Food Is Life

The Atlantic has always been a general interest magazine. That's in its DNA. It's in the DNA of TheAtlantic.com, too. We're inclusive and wide-ranging and forever curious.

And so today the Food channel expands into the Life channel, opening to feature many of the subjects the magazine has always considered an essential part of its purview: health and well-being, travel, design, and green, our category for sustainability—a theme that, subtly or overtly, will unite the enriched channel.

I'll miss the luxury of a channel just devoted to food, of course. What's more interesting to read and think about than growing, making, and eating food? Well, plenty—or let's say plenty that's almost as interesting. First and most important, food will continue to be an anchor. Most of our contributors will still be appearing, with the distinctive, authoritative voices that constantly delight me. We'll feature food pieces every day, with an emphasis as always on food policy and sustainability (and less on recipes). You'll see a number of our favorite writers get to write more about subjects that are already at the center of their expertise, including travel and design. I'll get to write about travel, too, long a happy part of my Atlantic duties—including a gala launch-week piece on recently rediscovering Rome through the eyes of my stepdaughter, Jess, who'd never been and was marking a milestone birthday.

Dan Fromson, whom I always refer to as our ace producer and who will be the Life editor, has proved himself even more ace at devising a set of regular features that give shape and focus to the site, with a new emphasis on photography that means there will be beauty and surprise every day. He's found an exciting introductory lineup of the kind of writers who have made us so proud of the Food channel—stylish, contrarian, celebratory, onto things before anybody else is. Life will be provocative, quirky, informative, and fun (as it should be!)—what we've had so much fun doing together on Food, only now with literally the globe to wander.

And now over to Dan, for a guided tour of the wonders in store. He's as much a lover of beer as I am of coffee (and he likes coffee a lot, too), so I'm sure he'll be pleased when I say he's come up with a very rich brew.