It was very sad news for me (and the food loving community of Perth) when recently Spice Magazine announced that it had printed it’s last issue in Winter of 2011.
I’ve been a contributor to SPICE for the last 4 years. Since editor Anthony Georgeff decided that perhaps they might be able to make something out of my ramshackle scribblings. Since then I’ve been able to write articles on all manner of topics for SPICE including which types of pans you should choose for your kitchen, how to cut vegetables like a chef does, which iced coffee is least likely to make you heave, and espousing little paragraphed sized opinions on what’s good and not-so-good to eat in our fine city.
I love the magazine and what it stood for. The content was parochially West Australian and came from a place of deep sincerity. The front cover of each magazine always featured a person, rather than a fancy dish or some gratuitous food porn photo – reason being that it’s people who make the food industry keep running, and without the efforts of local farmers, chefs, baristas, restauranteurs, wine makers, and producers – we’d be much less better off.
I hope it’s not the last time we see SPICE. The magazine always tread the line between the commercial world and the food world with thoughtful dexterity (perhaps to their own detriment), and any other publications hoping to move into the void they have left open will have very big shoes to fill.
On a directly personal note, SPICE also had a hand to play in the direction of my life. If Anthony hadn’t found space for my article on local providore “Spanish Flavours” in Wembley two years ago, my future wife (who was working there at the time) would not have read it 2 months later and been prompted to (finally!) get in touch.
So thanks for the memories SPICE, and I hope we meet again in print, sometime soon.
Very sad, especially as Perth needs as much quality writing and talent as possible. A magazine like Spice helps unearth and nuture something that our city needs more of.
What a shame! Well I guess it is inevitable, with more people reading less newspapers and magazines and spending more time on the computer or in front of the TV…. :(