Gilt Taste launches for luxury artisan foods

Gilt brings top talent to its new food category

Nothing is quite as gratifying as snootily telling someone that you only eat kobe beef imported directly from Japan, and that you hire a specially trained chef to season and cook it to perfection so as to preserve the unique, delicate flavor. I wouldn’t know how it feels, but I can imagine that it would be very gratifying. So for that person who can do that—there’s now Gilt Taste, which launched in beta today as the artisan food branch of Gilt Groupe, and it is so much more awesome than I had imagined.

To begin with, the site is not for the food-faint of heart. Gilt is a luxury site, after all, and the items on Gilt Taste are no exception (Gilt is also a flash sales site, but that isn’t the case for Gilt Taste). Items range from a 12-ounce package of mixed specialty mushrooms (cleaned and prepped) for $19, to two tenderloin filets for $200. Everything you can imagine serving at a fancy dinner party while saying “this was overnighted from Boston on the day of harvest…” with your eyes closed is on Gilt Taste.

Food categories include meat, seafood, cheese and dairy, sweets, pantry (spices and grains), produce, sweets, and equipment. And the site doesn’t stop at food; it also includes gourmet recipes, such as one for salt and sugar-cured asparagus, poached in butter (oh my God), as well as articles on everything from new food ideas to environmental issues affecting food.

And Gilt brings top talent to its new category. Ruth Reichl, former Editor-in-Chief of Gourmet Magazine and restaurant critic for the New York Times, is serving as the site’s Editorial Advisor. And Melissa Clark, author of 32 cookbooks and author of the “A Good Appetite” Dining & Wine column for the New York Times, will be crafting all of the recipes for Gilt Taste.

“What makes Gilt Taste unique is that it's a new kind of magazine, one that has no ads and is supported solely by sales,” said Reichl on the site. “We don't just want to sell you great products—we want to tell you the stories of the people who create them and inspire you with delicious new ways to use them.”

On Monday another artisan food site, Trisse, also launched in beta. But where Gilt offers a wide array of luxury food items at top-knotch prices, Trisse offers a smaller (for now) selection of local, handcrafted, and homemade foods from small businesses and farms at a discount.

Image source: GiltTaste.com