If you are in the industry and like to keep up with what is going on then "Food Arts" is the best, even if you have to pay for it. Though I find Art Culinaire a beautiful book/magazine with some great ideas, I don't think it is worth the price you pay for it, and though I do glean some ideas from it, I find it lacks in any substantive information. I have come to dislike Gourmet, in recent years. It seems they are turning away, more and more, from being a food magazine, to being a travel magazine, though I do still find some great things in there. Cook's Illustrated is a good magazine and they really go in depth on some issues, and I like the fact they they don't have tons of advertisments like most other magazines. But something about that magazine seems to be lacking. Im not sure what it is, and of course, that is a personal opinion. That leaves Food & Wine and Bon Apetite, which are the mainstream food magazines out there. Between the 2 I prefer Bon Apetite. Again, just a personal preferance. Of course there are all those other healthy cooking magazines out there, which I really cant discuss, as I don't read them on a regular basis.