You’ll have to pardon us if we’re looking a bit bleary-eyed, but in the run-up to the launch of gourmet.com, nobody around here has gotten much sleep. Tired though we are, seeing this site come to life after a year of planning is exciting, rewarding … and a little scary.

Exciting because there’s nothing quite like watching the video we made in our test kitchen with Marco Pierre White actually playing on my computer, or having Fabio Trabocchi tell me about his favorite herb, right here. Exciting because when I dreamed up the idea of putting archival recipes on the site, I never quite imagined how much fun it would be to type in “Creamed Woodchuck” and watch it surface.

For years, I’ve been going to back issues to find old stories by M. F. K. Fisher or Joseph Wechsberg; now I just have to search the site or go to our From the Magazine section. And I’m thrilled that I can now get the latest on food politics served up on a daily basis. (Don’t miss the fascinating Q & A session with Michael Pollan.)

One of the most rewarding things of the past year has been the response to Edna Lewis’s essay in the January issue, so we’ve put it online for anyone who didn’t happen to get that issue. The same is true of the entire first season of our television show, Gourmet’s Diary of a Foodie; if you missed it the first time around, all 20 episodes will soon be here.

And that’s what’s a bit scary, too. This website is still a work in progress. While the complete first season of Gourmet’s Diary of a Foodie will be online very shortly, we now have just the first three episodes on our site. We’re working diligently to bring you what we hope will be the first of many City Guides, and we’ve already set about bringing even more of the Gourmet archive to the site…. This is very much an ongoing endeavor, one that will continue to flourish and grow over time.

But we’re very proud of this beginning, and eager to hear from you. What do you like? What do you wish we had that we don’t? What do you hate? Please let us know your thoughts in our forums.

Finally, I want to thank the team that worked so hard to put this site together. I don’t think that our online editorial director, Adam Houghtaling, has had any sleep at all in the past ten days. Christy Harrison, who has edited so much of this site (and also interviewed Michael Pollan) is equally sleep-deprived. Caroline Patience has deftly managed the City Guides and our newsletter, and Masood Kamandy has done an amazing job finding the photographs to illustrate the articles. Finally, a big thank-you to our videographer, Azon Juan, who filmed and edited the exclusive videos you’ll find across the site.