Genre Research

1. Genre: Food & Cooking
2. Genre conventions – content: Most magazines relating to food and dining have a lot of 
   conventional articles such as a list of recipes. Most of the time these recipes have a certain theme
   in common. Sometimes that theme may be an incoming holiday, such as Christmas or Thanksgiving. 
   Other times they relate to a certain event, like brunch, or a certain specific ingredient. Some other 
   articles include those that highlight people, like chefs that have made innovative recipes. The 
   magazines also promote new and creative restaurants and cookbooks that people may want 
   to check out. There are also sections that teach about cooking utensils that can be used for
    certain foods and tips and tricks to improve your cooking. Some other food magazines may
   take a health spin and talk about the food to eat for a healthier diet, or to lose weight.
3. Genre conventions – production techniques: A lot of different techniques are used to make 
   food more appetizing to the reader. While a lot of real food is used, some magazines also 
   use other kinds of techniques, such as using glue to replace milk for certain shots and using 
    glycerin to make seafood look freshly caught. For foods like ice cream, replacements can be 
   extremely necessary to prevent melting during the photography process.Three point lighting 
   is usually used, and natural lighting that is indirect is preferred to make the food a lot more 
   appealing. The rule of thirds is used for composition in order to draw the eye to the food, 
   and angles can also affect the look of the recipes. Styling with the plates, accessories and 
   garnishes is also carefully thought of. Backgrounds are also made so that the food is the 
   focal point of not only the image but the whole magazine.
4. Institutional conventions – marketing: A lot of the marketing depends on the specifics of 
   the magazine itself. For example: diet food magazines focus on showing the health benefits 
   of the food front and center on the cover and also focus on the ideas of weight loss. 
   Other magazines are marketed towards the season, offering specialized food recipes. For 
   example some summer recipes focus on "How to beat the heat" and typical summer foods like
   watermelons or ice cream, as well as barbecues. A big selling point for recipe magazines are 
   also the holidays, focusing on recipes to impress guests, or new takes on familiar holiday
   meals to do with your family. The audience for these magazines can sometimes vary but 
   some magazines are sometimes marketed towards family caretakers, with articles that talk 
   about what food is best for your children, and some others are simply marketed towards people 
   with a passion for cooking that want to learn new recipes.
5. Film/magazine sample #1 – https://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/02/prweb105724.htm
   Low Carb Energy Magazine. This magazine sample embodies the 
   genre due to it showcasing a lot of the staples of healthy food magazines. It has an eye catching 
   food cover and has a lot of healthy food related articles on the cover. It promotes a healthier 
   lifestyle though better eating. For example one of its articles talks about healthy foods in well 
   known restaurants. It also has a lot of well photographed images of desserts that accompany their
   healthy dessert recipes. It isn't a pure food magazine, since it does have some focus on just 
   the health aspect but does show some important aspects of the food genre.
6. Film/magazine sample #2 – https://en.calameo.com/read/00080032614dbc038a42a
   Fine Cooking. This magazine is a great example of the food genre as right on the cover there is an
   appealing photo of cookies and eye catching food related articles. This one focuses a lot on the 
   holiday marketing, promoting Christmas cookies and Hanukkah meals to make, as well as 
   recipes for guests that people are sure to have in the holiday season. They also have a list of 
   recipes focusing on beans as the main ingredient, and a story on a new culinary book. All of the 
   images focus on the food but have great complimentary backgrounds that suit them well. Some are 
   also focused on holiday colors and showing bright appealing foods.
7. List of 5-7 other magazine examples within the genre (with links or images of these examples):
   
   Women's Weekly Food:
   

   

   
   
   Food Network Magazine: 
   
   Cooking Light:
    
   
   
   
   Clean Eating:
   
   Food & Wine:
   

Hi! my name is Valeria Aguirre. The purpose of this blog is to document the creation of my magazine as a final Cambridge project.