Support Middlewest, A New Food Magazine With Chicago Roots

By Anthony Todd in Food on Dec 13, 2012 10:20PM

We're suckers for food magazines. So when we heard that Time Out Chicago Food Editor David Tamarkin, along with Associate Photo Editor Erica Gannett had started a Kickstarter campaign to support their new food magazine, Middlewest, we had to learn more.

Middlewest is going to be a new kind of food magazine. For starters, it's not bound - it's published as a collection of recipe cards. "What's unique about Middlewest—or at least what I hope is unique about it—is that it's deconstructed," explained Tamarkin. "So it's a magazine in a packet, that you can take apart and experience in pieces or use as a whole. The reason this makes sense for a cooking magazine is because it means that each page is its own recipe card."

We asked Tamarkin why the world needed yet another food publication. "Does the world need another food magazine? Personally, I wouldn't mind if there were more. But that's kind of a moot point when it comes to this project, because this is not a traditional magazine. This is not something to be read for a week, or a month, and then thrown away." Rather than news or restaurant reviews, the recipe cards can be kept, sorted, resorted, dog-eared and used over and over again. "Recipe cards mimic a lot of the best things about the internet," Tamarkin explains in the promotional video for Middlewest. "They're sharable, they're portable, if you put them in a box, they're easy to search."

This sounds like a great idea. Decent cooking-specific publications are actually kind of rare; most of them are also trying to be glossy lifestyle magazines. Cooks Illustrated, the most famous of the serious cooking mags, doesn't do beautiful food photography or compelling design. Middlewest promises both.

If you support the Kickstarter at the lowest level (other than $1) you will get a copy of the new publication when it is released. For $18, you get 11 double-sided cards. Based on the quality of Tamarkin and Gannett's work on a weekly basis, we can only imagine that you'll be getting what you pay for. Check out their introductory video to learn more about the inspiration behind the magazine.

[UPDATE]: Issue 1 is on sale now!