorsement. Toast does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of any information, text, graphics, links, or other items contained within this content. Toast does not guarantee you will achieve any specific results if you follow any advice herein. It may be advisable for you to consult with a professional such as a lawyer, accountant, or business advisor for advice specific to your situation.