Mouthfeel is a brand new zinecombining food and gay culture

Taking a completely fresh approach to the topic of food, the new zine Mouthfeel tells the story of food from a gay perspective and throws in a punk ethos in the process. With features, poems, pictures, recipes and plenty of male eye candy, the zine wants to be an alternative to the traditional foodie publication, and alternative it is.

"The magazine delivers on a few levels," explains editor, Mac Malikowski.  "It's very beautiful to look at. In addition to some pretty titillating content that the gays will enjoy, foodies get original recipes and some food-based culture writing, and art-heads can navigate to the Plates section, a place for full page, original food art with some sexy twists."

For its first issue, Mouthfeel profiles former Top Chef Tyler Boring and owner of NYC's BAKED, Renato Poliafito, and features an in-depth piece on Berlin-based currywurst stand Fritz and Co.

Visually, Mouthfeel’s guided by a bright pop design from Mother Design, and packaged in two double-sided posters, exclusive recipe cards, and four punk-style lapel pins. The concept gets most literal in one section in which classic images of prepackaged food is overlaid on vintage gay pornography.

According to Malikowski, Mouthfeel is for people “with unrestrained appetites for food, men, music and humour.”  It’s definitely an unusual approach but not the first time the idea of cooking has undergone a rebranding (Cookbook analysed artists through the lens of food). In any case, Mouthfeel is proving that a culinary magazine doesn’t need to mean Good Housekeeping; food can be fresh, challenging and stimulating too.