Following an exodus of video talent, Bon Appétit has since hired a Black editor and diverse cadre of new chefs. In June, Bon Appétit editor Adam Rappaport resigned amid backlash about inclusivity and pay disparities in the magazine’s high-profile Test Kitchen video series.

The inequality and lack of diversity in the media business broadly - and in food media specifically - has become a central topic. (Cooking is included in Times print subscriptions and “all access” digital plans).Īt the same time, a cultural reckoning on race following the killing of George Floyd last May has forced the Times, and NYT Cooking, to confront its shortcomings. During the first six months of the year, the Times brought in $24.1 million in revenue to its standalone subscription products, which includes Cooking, Crossword, and audio products, compared to $15.7 million during the same period last year. Monthly uniques to Cooking have surged 66% from the same time last year. The NYT Cooking newsletter (produced four times a week with a fifth of roundup recipes) has 4 million subscribers and is the second most popular newsletter at the paper. While many media operations are flailing, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has been a boom time for the six-year-old NYT Cooking, a key part of the Times’ overall strategy to grow its subscriber base, expand its product offering beyond news, and diversify its revenue streams. It’s human nature to want to nest and make delicious things when the news outside is frightful.”

“When life is difficult, when the news is bad, when terrible things happen, our numbers go up,” said Sam Sifton, the founding editor of NYT Cooking and an assisting managing editor at the Times.

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