Yesterday everyone’s favourite food and culture journal unveiled twin covers for its latest issue. In a surreal collaboration between photographer Jenny van Sommers and set designer Rachel Thomas, the ketchup-themed covers (and back covers) for issue six of The Gourmand are taken from a feature paying homage to the humble but ever versatile condiment. “I would love to tell you that it was a calculated strategy but in fact it was a bit more organic,” said co-founder and creative director David Lane of the publication’s first ever dual covers. They simply couldn’t decide between the oversized chip smothered in PVC ketchup and the floating hamburger sandwiched between two cloches, and luckily “they are ideally suited for a split cover.”

As is to be expected, the new issue of The Gourmand is brimming with the good stuff. With a particularly North American tang, in the latest offering from the epicurean biannual readers will find everything from an essay on John Cage’s lifelong obsession with mushrooms, a short piece on Yoko Ono’s food instruction pieces and Black Panther founder Bobby Seale’s BBQ bill of rights, to a home visit with legendary food writer Claudia Roden. “As always,” David said, “we met some incredible people, collaborated with some great artists, ate a lot of very good food and drank too much.”

The Gourmand issue six is available to preorder now.

In case you missed it, earlier this year we asked David to talk us through his top five books here.

And here, David talks to The Stack about the new issue: