Epicurean titles savor page gains

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, May 15, 1995

Nesting trends and increased interest in ethnic foods are spicing up the five-title epicurean category, where ad pages jumped by 28 percent through March, to 812 from 634 for the same period last year. "People are more interested in food and wine than they were five years ago because of the rise in home entertaining," says Ed Kelly, publisher of American Express' Food & Wine ( 26 percent).

The magazine has attracted a host of non-endemic accounts, including automakers BMW and Jaguar. Cooking clubs are increasingly popular with couples, notes Debbie DuCharme, associate publisher of Telemedia Communications' Eating Well ( 62 percent). The acceptance of cooking as a leisure activity rather than a chore is also reflected in supermarkets, she says. "The number of produce items has jumped from 100 in 1960 to 220."