Bon Appetit Magazine

Knapp Communications owner Cleon T. Knapp said Monday that he plans to sell his two premier magazines, Architectural Digest and Bon Appetit. Knapp, 55, whose family founded Architectural Digest in 1920 and acquired Bon Appetit in 1965, said he wanted to pursue "new challenges and opportunities." The Los Angeles-based magazines had combined revenue of about $90 million for the fiscal year ended last January. Architectural Digest has a circulation of 647,000 and Bon Appetit 1.26 million.

BON Appetit is 50 years old, and Barbara Fairchild, the magazine's editor in chief, is celebrating. She'll be playing hostess this weekend at a splashy series of events called the Bon Appetit Culinary and Wine Focus Beverly Hills.

Los Angeles-based Knapp Communications on Tuesday sold Architectural Digest and Bon Appetit magazines to Conde Nast Publications, owners of Vanity Fair and the New Yorker. Knapp and Conde Nast declined to reveal the selling price, but publishing industry sources said it was about $175 million. Conde Nast beat out three other bidders. Privately owned Knapp Communications put the two magazines on the market last November, after owner Cleon T.

Los Angeles-based Knapp Communications on Tuesday sold Architectural Digest and Bon Appetit magazines to Conde Nast Publications, owners of Vanity Fair and the New Yorker. Knapp and Conde Nast declined to reveal the selling price, but publishing industry sources said it was about $175 million. Conde Nast beat out three other bidders. Privately owned Knapp Communications put the two magazines on the market last November, after owner Cleon T.

BON Appetit is 50 years old, and Barbara Fairchild, the magazine's editor in chief, is celebrating. She'll be playing hostess this weekend at a splashy series of events called the Bon Appetit Culinary and Wine Focus Beverly Hills.

For more than 20 years, Kristine Kidd tasted what came her way as the food editor at Bon Appetit magazine. But she never felt great. "I had digestive issues my whole life," she says, but 2 1/2 years ago, the aching joints, bloating, fatigue and digestive problems became so severe she couldn't ignore the symptoms of celiac disease. She had already left her job and started doing some research, she says in the roomy, sunny kitchen of her hilltop home in Topanga Canyon. "I was so miserable.

Health experts estimate that as many as a third of us have some level of intolerance to gluten -- a protein found mostly in wheat. And gluten shows up in more than bread and cake -- foods you might not guess, such as sauces and herb mixes. On Thursday, at 11 a.m. Pacific time , we'll talk with Kristine Kidd, who has been gluten free for years and has written a cookbook called "Weeknight Gluten-Free. " She spent two decades as an editor at Bon Appetit magazine. We hope you will join us live, or if you can't, please listen to the archived conversation.

Rita Leinwand, 64, a widely known food and wine authority who was the first food editor of Bon Appetit magazine. A teacher of gourmet food preparation and wine appreciation, she held the Grande Diplome of Cordon Bleu, was a past president of the California Restaurant Writers Assn. and was a consultant to several wineries in the United States and Europe. On March 31 in Los Angeles, of lymphoma.

"A straight vodka martini is a cocktail with a hole in the middle." ["Flowering of Cool New Gins," July 12.] I couldn't agree more! I am so glad someone is giving this crazy vodka craze a slam. JANET MCCRACKEN Pacific Palisades McCracken is an associate food editor at Bon Appetit magazine. FROM a longtime food writer and bartender (starting at San Francisco Press Club in 1964), thank you for expressing so well what every gin purist should profess. And by the way, call any drink whatever you like, but if the spirits aren't flavored with juniper berries, don't call it a martini.

Knapp Communications owner Cleon T. Knapp said Monday that he plans to sell his two premier magazines, Architectural Digest and Bon Appetit. Knapp, 55, whose family founded Architectural Digest in 1920 and acquired Bon Appetit in 1965, said he wanted to pursue "new challenges and opportunities." The Los Angeles-based magazines had combined revenue of about $90 million for the fiscal year ended last January. Architectural Digest has a circulation of 647,000 and Bon Appetit 1.26 million.

I used to buy pizza stones regularly. All too regularly, in fact, as they inevitably seemed to shatter somewhere around the fifth or sixth use. So I switched to terra cotta floor tiles from Home Depot. They shattered, but they were cheap and easy to replace. But I figure nothing, no how, no way, is going to damage my newest pizza "stone. " It's a 15-pound, almost 1/2-inch-thick sheet of solid steel called, appropriately enough, Baking Steel . Andris Lagsdin is the inventor. He also happened to be a former pizza cook who worked for his family's Massachusetts-based steel company.

Shirley Slater, 67, who with her husband, Harry Basch, formed a popular travel writing team adept at evaluating cruise ships and recreational vehicles, died Friday in Los Angeles of complications of cancer and chemotherapy. The couple created a column called Cruise Views for The Times' Sunday travel section in 1984 and remained regular contributors to the newspaper for 18 years. Slater was also a food writer who contributed to Bon Appetit magazine.