Ruth Reichl Was Very Hopeful on Saturday, Stunned Today

The Gourmet fallout continues to continue, as it likely will throughout the week and beyond. Of special note is the role and fate of Ruth Reichl, the face of Gourmet and its editor-in-chief. From the moment of her "stunned, sad" Twitter update earlier today, all indications are that Reichl was just as blindsided as the rest of the Gourmet staffers, all 180 of which are packing up ASAP. The prospect that Reichl wouldn't be given any warnings is, in itself, shocking.

Perhaps most heart-wrenching of all, as pointed out by Russ Parson of the LA Times, was Reichl's newfound optimism in a radio interview just this past Saturday. Said Reichl on KPCC-FM two days ago:

"I have to say that in the last week it felt like the recession ended. I mean, suddenly, our advertising picture literally in the last week changed really dramatically and ads started flooding in. It's really very exciting."