Purchasing a food magazine seems like an easy task until you see just how many publications are available. For the uninitiated, here is a guide to some of the most popular cooking magazines so you can find the right food magazine for your lifestyle.

The Classic – Bon Appétit

If you are only going to read one food magazine, Bon Appétit is a perfect start. It has a little bit of everything: restaurant reviews, tips for throwing parties and a large number of recipes. Although many of the magazine’s readers are experienced cooks, the editorial staff makes Bon Appétit welcoming for beginners too. Unusual ingredients have an asterisk explaining where they can be purchased and a “Prep School” feature gives step-by-step instructions for the more complicated cooking techniques used in each issue. Best of all, Bon Appétit does not take food too seriously. It recommends restaurants where a college student could actually afford to eat and includes ideas for dinners that can be made in under an hour. The last article in each issue features a napkin where a celebrity like Aziz Ansari or Taylor Swift has doodled about their favorite food. Bon Appétit is just as fun to read as it is to cook from.    

When You Want to Get Serious – Cook’s Illustrated

It is not hard to spot Cook’s Illustrated from a rack filled with its glossier competitors. With dark colors and pencil drawings, Cook’s Illustrated might look intimidating, but it is actually one of the best resources for people who want to become better cooks. With only a few recipes per issue, the writers are able to include thorough descriptions of how they developed, tested and perfected each one. This information is not simply interesting — it is essential if you want to understand the basics creating gourmet cuisine. Learning the science behind making the chewiest chocolate chip cookies or cooking the perfect steak will help you grasp skills that you will use every time you step into the kitchen. Cook’s Illustrated is also a great resource for equipment reviews. Their test kitchen conducts exhaustive tests of everything from knives to ice cream makers, so you can be sure you are making the
best purchases.

For Something Different – Lucky Peach

This is the food magazine mostly likely to compel someone to ask, “What is that?” if they found a copy lying around your apartment. Lucky Peach comes from the same mind that created the Momofuku restaurant empire, David Chang. ”Lucky peach” is actually a translation of Momofuku from Japanese. Each quarterly issue has a specific theme, like dumplings or gender, and includes everything from extended essays to comic strips. With bold, colorful graphics and articles like “Ballen in Amsterdam” and “ The Instant Ramen Power Rankings,” Lucky Peach is definitely the cool new kid on the block.

A version of this article appeared in the Tuesday, Feb. 24th print edition. Email Kendall at [email protected].