Taste of Asia Magazine

Future Covers and Features

2008-09-07T07:08:00.000-07:00

Planning ahead is always somewhat fluid when creating a magazine that has to be both current and reflective of trends and general interests. But one thing I can usually settle on are our covers, I know what I want and, if I'm fortunate enough to get it, I tend to stick with it.

Issue one featured a childhood hero in the form of Ken Hom, legendary TV Chef and Restaurateur whom I particularly wanted to kick the title off with. Firstly I wanted a face that everyone would recognise as a "famous chef" and secondly I wanted everyone to see that the Word "Asian" did not have to mean Indian or Pakistani just because we are more familiar with those nationalities here as our community neighbours. We also accept that most currently available publications feature or are catering for that part of Asia. So, Ken was important in order to help me establish that "Asia" meant just that, the whole of Asia and not just India or Pakistan.

Issue two however, will feature another Asian face in the form of Honey Kalaria our own British Bollywood Ambassador. My decision to feature Honey was again two fold. I wanted to feature a different Asian face in terms of nationality, Honey being Indian, and then I wanted to enforce the fact that we are not just a cookery book - in fact far from it! Honey's introduction as our Bollywood Dance, Fitness and Glamour columnist should make that quite clear and most importantly, add a bit of glamour to our cover!

Issue three, out just before Christmas, will feature an entirely different subject and help to combine all essential seasonal topics and an interesting feature on that very British phenomenon - Pantomime! To my great delight Panto's greatest "Dame" Christopher Biggins has agreed to appear as "Widow Twanky" in full costume on our cover and to give us an exclusive interview and insight into the World of Panto and how Widow Twanky and Aladdin actually came about. Each year we laugh at the shows - but how did the Chinese influence become an annual event. Stick around and wait and read all about it.

Taste of Asia Magazine is all about celebrating Asia and its influences as each new edition will gradually establish. I am delighted with the way things are going and grateful to everyone including Ken, Honey and Christopher who are playing an essential part in our future... Thanks everyone!

The Importance of Representing Asia With Respect

2008-08-26T07:16:00.000-07:00

I'm coming to realise that this Blog is a great Soapbox from which I can at least air my views regardless of whether anyone ever gets to read them, let alone agree with them. But air them I must as I believe I have, occasionally, something important to say.

We all do things because we want to, sometimes our actions are driven by need, other times by passion. It was passion that made me start the magazine as I feel a close love for Asia, its people and its positivity. Regardless of nationality I have always experienced kindness, warmth and a genuine welcome in all my travels.

Now I have to be honest and say that I have only, so far, visited three countries in South East Asia, though some several times. The Philippines, Malaysia and Singapore have all welcomed me and made me feel at home, often I left their ports in tears as I felt I was indeed leaving home. I mention that only because I have never cried upon leaving England, I am usually suppressing an urge to scream with joy. Don't get me wrong, I love my home country and would not speak ill of the UK, but I do feel it has lost its way of late and I am therefore much more inspired by places that are still coming of age and still embrace positivity and challenge with a passion as firm as a child's grip on a candy bar.

The people of China, have just demonstrated a united passion for the Olympics and together showed the World what is possible when you make sacrifices and join forces to make a unified impression. China is coming of age and the Olympics gave it the opportunity to turn a corner with a whole new expression on its face. China blew us all away with its facilities, its national dedication to the chore and the teams unquestionable determination to excel and win at every opportunity. Good for them I say, China we should all learn from your dedication to achieve your goals even when the World would choose to forget its own failings only to focus on yours for want of embarrassing you. You took no notice, you got on with pitching up with an incredible Games and can sit back proud in the knowledge that at least this part of the third World can achieve whatever it wants - when it chooses to.

I didn't want to talk about China or the Olympics other than to use that example to make my point. I have experienced two conversations recently that really impacted on me. Strangely, both were about the same country, no need to name it, but both were delivered by educated and competent people whom, in my opinion, should know better than to say what they did. Both made comments about a beautiful nation and its people which were both unwarranted and wrong. Both stated that while the people were "lovely" they are sadly naive and impressionable. "Happy back slappers" was one expression used because they are often "guilty" of praising colleagues for their achievements. In my opinion when a nation is rising out of the dust and building a presence in the World it is entitled to recognise those who have made it possible, even if only in part through individual actions.

There is a nasty "British" condition that I have always found ugly and offensive. It is the tendency to see ourselves as "British" and everyone else as "Foreigners", looking down on other nationalities as if they should be grateful that we allow them to share some space on "our" planet. I hate this misguided and arrogant attitude. As Brits we have indeed played our part in shaping the World and helping "lesser" nations to get on their feet with systems that even now form the structures of commerce, education and law. It was something we did when we probably had a right to claim something of a status in the World. But now, as in the case of the Chinese and the Olympics, we have to admit that others can often do things bigger and better than we probably can. Britain, once a World leader in standards, is now in danger of falling into disrepair and looking like an aged parent past their best years. It saddens me to hear India, Singapore and Malaysia, for example, praising the British systems they run on, the influence we had on their nations and the standards we set, when nowadays, we don't have much respect for our old standards at all. Britain, it's time to buck up! When was the last time you saw Japanese students fighting drunk in London streets, or Thai men coming here to have sex with our daughters? Maybe you think it is I who is being naive, not really I know I am being simplistic, I'm just trying to make the point that we are no longer demonstrating the standards we were once respected for.

Hearing comments about "naive" countries who have "no idea what they are doing" sickens me to the stomach. Our arrogance really knows no bounds. Recently I met a famous Indian musician. I went to interview him about his music of course, but I teased him and suggested he may have got me there under false pretences. For though there is no doubt about his abilities as a musician, talking to him revealed that his real gift is as a philosopher. His simple and yet complex understanding of the World made him an enlightened giant in my eyes. I came away from my meeting feeling educated and humbled by his take on life. Here was a man who many of my associates may look upon as a simple man by appearance, but explore his mind and you have to draw a very different conclusion. If we all took his approach to life we would indeed be more at peace with ourselves and much less self obsessed with our vanities.

This is why I am on my soapbox. I am tired of the way the West may incline to look down on Asia. At their simple lifestyles, at their comfort with themselves and the way they live. Let me tell you these people have an inner peace we could all benefit from.

Another example; At the weekend I attended the Bangladeshi Boat Race on the Thames in Oxford. The first "Nowka Bais" to take place outside of Bangladesh. A remarkable achievement in itself, involving flying two canoes at some considerable expense into the country etc etc. All achieved by Bangladeshi businessmen here in the UK. While wandering through the crowds I noticed several instances of young men holding hands and talking to each other at length. Was this a Gay Carnival? No not at all. Was their action strange in any way? Not back home in Bangladesh where it is quite the norm to demonstrate friendship or a union of thought by keeping hold of a colleagues hand while conversing. This was a harmless and positive demonstration of unity but most importantly of comfort within themselves. Their minds were free of Western hang-ups that might instantly assume such a practice as "weird" or "gay". To my mind what they were doing was demonstrating friendship, something we would do well to learn from. What I was more troubled by were the cyclists who insisted on riding their cycles through the crowds without any thought for all the children around, and the young woman who had elected to sunbathe on the grass where all the TV interviews were being conducted, apparently oblivious to what was going on around her and showing no intention or even thought of moving to somewhere less "in the way".

I'm going to stop going on now, but the more I learn about Asia, its people, its depth of thought and simplistic contentment, driven by support for each other through community and family - the more I like it.

Asia to my mind is not naive it is enlightened. One day we will realise that and probably claim that this "new" discovery - was our idea.

Taste of Asia Magazine Current Status

2008-08-26T05:00:00.000-07:00

When you first plan a new venture you are burdened to a point by your own idealistic viewpoint, optimism, positive outlook - call it what you will, but the point is, you only see pluses. For the positive thinkers amongst us that is no bad thing, out of a PMA comes real results, but a little tempered realism doesn't go amiss. A reality check is essential if objectives are to be met.

Since launching the magazine the response has been incredible. The concept, the idealism etc has been welcomed by everyone and I am amazed at how far we have come in just a few short months. Our Pan Asian viewpoint is what has gained us most attention and I feel sure will prove to be our greatest strength. To get an idea of what I mean, please take a look at my temporary site at www.trevorkrueger.com and see what I have been up to in the NEWS section.

The material for the second issue of the magazine is all ready for processing and it should make our second appearance even more exciting than the first. Quality of content, contributors, subject matter are all better and evolving with time. However, we are overdue for release and the reason for that is simple to explain.

Firstly, we have been carefully listening to reactions and learning about what people want and expect to see in the magazine. Secondly, we have been waiting for some important doors to open that will help me to lay the best paths forward. We have had problems with advertising, our essential source of income, because agencies won't handle us until we've been publishing for a year and one agency even, amazingly, told us they would not give us any ads at all if we carried certain content. I will not go into detail but, rest assured, I will not be compromised on what I want to write about, so that advertising agency will have to be managed without. The purpose of our magazine is to inform and entertain, not to work within the paramaters of the advertising industry who would have us jump through hoops in order to satisfy the data required by the industry number crunchers. Our philosophy is and will remain simple, we want to construct a magazine that people enjoy reading and thus commands a large and loyal following. That way we can assure our advertsing clients that their ads will be seen by a valuable audience worthy of their spend. But, the first objective is to provide a "good read" if that earns us advertising - all well and good. I will not turn out dross or mass market guff just to get figures. I believe our readers are free thinkers with aspirations and money to spend - if and when they see something they want. It is inteligent people that I want to entertain first, so that is what I will focus my attention on. I hate and abhore conformity, it kills free thought and creativity. If I want to churn out stuff that has no other objective than to sell product - I'll get a job writing copy for the Argos catalogue!

Then we have to sort out distribution and a new designer as our first choice is no longer available. Not difficult... All in all circumstances change and the "mechanics" have to be managed that is all. But! The magazine itself has been a great hit and we will certainly be issuing the next edition very soon and for many years to come.

My apologies to anyone who is frustrated with the current delay or wondering what is going on. Rest assured I am frustrated too. There is no "problem" as such, beyond cash flow. I guess the simple truth is, if those keen to see us survive and prosper were to actually offer some financial support - issue 2 would have been out and available by now.

If you can offer any suggestions at any time or can help, please get in touch. I am never too busy to take assistance from any who wish to get involved.

Taste of Asia Magazine will be a major success, I promise that. Stick with us and support us where you can as there will come a day when we will be much stronger and may be able to help you too.

We need someone to sell our ads for us, if that person is you - please get in touch!

Trevor

Taste of Asia Latest News and Information

2008-08-19T06:17:00.000-07:00

If you want to get some quick and accurate information on what Taste of Asia Magazine is all about - just take a look at my support website at http://www.trevorkrueger.com/ It's all there, info about what we are trying to achieve, where we are going and what we've been up to. You can also see who is on the team and read about what we have planned, though much of the up and coming information will be aired right here.

This BLOG is available for you to make a comment or get in touch with other magazine followers to try and get things going as a team.

One of our big projects is to introduce Philippino cuisine into the mainstream market. If you would like to know more about that - drop me a line. If you would like to be considered for opening a Philippino Restaurant in line with the development programme. We are working on that with the Philippine Embassy, The Philippino Chefs Association and Philippine Generations.

There is a lot more info to follow when I get time to add it to the BLOG, meanwhile, thanks to Rob Dejean for setting this up for me - he's a real star!

Watch this space for more news as it happens...

Trevor