One Woman's Quest to Save Gourmet, Tweet by Tweet

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Could it spark a movement like Slow Food?

On Monday morning, when news of Gourmet magazine's demise surged through tiers of media like a lobster thrashing in a pot of boiling court bouillon, Sachs took action: She opened a Twitter account titled SaveGourmet. A 15-year subscriber to America's iconic food and lifestyle magazine, Sachs is hoping that the force of social networking can - if not raise the Condé Nast publication from the soon-to-be dead - at least carry on what she sees as Gourmet's principles in some other form.

"I would love to be able to say I'm raising a whole bunch of money to buy it," Sachs -- a venture capitalist who lives in Brooklyn -- said. "What I am trying to do is see if there's a way to keep the fundamentals of what Gourmet stood for alive in some way, maybe start a movement like Slow Food." Since Monday, SaveGourmet has amassed more than 600 followers on Twitter. Sachs has also written about her quest on her blog, Chapter XVII. On Wednesday, a brief mention of SaveGourmet made it as far as the New York Times.

"Gourmet struck an amazing balance between the aspirational and the attainable," Sachs said. And despite her hope that vehicles like blogs and Twitter might be able to preserve the spirit of the magazine, Sachs said she'll miss Gourmet's authoritative voice. "The overall sense of what's going on in media content right now, everybody online has an opinion," Sachs said. "I think it's even more valuable to have trusted brands. Gourmet had tested recipes, things you could rely on."