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Lin Peng

ENC 3351

Deborah Weaver

May 27, 2013

Award-winning culinary publications such as Saveur, Bon Appétit, and Chow all share a

common ground that enables them to gain and maintain its recognitions. Their award-winning

recognitions are often established through their rhetorical situations. Therefore, in this paper, we

will compare and contrast the rhetorical situations of these three publications: Saveur, Bon

Appétit, and Chow.

Every rhetorical situation starts out with a subject matter or a problem because without

the problem, the situation would not exist in the first place. Although, the subject matter of

Saveur, Bon Appétit, and Chow target the same problem—food, the three publications vary

differently in the motivation behind the discourse. The motivation behind Saveur is about the

experience of world food; the motivation behind Bon Appétit is about the food lifestyle; the

motivation behind Chow is about smart, local food and smart cooking. According to Saveur,

“The publication emphasizes heritage and tradition, home cooking and real food, evoking flavors

from around the world” (“Welcome to SAVEUR”). Therefore, the problem Saveur targets is

based upon the relationship between culinary and travel. In other word, Saveur fills in the gap

between the culinary world and the world of travelers, which may include heritage, tradition,

cultures, and environments in which different flavor of dishes are created. The publication style

of Saveur, including the delivery of information, level of lexis, the pictures and videos, and the

individual sections can be categorized as authentic, luxurious, or elegant. Yet, many of the same

style also apply to Bon Appétit: Classy, trendy, and elegant. However, the distinct feature that

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sets Bon Appétit apart from Saveur is that Bon Appétit is the only food lifestyle publication on

the market ("Bon Appétit | Condé Nast”). The problem Bon Appétit targets is, current and stylish

lifestyle through the lens of food from cooking in, dining out, culture, travel, entertainment,

shopping, and design (“Bon Appétit | Condé Nast”). Examples of life through the lens of food

from Bon Appétit may include cleansing diet, the Foodist blog, home entertaining tips, or trendy

buys. Although, Bon Appétit and Saveur offer the same category of “travel,” the category is

different in both publications. Bon Appétit offers a one-page travel guide with a segment of

favorite picks along with a small section of where to stay—while Saveur offers more than just a

travel guide in the chosen destination. In addition to where to eat, Saveur also offers culinary

articles regarding to the travel destination. This all relate back to the motivation of each

publication. The main, direct focus of Saveur is culinary-travel while the main, direct focus of

Bon Appétit is culinary-lifestyle. On the other side of the spectrum, Chow mainly targets smart

and easy food recipes, featuring entertaining videos, stories, and discussions about food and

cooking. Although, the style of the publication, itself is not the most classy, elegant, or luxurious,

Chow is the ideal discourse community for culinary amateurs to aspiring culinary connoisseurs.

The main motivation behind Chow is to allow the flow of information with its viewers, readers,

writers, and bloggers by providing a place, a community where similar minded people can

participate in the public discussion. As a result, Saveur, Bon Appétit, and Chow all have a

different motivational purpose behind their publication in order to fill in the “gap” to reach to

their viewers and readers. In the next paragraph, we will delve deeper into the influences of the

publication including the discourse community.

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The subject matter of Saveur, Bon Appétit, and Chow is the same, but each publication

consists of its own uniquely shaped discourse community. It is shaped both by the publication

and its viewers and readers or audience. To begin with, we will dissect the discourse community

individually by publication from the demographic of target audience to the values of the

audience. An audience demographic snapshot of the publication, Saveur, includes more females

(63%) than males (37%) with the median age of 48 (Cohen). The majority of Saveur’s audience

is passionate about travel, either engage in travel readings or the activity, itself. According to

Cohen, Saveur readers are 87% more likely to own a valid passport and 3 times as likely to have

travelled internationally, and 42% traveled domestically (Cohen). Based upon the statistics, it

can be concluded that Saveur’s major audience are self-sufficient, frequent travelers who are

passionate about the combination of travelling and food. On the other hand, the demographics of

Bon Appétit’s viewers and readers are also mostly females (73%) with the median age of 4; at

least 50% have graduated from college; 57% are employed full-time ("Bon Appétit Web Media

Kit”). Statistically, in comparison of Saveur and Bon Appétit, both are mostly targeted toward

self-sufficient or self-sustainable viewers/readers who have a full-time employment. In other

word, both are reserved for more upper-class or high-class audience. In contrast, Chow is open

for anyone who is interested in locally, homemade style food. The viewers and readers of Chow

have less high-class demands compared with Bon Appétit and Saveur. Evidently, the audience of

each publication shares a set of unique demographic background and values, which in turn

shapes the discourse community. The last paragraph will briefly analyze the discourse

community of each publication.

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The viewers and readers of Saveur, Bon Appétit, and Chow have come together in

forming a type of discourse community created by each publication. The discourse community of

each publication is separated by the values the viewers, readers, bloggers, and writers hold in

sharing a common goal. Saveur emphasizes different cultural cooking and food from worldwide

from America to Europe to Asia; Bon Appétit focuses on trendy and stylish food locally and

worldly; Chow focuses on viewers and readers discussions of mostly local or homemade food. In

turn, the values each publication holds also indicate their holistic goals between the relationships

with their target audience.

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Works Cited

"Bon Appétit | Condé Nast." Condé Nast. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 May 2013.

<http://www.condenast.com/brands/bon-appetit>.

"Bon Appétit Web Media Kit." Condé Nast. Condé Nast, n.d. Web. 27 May 2013.

<http://www.condenast.com/brands/bon-appetit/media-kit/web>.

<INPUT TYPE=\Cohen, Kristin. Saveur 2013 Advertising Media Kit. Saveur, n.d. Web.

27 May 2013.

<http://travel.bonniercorp.com/SAV/1.GeneralResources/MediaKit_SAV_13.pdf

>.

"Welcome to SAVEUR." SAVEUR. BONNIER Coporation, 22 Apr. 2011. Web. 27 May

2013. <http://www.saveur.com/article/kitchen/about-SAVEUR>.