EDITOR’S LETTER
Welcome to our Clean Eating issue. This is the 156th edition of Gourmet Traveller that I have sent to press, and it’s my last. It has been such an honour to bring you this magazine each month for the past 13 years (a tenure that makes me its longest-serving editor, apparently) but I’ve decided it’s time for me to move on to new challenges.
What an adventure it has been, though. Can you think of a better way to spend your working days than dreaming up stories about food, wine and travel?
The greatest joys of this job haven’t been the perks or the parties (although some of the parties were pretty damned good); it’s been realising our vision for this publication and leading a brilliant team of people to make it all come together. I think that this is an exceptional magazine created by exceptional people, from the talented (and very cool) bunch at head office in Sydney to our network of correspondents across the globe. And it’s my hope, if you’re reading the magazine, that this is a view you’ve shared over the years.
Aside from a strident campaign to popularise the Negroni (a perfectly honourable cause to advocate for, if you ask me), I hope my legacy at Gourmet Traveller will be that I championed quality journalism, seeking out the very best writers, photographers, food editors and stylists in the business and sharing their talents with you. I hope we’ve inspired, informed and entertained you.
I’m proud of the achievements, the strides we’ve made at Gourmet Traveller, since I joined the team in 2003. What was once exclusively a monthly magazine is now a multi-platform brand that spans not only print and digital formats, but hotel and restaurant guides, events, cookbooks, homewares collections, food hampers, Chinese-language editions, bespoke touring and more.
One thing I was adamant about when I joined Gourmet Traveller was that we would never play in the health-food space; that our pages were a place for indulgence and luxury and we wouldn’t wander into low-fat, gluten-free, sugar-free territory. So it’s with a certain irony that the final edition of the magazine that will bear my name at the top of the masthead is our first Clean Eating issue. It’s a sign of the times and speaks to the ongoing evolution of this esteemed masthead, which will, of course, continue to evolve with the next generation of gourmet travellers. I also happen to think it’s pretty fabulous, and packed with loads of fresh, tasty treats I’ll be giving a whirl. Especially with a Negroni.