Press Releases
Introducing TASTE
An Online Magazine for Today's Home Cook Launches
ACCOMPLISHED JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR MATT RODBARD TO LEAD WEBSITE AS EDITOR IN CHIEF
(February 7, 2017, New York, NY) — TASTE (tastecooking.com), an online food magazine publishing unique and original editorial content focusing on the world of home cooking, launches today. TASTE will explore the influences, ideas, and inspiration that enrich the experience of cooking at home through feature articles, approachable recipes, and stories.
An independent publication launched in partnership with the Crown Publishing Group, TASTE will feature writing, photography, and illustrations from a diverse pool of talent—from the universe of professional cooking, food journalism, and beyond. Matt Rodbard will direct TASTE’s editorial vision, strategy, and content development as Editor in Chief. Rodbard is a former executive editor of Food Republic, a publication he helped launch and publish from 2011 to 2015. His writing has been published in the Wall Street Journal, Bon Appétit, Saveur, Travel & Leisure, GQ, Lucky Peach, Vice Munchies, and Fodor’s. He is also the co-author of the New York Times bestselling book Koreatown: A Cookbook (Clarkson Potter, 2016).
Contributing editors to TASTE include Rachel Khong, former executive editor of Lucky Peach, and J. Ryan Stradal, New York Times bestselling author of Kitchens of the Great Midwest. Web and brand development—in collaboration with Boston-based creative studio Upstatement, LLC—and direct-to-consumer marketing strategies are spearheaded by the Community Development team at Crown, led by Kate Rados, Vice President, Director, Community Development.
“America is a diverse place, and people of all backgrounds are cooking from a wide range of cultures,” said Rodbard. “Fish sauce, za’atar, chipotle, ’nduja, Chinese black vinegar, pomegranate molasses, kimchi—these are some of the new ingredients that are found in the modern American pantry, and TASTE will publish stories that clarify and celebrate this exciting evolution.”
Like PUNCH, the James Beard Award–winning online drinks and culture magazine recognized for its rich narrative journalism and developed in partnership with Crown Publishing’s Ten Speed Press imprint, TASTE will bring depth and distinction to its coverage of food and cooking. The editorial vision for TASTE will focus on stories reported from around the world (“During Denmark’s Dark and Hungry Winter, Hygge Is More Than a Comfy Sweater”); the ritual of home cooking (“The Art of Malaysian Meat on a Stick”); trends in cooking (“Fast Is the New Slow: Instant Pots Are Changing the Way We Cook”); and food culture (“Cold Fried Chicken in the 2 Broke Girls Writers’ Room”), as well as profiles on authors, chefs, home cooks, and more.
Lorena Jones, a widely respected lifestyle editor and publisher specializing in cookbooks, oversees both TASTE and PUNCH. She is Vice President, Ten Speed Press, and Publisher of her eponymous new imprint with them, Lorena Jones Books. “Under Matt Rodbard’s direction, TASTE will offer a new dimension—and increased access to talent—for all who consider cooking at home an essential part of their lifestyle,” she said.
While TASTE is a new brand, the launch of the publication signifies a transition from Tastebook—a popular online community spearheaded by the Crown Publishing Group that cultivated an engaged readership of home cooks and cookbook lovers. At the time of launch, TASTE will have an established audience: close to 1 million email newsletter subscriptions and 235,000 followers across social media.
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The Crown Publishing Group is a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. Penguin Random House (http://global.penguinrandomhouse.com/) is the world’s most global trade book publisher. It was formed on July 1, 2013, upon the completion of an agreement between Bertelsmann and Pearson to merge their respective trade publishing companies, Random House and Penguin, with the parent companies owning 53% and 47%, respectively. Penguin Random House comprises the adult and children’s fiction and nonfiction print and digital trade book publishing businesses of Penguin and Random House in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa, and Penguin’s trade publishing activity in Asia and Brazil; DK worldwide; and Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial’s Spanish-language companies in Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, and Chile. Penguin Random House employs more than 10,000 people globally across almost 250 editorially and creatively independent imprints and publishing houses that collectively publish more than 15,000 new titles annually. Its publishing lists include more than 60 Nobel Prize laureates and hundreds of the world’s most widely read authors.