A strawberry and rhubarb pie that Fecks and Wagtouicz baked off a recipe from a back issue of Gourmet magazine. ©2012 Vimeo, LLC.NEW YORK, June 11 — Two photographers and fans of the now-defunct food magazine Gourmet have pledged to cook their way through every issue of the publication — a project that will take them 15 years.

In a blatant riff on blogger Julie Powell, who famously cooked her way through Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, New York photographers Noah Fecks and Paul Wagtouicz have embarked on a similar project, this time taking on their favourite food magazine and documenting their journey in a photo blog on Tumblr.

The Way We Ate is as much an ode to the magazine as it is a historical look at American food habits and trends over the years.

The first issue of Gourmet was published in 1941. It folded in 2009, under the ownership of Condé Nast. Since Fecks and Wagtouicz launched their project in 2011, they have been recreating two to five recipes from each issue and uploading photos alongside some of the ads that appeared in the magazine at the time.

With 815 issues to cook through, that translates to a 15-year commitment.

More than a year into the project, Fecks and Wagtouicz have made good on their word so far. They have recreated retro classics such as Hungarian chicken paprika with sour cream and dumplings circa 1948, and a shrimp creole in rice ring from 1988. — Relaxnews