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Adventures in kitchenland
A little while ago, I received a note inviting me to be part of a focus group today on Cook's Country, the new magazine from Cook's Illustrated. We subscribed to Cook's Country when it first came out, and have been greatly enjoying it, so I was very pleased to be included.
So midafternoon I left the store for a couple hours and went down to Brookline Village, where their headquarters are located. (Very convenient!) I wound up sitting at a conference table with half-a-dozen other women, while a few staff members sat nearby. Each of the "panelists" had a copy of the magazine and a little remote control with a dial, on which we were to answer questions on a scale of 1 to 10. They had also put out trays of cookies and brownies, which, of course, I couldn't eat. Oh well. The person running the group projected an assortment of features and articles onto a screen, asking us to rate how much we enjoyed each one. This went on for a while, and then they shifted to a round-table discussion, asking us what we would like to see more and less of in the magazine.
On the whole, it was rather interesting. The real treat was that each participant was given a free cookbook. As it happened, I and a couple of others politely commented that we might not use this one very much, so we were given the option of choosing another from their selection. I thought that was a nice touch.
The people over there seem very committed to what they do, and it shows in the magazines. I hope that both magazines will continue to be successful, as they capture very different moods - C.I. can be very clinical, while C.C. is more laid-back and friendly. But they both have great recipes!
So midafternoon I left the store for a couple hours and went down to Brookline Village, where their headquarters are located. (Very convenient!) I wound up sitting at a conference table with half-a-dozen other women, while a few staff members sat nearby. Each of the "panelists" had a copy of the magazine and a little remote control with a dial, on which we were to answer questions on a scale of 1 to 10. They had also put out trays of cookies and brownies, which, of course, I couldn't eat. Oh well. The person running the group projected an assortment of features and articles onto a screen, asking us to rate how much we enjoyed each one. This went on for a while, and then they shifted to a round-table discussion, asking us what we would like to see more and less of in the magazine.
On the whole, it was rather interesting. The real treat was that each participant was given a free cookbook. As it happened, I and a couple of others politely commented that we might not use this one very much, so we were given the option of choosing another from their selection. I thought that was a nice touch.
The people over there seem very committed to what they do, and it shows in the magazines. I hope that both magazines will continue to be successful, as they capture very different moods - C.I. can be very clinical, while C.C. is more laid-back and friendly. But they both have great recipes!