The look of these publications varies, but each is meticulously art directed, printed on heavy matte paper, and styled to look as unstyled as possible. Publications such as Kinfolk, Gather Journal, and Diner Journal, which are largely ad-free, are not news-based, but rather seasonal. Their ambition is for a longer shelf life than regular monthlies (the high prices reflect this), to be kept around with treasured cookbooks.

Take the last issue of Kinfolk, a minimalist quarterly from Portland, Ore., filled with photos of indoor and outdoor picnics, food-splattered aprons, cast iron pots on the cookstove, lavender and chamomile drying in the barn, and hands kneading bread — a dream come true for the hipster outdoorsman.

Or Gather Journal, from Brooklyn, N.Y., slicker and more urban than Kinfolk, targeting food nerds and culinary thrill seekers with high concept stories like “Smoke & Ash,” complete with recipes for roasted tomatoes with ash cheese, a hazy whiskey cocktail (rye, cloves, cinnamon, B & B liqueur, orange rind, Angostura Bitters), smoky black lentils and radicchio, a charred poblano and chipotle soup garnished with creme fraiche and toasted pumpkin seeds, and tarte Tatin.

Everyone seems to want to get in on this culinary reality. Even Bon Appetit, the aging stalwart, has been reimagined as a trend chaser with a particular affinity for the authentic and do-it-yourself.

Part of their appeal is the way they celebrate ordinary people. Gather, published twice a year by Fiorella Valdesolo and Michele Outland, editor and art director, respectively, strives to be relevant to the mainstream but inclusive of the fringe. Valdesolo and Outland met working at the pop culture and fashion magazine Nylon, so they’re focused on the look as much as they are on cooking.

The magazine, which recently published its second issue, costs about $20 and cultivates an edgy, conceptual, high-art style often shot by fashion photographers. “Fashion people respond to what we do,” says Valdesolo. “We set things up, but in the end, the way that we shoot our stories is a reaction against all of that perfect stuff where even the drips and crumbs look stylized.”

Kinfolk has been out since July 2011, and recently ran a story on a surfing sojourn along California’s Lost Coast, and a guide to the fall pantry (beeswax candles, quince, farro) by “101 Cookbooks” blogger and author Heidi Swanson. Issues cost $18.

“We started Kinfolk because we felt that no publication resonated with us,” says 26-year-old publisher Nathan Williams from his office in Portland. “We would not have picked up Martha Stewart for ideas on how to entertain. We have our own style but it is nothing innovative or new. Actually, we are usually looking back and putting a slight twist on the classics.

“We want it to be slow and comfortable,” says Williams. “There is a lot of white space, nothing is cluttered or competing for attention. We hope the reader flips through and feels relaxed.”

The 6-year-old Diner Journal has a similar affect, this one grounded in the restaurant community. The journal is published three or four times a year by Andrew Tarlow, the Brooklyn restaurateur behind Reynard, Marlow & Sons, Roman’s, and Diner. “The culture of the restaurant informs the journal,” says editor Anna Dunn, 32, a poet and former bartender and barista in Tarlow’s restaurants.

“People work here to make a living, but they all do something else as well. They are artists, they write, they paint, they dance. Restaurants on the surface don’t feel like meaningful places to work, but if the place has a life of its own, then it can transcend just cooking and serving food.”

Dunn says that in the beginning they wanted to do a cookbook but did not have the money or time so did a journal instead. “Food is the key component. There are still recipes, but now more poetry, prose, and art.”

A Diner Journal subscription of four issues costs $50; each comes with a three-hole punch so you can slip it into a binder. It’s lavishly illustrated, full of whimsical stories, snapshots of road food, communal meals, and recipes like grilled sardines and eggplant with bone marrow agrodolce, spit-roasted lamb, and stone-fruit panzanella.