Let’s be honest. From the beginning, Lucky Peach was a
glorified ‘zine.
…A GLORIFIED ‘ZINE!
Imagine if someone dedicated their lives to publishing an
elaborate ‘zine1 about your favorite topic2 and somehow kept
doing it for years. And then they had to stop.3 People: let’s pause for
a second from our preoccupation with the crumbling of American democracy and
give this thing a proper send-off.4
(1) It was much more than a ‘zine of course. It was often a
dissertation, a biopic, a graphic novella, a great cookbook, and inside
baseball all wrapped in one package that was delivered to your doorstep for the
cost of a pizza. It was Andy Kaufman-esque meta-food writing, exuberantly unfolding
in long-form irrationality and dirty napkins.
(2) And it wasn’t just writing about food, but rather, Food.
Of course I’m biased as someone who works in food, who’s written about food and
who eats food (not to mention knowing several people who worked on Lucky
Peach). But let’s put that aside for a second. I can’t think of a genre that
needed to be 
(3) Since I know people who worked at Lucky Peach, I want to
give them a shout out for being so dedicated. It never had to be so detailed and robust and creative, but
the extent of that, the sheer length even, is testament to how much they care(d)
and how much they gave. I don’t know what happened behind the scenes, but I
hope everyone can all stay friends.
(4) Okay so having gotten through some of my own commentary,
I want to propose a proper sendoff. Let’s share our memories, GIFs, photos,
essays, karaoke tributes
or (your own ‘zine?) in honor of the #LPeffect. What did Lucky Peach mean to you.
Let’s have the eulogies before the funeral so we can go out on a high note.
