Did You Know That Hugh Hefner Launched Food And Wine?

While the bunnies mourn the loss of Hugh Hefner, who died yesterday at the age of 91, here is a story about the Playboy magnate that you might not know. In a story published by Food and Wine yesterday, they revealed that Hefner introduced the world to the magazine in March of 1978.

Food and Wine launched as a supplement of Playboy when the founders convinced Hefner that there was a market for epicurians. According to founder, Ariane Batterberry, it took “seven years” to raise enough money for launch. “Americans would never be interested in food,” the finance community told them, so the group set out to cobble together a patchwork of backers—Playboy was one of them.

Batterberry distinctly remembers working with Hefner, whom she says “was wonderful to work with. He was really an editor, he really loved the editorial. And he respected that it was our magazine and left us alone—he really liked Food & Wine.”

So, Hefner was directly behind the success of, arguably, one of the most well-known food magazines of our time. You learn something new every day!