The latest trendy food and lifestyle magazines, ubiquitous in urban havens of cool college towns and wealthy suburbs, are driven by a desire to exist outside the mainstream food world and all that goes with it — fads, corporate tie-ins, and celebrity chefs.

The look of these publications varies, but each is meticulously art directed, printed on heavy matte paper, and styled to look as unstyled as possible. Publications such as Kinfolk, Gather Journal, and Diner Journal, which are largely ad-free, are not news-based, but rather seasonal. Their ambition is for a longer shelf life than regular monthlies (the high prices reflect this), to be kept around with treasured cookbooks.