It’s the ‘Last Picture Show’ for SA’s most scrumptious food magazine

A cornerstone of South African food culture — a world-class print magazine with exceptional food styling and breathtaking photography so gorgeous that readers were not only encouraged to prepare the recipes, but to devour the images — has just died and been redefined for a new era that is all about “the socials”.

Woolworths TASTE magazine has announced its final bi-monthly print run as it embraces a digital-first future. It’s a sad day for food media and print because for 21 years, TASTE set the benchmark for other food magazines to emulate.

In a media announcement, the bi-monthly magazine said it has just marked a new milestone in June, which saw 1,175,000 consumers across all its channels reaching a total of 11,858,000 clicks (which is up 25% on the previous month).

Such a loyal and committed readership would be the envy of any publication, although Kate Wilson, the editor-in-chief, explained that most of its recent success has been driven by digital, not print, even though it had decent sales. “This shift is not because of reduced demand for the content but rather the converse – the change in strategy allows us to dramatically increase the reach of TASTE content and allows Woolies to connect with even more customers through this content. This is not to say that we won’t do special editions of TASTE magazine in future to support key special occasions.”

‘Growing exponentially’

Brent Smith, head of brand communications for New Media, TASTE’s publisher, confirmed that TASTE had been growing exponentially and the magazine was doing well. “It has had an excellent sell-through rate but the audience was pretty small compared to digital,” he said.

Woolworths was heavily invested in TASTE, and was retaining the entire team, although the new digital-first strategy would be focusing on social media, in particular Instagram, Facebook, and TASTE Tube (its YouTube channel), as it expanded the volume and frequency of content across all channels.

The website will now become the home for all TASTE content in addition to the core recipe content. Writing and quality content remains at the heart of their future plan, Wilson added.

With the increase in the volume and frequency of TASTE content that they are producing, they are not only retaining the full content team but will also be recruiting for additional key specialist roles, she said. “Our team is growing.”

In her final editor’s letter titled “The last picture show”, Wilson explained that TASTE was the product of a “visionary client, Woolworths, and a creative powerhouse, New Media”, who wanted to create the best food magazine in the world.

“And they did. It will always be a triumph.”

Wilson, who joined TASTE in 2015, said she believed TASTE was teaching a whole new generation of South Africans how to cook.

“That doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for food in print. We are not done yet… but yes, this is officially the final issue of TASTE as we know it.”

The final print edition, a collector’s item, is now available at all Woolworths stores. This July/August issue is a love letter to two decades of culinary inspiration, featuring handwritten messages from chefs and sommeliers, with a dedicated section celebrating recipe developers, stylists, photographers, art directors, food writers and video hosts who helped bring TASTE to life.

Nostalgic tribute

Behind the nostalgic tribute was a deep dive through 20 years of back issues to honour as many contributors as possible.

The result is a delicious meditation on food, excellence and deliciousness, described by restaurant industry media consultant Ian Manley as a magazine so gorgeous that he’d want to rip out a page and lick it in a quiet corner.

Manley, a respected publicist and hospitality expert who leads Manley Communications with his wife, Lise, has worked extensively with TASTE’s teams over the years.

He said that since the early days of TASTE, from Sumien Brink’s days (Wilson’s predecessor) they would work with food director Abigail Donnelly, renowned photographer Jan Ras, and exceptional writers on press trips. 

“Abigail, from a styling perspective, is world class. She certainly played a strong role in the visual elements of the magazine. Kate is a strong writer, director and leader.”

Manley said he still believed there was space for the magazine, but it was a sad day for print, specifically for a magazine in the lifestyle-food space.

Food writer, photographer and restaurateur, Russell Wasserfall, said the switch to digital was inevitable. Responding on the Cape Town Eats group on Facebook, he noted that magazines have been closing or moving online for well over a decade. 

“Scrabbling for advertisers and circulation in an indifferent digital landscape is hard, even with a big retailer backing you. The consequence of the squeeze for those who tried to hang on, has been the homogenisation and dumbing-down of content in an effort to please all comers.”

Wasserfall, who worked “a lot” for TASTE in the mid-to-late 2000s with a few contributions in the 2010s, said he had always loved how it actively introduced South Africans to new flavours, methods and ingredients (as a mouthpiece for Woolworths Food).

“Hopefully a digital version will save money on print that can be spent on more investigative and deep-dive-research content about food and food culture. (As an aside, I’m so happy to see Saveur coming out with a print version again — great magazines can survive!)”.

Vicki Sleet, who contributed many articles for Woolies TASTE in the early days, said her favourite pieces to research and write were always the makers: The farmers, the innovators and the people pouring their souls into their passion for great produce and products. “Will definitely miss my print version but fully embrace the convenience of the move to digital.” 

‘Not happy with move to digital’

Pippa Hudson said she probably didn’t miss a single copy since it launched. “And while I understand the shift to digital, I’m really sad. The printed copy has always been a treat just for myself; a signal to grab a cup of tea and take a breather on the couch while paging through the mag, marking recipes I want to try and restaurants I hope to visit and dreaming of all the foodie destinations I need to still get to. It was a treasured break AWAY from the digital clutter of the rest of my life.

“I don’t see myself reading it with as much relish on an iPad. (Plus — the existing website is so temperamental; half the time it doesn’t want to let me log in, so I go there to respond to something in their email newsletter, only to give up without ever finding it. I hope they’re doing a complete site rebuild to accommodate the new version.)

Ingrid Askeland van Ryswyck commented that she had more than 100 SA food magazines at home, which she bought over years. “They never date. I am not happy about the move to digital.”

Ben Lewis, on the same thread, said the magazine was awesome.

“I have a fair few recipes tucked away in the fav’ drawer from over the years. Best one still to date is the braai cos lettuce. Love freaking out my South African family when the foreigner starts throwing salad on the flames. Equally confused, repulsed and intrigued… until they try it. Winner, winner!”

Gail Jennings said while she loved the print mag, and although she understood digital media, it wouldn’t be the same as print. “Paging through recipe books or mags is such a joy, and phone-scrolling, not so... Using digital recipes is also a pain.”

Woolworths has said that it remains fully committed to TASTE and will increase its investment in its digital strategy, which besides retaining talent means expanding the volume and frequency of content across all channels. Effectively, this means TASTE will become the editorial voice of Woolworths Foods online. 

Elizka Ferreira, head of foods marketing at Woolworths, told Daily Maverick that moving away from print was about unlocking capacity, not only to increase but improve and refine the content on digital. “Digital has to be the primary focus so that it gets stronger. We already made ‘the best food magazine in the world’ – now we need to create the best digital content in the world, as that’s where the majority of our audience is.” DM

 

Daily Maverick’s journalism is funded by the contributions of our Maverick Insider members. If you appreciate our work, then join our membership community. Defending Democracy is an everyday effort. Be part of it. Become a Maverick Insider.