Welcome to Gather Journal, a bi-annual recipe-driven food magazine devoted not just to cooking and eating, but to what those acts inspire: the bringing of people together. You will find lushly imagined images from some of the country’s most esteemed food photographers and fun, insightful writing. Each issue is divided into chapters, much like a meal—amuse bouches, starters, mains, and desserts—along with regular special features, from studied examinations of ingredients to whimsical essays about memorable eating experiences. A theme will drive every edition of the magazine; for the F/W 2013 issue, that theme is “traces”. It is word with a multitude of meanings: they are memories, an indication of the tiniest amount, evidence of something that once existed. You will find recipes that have traces of family history, having been carefully shepherded through generations, recipes with elegant visual traces, and recipes that leave traces of their own presence behind. Here’s to our F/W issue leaving its own indelible trace in your kitchen and making a meal to remember.