On Oct. 8, Cook's Illustrated publisher Christopher Kimball penned an op-ed piece for The New York Times that bemoaned what he sees as a major change in the food magazine landscape -- the transfer of power from editors to end-users. The food conversation, once directed by a powerful few, is now open to all.

Kimball is skeptical. He wrote: ``The shuttering of Gourmet reminds us that in a click-or-die advertising marketplace, one ruled by a million instant pundits, where an anonymous Twitter comment might be seen to pack more resonance and useful content than an article that reflects a lifetime of experience, experts are not created from the top down but from the bottom up.''

In a telephone conversation, Kimball expanded on his point. ``This idea that because there are a lot more voices that the world is better off is nonsense,'' he said. ``We started this revolution in media democracy without knowing where it would go. Some of it is good, but some of it is bad.''

A PRIME LOSS

Kimball counts the devaluation of strong editorship as a prime loss. ``There is something to be said for the all-powerful editor who would bring things to their readers that the readers didn't know they wanted. Editors like William Shawn at The New Yorker and Ruth Reichl at Gourmet would determine from their expertise what readers should read. The system was controlled by media monopolies, and entry was huge. That barrier of entry has been removed.''

Opening the gates, suggested Kimball, has allowed for a wider conversation, if a less literate one. ``If you look at the early Gourmet, it was about writing. The M.F.K. Fisher approach, instead of the `gossip about Food Network celebrities' approach,'' he says.

Kimball's magazines and other products, which include Cook's Illustrated and America's Test Kitchen brands (books, television programming, websites), don't trade in the kind of lush food and travel writing Gourmet and its ilk were known for. His core business has a more practical bent -- creating and perfecting recipes for home cooks -- and editing is no less critical.

Kimball's no-ad model ties his bottom line to customers, not a fickle advertising marketplace. Subscriptions drive the business, and they are not cheap: $24.95 a year for the magazine, $34.95 a year for full access to the website and its archives. Still, Kimball counts more than a million subscribers to Cook's Illustrated magazine, and more than 300,000 website subscribers.

EXTENSIVE TESTING

Customers are willing to pony up, Kimball suggested, because of the rigorous testing and editing he and his staff put each recipe through. The extensive process, which includes more than a month of in-house refining plus feedback from a pool of 10,000 recipe testers, keeps the focus on the reader. ``When we publish recipes, it's not so much about whether we can make it, but whether you can make it.''

Kimball sees a digital-driven future for Cook's, but as a reader, he laments the past. ``There was something great about those expensively produced glossies,'' he said.

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