Lucky Peach editor Chris Ying at Good Food Month

What happens when you go from publishing cowboy to one of the most read food journals in the world? Chris Ying, editor-in-chief of Lucky Peach, is a walking lesson in balancing the fantastical and moderate.

"I live in a world that bridges terrifying and amazing. That's my house."

Ever put it all on black, risked it all, pushed the boat out even when the conditions are more than a little choppy? Talk to Chris Ying about it. General nerds will know him from his McSweeney's days. Hard-core food nerds are more likely to know him from his current gig as editor-in-chief of the world's most irreverent quarterly food journal. No idea who he is at all? Maybe it's time to get Lucky (Peach).

A joint project between Ying, New York-based food writer and restaurant critic Peter Meehan and Momofuku head honcho David Chang, it's the magazine famous for launching when everyone else was shutting up print shop. Their fearless approach to publishing saw articles that were so ahead of the curve, publications worldwide were ripping off their ideas years later. Want to see a photographic essay of Disney princesses reimagined as hotdogs? Compare the carbon emissions a home cooked meal produces alongside a million-course degustation at Noma? Find a guide to regionally specific barbecue throughout the US? Come to Lucky Peach.

Publishing anything is not without its risks. Publishing a quarterly journal illustrating DIY hot pockets and one man's experience acting as a male escort to pay for his fine dining addiction? Code red, for the unblooded. "When we first started making this magazine we were really only out to please ourselves," says Ying. "We weren't doing it to make a point, but we had this opportunity to make this magazine we really wanted to make. And because there was no weight of expectation, we could just do whatever we wanted and not care if anybody read it."

But they did want to. A lot. And often, it turns out. So all of a sudden, Ying had this product in his hands that people wanted to buy. And it changed things. "I think it's only responsible that you have some accountability to your readership," says Ying, who, until Lucky Peach, had never worked on a food magazine. Their entire business plan was written on the back of a napkin in a burger shop. Initially they'd planned a run of 20,000 copies, which seemed huge at the time. They ended up tripling this with three print runs and now sell around 100,000 copies a quarter. Ying says the amount of people who read or are aware of LP has quintupled since they launched.

"You can't just publish crazy things for the sake of alienating people. I approach everything from a pure writing, editing and design standpoint. I could look at things without the food lens. I think it was sort of the blueprint for Lucky Peach. Treat it as any other magazine that's not just a food magazine but speak with authority. And I think that's why it worked out for us." That, and the kind of loyalty they command industry wide. Names within the pages of LP such as Harold McGee, Anthony Bourdain and Fuschia Dunlop certainly help. And while they might have once flown by the seat of their pants a little more than they do these days, when it comes to the stories Ying and company tell, they still straddle the divide between smart and ridiculous with breeziness and alacrity. And it's kinda magic.

Chris Ying will be appearing at special events for Good Food Month in Sydney and Melbourne next week:

Sydney

How I Eat, October 25, 10am

Art Gallery of NSW, Art Gallery Rd, Sydney. October 25; 10am for a 10:15am seating.

Tickets: $35, sydneygoodfoodmonth2015-howieat.floktu.com/

Join us for a very special event with some of the brightest minds in the food biz. "How I Eat" will be a conversation about eaters and eating between Chris Ying (editor-in-chief, Lucky Peach), Jonathan Gold (LA Times critic and Pulitzer Prize winner) and Terry Durack (SMH chief critic) moderated by Myffy Rigby (Good Food Guides Editor, Good Food Month Creative Director). Afterward, we will host the Sydney premiere screening of Jonathan Gold's documentary, City of Gold. $35 general admission. The Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Month presented by Citi runs October 1-31,sydney.goodfoodmonth.com.

Melbourne

Future of Food, October 30, 6pm

Immigration Museum, 400 Flinders Street, Melbourne, October 30; 6pm–8pm, $25 includes complimentary beer and wine.

Tickets: $25 including drinks, https://theagegoodfoodmonth2015.floktu.com/register

If you like Q and A and eating, this is the event for you. Join Chris Ying, editor-in-chief of Lucky Peach magazine, Pulitzer prize-winning food writer Jonathan Gold and top Australian chef Ben Shewry, owner of Attica, as they hash out the big questions of the food world, like 'is the internet ruining restaurants?" and "what's does a taco of the future taste like?' BYO questions, we'll bring the beers.