See also: Lucky Peach Looks Good Enough to Eat: See What's Inside Issue 4
In the world of food journals, if Lucky Peach is the rebellious, creative younger brother, then Gastronomica, The Journal of Food and Culture is the seasoned, scholarly older sibling.
Since 2001, Gastronomica's quarterly publication has appealed to the brainy side of food appreciation, exploring anthropological origins, cultural influences and extensive analysis with memoirs, essays and tasteful, conservatively placed graphics and photography.
Between anecdotal articles from a sea of perspectives including those of teachers, artists, journalists, historians, ethnographers and much more from all over the world, readers will also find narrowly focused featured-based news, reviews of books and the occasional poem or two.
That's not to say that the staff at Gastronomica takes things too seriously, though. In the summer 2012 edition, look for pieces about outrageous food tattoos, "Men Who Eat Muskrat," and "The Mutato Project," depicting fruits and vegetables that have grown in strange ways.
Also in Volume 12, Issue 2, food for food thought comes in the form of a piece about traditional food on the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation off of Arizona's Highway 86, a charming photo essay of Kyrgyzstan, an investigation regarding underground food economies in Haiti and a chef interview with David Blumm of Eleven Madison Park Restaurant in New York, to name a few.
For information on how to make a copy of Gastronomica yours, check out the Gastronomica Web site. We found our copy at Whole Foods.
