Chowhound
American food and cuisine website
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chowhound (or chowhound.com) is an American based food website launched in 1997. It changed ownership in 2006 and 2020, with its third owner suspending the website in March 2022. In October 2023, Static Media purchased the operation, reactivating the website in November 2023.
| Type of business | Privately owned |
|---|---|
Type of site | Online food community |
| Founded | 1997 |
| Dissolved | March 28, 2022 |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Owner | Jim Leff and Bob Okumura (1997-2006) CNET Networks (2006-2020) Red Ventures (2020-2023, suspended Chowhound operations 2022) Static Media (October 2023–present, revived Chowhound website in November 2023) |
| Founder(s) | Jim Leff and Bob Okumura |
| Industry | Food and drink |
| URL | www |
History
Chowhound was a popular online food community founded by jazz trombonist[1] and food writer[2] Jim Leff and Bob Okumura in 1997, known for its user base of food fanatics. Chowhound was formed in a very different cultural era, before Americans had a mainstream interest in seeking out regional delicacies and local favorites. As such, Chowhound served a very particular user base that was seeking delicious, regional and hard to find foods outside of the mainstream culture. It had an early influence in steering America's influence towards regional delicacies, as the future trailblazing food critics Jonathan Gold and Robert Sietsema were early contributors. In 2006, Leff and Okumura sold the site to CNET Networks,[3] which redesigned it and merged it with CHOW magazine, keeping its forums, grouped by locale, and dropping chowhound.com in favour of the magazine's chow.com domain. After CNET was merged into CBS Interactive in 2008, the original chowhound.com domain was restored and CHOW was eliminated. The website was bought by Red Ventures, in 2020.[4][5]
In March, 2022, Red Ventures announced the site would close after 25 years online.[6] Its closure was covered by the New York Times,[7] among other media.
In October 2023, the Chowhound website was put back online, with it now being under the ownership of Static Media. The chowhound.com website was revived; as of November 2024[update], the chow.com domain – still held onto by Red Ventures and passed along to Static Media in the sale – was redirected to Static Media's foodie.com website.
Book series
Penguin USA published two Chowhound restaurant guides, The Chowhound's Guide to the San Francisco Bay Area, and The Chowhound's Guide to the New York Tristate Area.[8]