Miami Herald 's INDULGE Magazine throws a party...but not everyone was invited

INDULGE Magazine, Feb. 2014. 

A Random Pixels reader has a beef with the Miami Herald's Sr. VP for Advertising & Marketing, Alexandra Villoch.

Villoch also happens to be the publisher of the Herald's outrageously decadent and fabulously beautiful magazine, INDULGE, a slick monthly publication aimed at a select group of the paper's readers who suffer from terminal "affluenza."

The magazine's media kit describes INDULGE as a "beautiful, glossy tabloid magazine featur[ing] in-depth local content with an emphasis on gracious South Florida living."

(Think of INDULGE as the Herald's fond tribute to segregated water fountains and simpler times at the Augusta National Golf Club.)

Here's the email I received this morning from a long-time Random Pixels reader. (I have the smartest readers!)

Here's a new Herald misstep that has me baffled. Their new INDULGE, that glossy lifestyle insert magazine, has a cover featuring five hot chefs.  

What's wrong with the picture? Not a woman in the lot, even though there are plenty to choose from.

This isn't just a wah-wah rant. Not sure if you followed it, but there was a recent well-publicized controversy about a TIME cover.

It stirred a lively discussion among foodies in social media – and what came out of it in South Florida was that while women chefs are still under-represented, we really have plenty of excellent ones here: Nina Compton (Scarpetta) (tonight one of two competing for Top Chef Finalist); Micah Edelstein of NeMesis gets national accolades for her original and spirited cuisine; Julie Frans at Essensia is one of our best farm-to-table chefs in town; Paula da Silva is another; others include Dena Marino and Adrianne Calvo... well, you get the picture. 

Click here to enlarge.

Except the Herald doesn't. When I see this INDULGE cover showing the usual (male) suspects, I have to wonder if the writer, editor and publisher are totally oblivious to what's going on in the local food scene and to the recent TIME cover controversy and the subsequent discussion. Or they're just lazy. Or all of the above.

Alexandra Villoch is publisher and she crows about the success of this particular publication. In her letter in this issue, she speaks of celebrating local diversity in the food scene. Shame on her for squandering an opportunity to show that off on their custom shot cover.

[This] irks me personally when our hometown media group keeps looking like the gang that couldn't shoot straight.