A postcard from the packing station
Plus, part 2 of the 'Eating together' series
An aside: I thought I sent this postcard out earlier this week—which I did—but it wasn’t until just now when I realised it was cross-posted to a different Substack account. Ah, what is 2021 without tech glitches? Apologies for the error.
Now on with this week’s postcard from the packing station:
It’s finally happening—Plates, Vol.4: Seeds have been scattered and sowed. The past week was spent anxiously waiting to see if the printers would pull through for the final service. Daily follow-ups with the printers was how I spent each morning; pushing for a Friday delivery.
On Thursday, I was told there was no one at the threading machine (to bind the magazines) and was promised Monday.
Ever since the multiple incidents of unexpected, prolonged and temporary closure of the printers, which began in June, as COVID-19 cases continued to surge in the country—especially in both our districts (the printer’s and mine) which were closed off from one another due to the Movement Control Order—I spent many weekends waiting anxiously as these surprise announcements often happened on Friday afternoons or Monday mornings.
Since the magazines arrived on Monday evening, I’ve been packing, processing, hand-writing and customising each order to the very end.
I’d like to take this moment to thank everyone who dared to patiently wait in line long before the scaffolding of Plates, Vol.4: Seeds came down.
If you’re outside of Malaysia/Singapore, if all goes well with customs, I’m hoping for your copies of the Special Early Bird Pack to be with you in the next 3 - 4 weeks. If you’re in Malaysia/Singapore, I’m hoping for your magazines to arrive within the next fortnight. Thank you so much for your curiosity, patience and enthusiasm for this issue. It really means a lot.
P/S Some housekeeping updates: I’m temporarily closing the web store this Monday, 6 September to focus on some deep work offline. For those who’ve been asking, pre-orders for a la carte copies of Plates, Vol.4: Seeds will be available, you can opt to sign-up for store updates here to be one of the first to know and/or keep an eye on @platesmagazine. In the meantime, you have until Sunday to get any last-minute orders in at the Plates store.
Now, for the second installation of the four-part mini series ‘Eating together’, off-cuts from the storygathering trip of Plates, Vol.2: Durian:
Eating together: Stir-fry durian
This Kayan longhouse has two verandas. One side faces the morning sun; the other, for the evening. Of course, as with any living space, one section is favoured over the other. Not necessarily for its aesthetics, but its practicality. The veranda facing the driveway, which doubles as a lookout point and drying rack, receives familiar visitors and serves as a collection and cutting space for fruits from the backyard.
For a city person, like myself, mistakenly cutting into an unripe store-bought fruit, especially the ‘precious’ ones (such as mango and avocado) can be heart-wrenching. For comparison, an avocado here is about USD1 - 2 per fruit while a durian can fetch anywhere between USD12 - 30 (sometimes more) per fruit.
But on this day in particular, at the longhouse, an unripe kampung ‘village’ durian is intentionally cut open on the linoleum-lined floor of the veranda. (The day before, a durian of the premium-priced variety, Musang King was used.) Sections that had ripened (to the dismay of Pathe, a guest and self-appointed cook at the longhouse) were hastily eaten. Had this fruit been left for another day, it wouldn’t have made it to the wok.
The flesh of an unripe durian has a similar consistency to the a ripe jackfruit, minus the sweetness. Unripe, the aril holds its shape and doesn’t carry the fruit’s distinct aroma.
This is an off-cut from one of the many storygathering trips for Plates, Vol.2: Durian, which includes this stir-fry ‘Durian Mantak’ recipe.
To learn more and challenge your existing food and cultural narratives, beyond Fear Factor-type adjectives of ‘disgust’ and ‘smelly’, consider reading the Durian issue in print. Whether you like the taste of durian or not, I guarantee you will gain new insight, understanding and appreciation for this Southeast Asian fruit; and learn to critically digest various perceptions of the “other”.
This week, I’m
working on: sowing more ‘Seeds’
listening to: construction noise
Plates is an independent print magazine that uses food as a conversation starter and offers alternatives to mainstream food culture narratives. If you learned something from this week’s postcard, consider forwarding this to a friend to begin a conversation. And of you’ve been meaning to, but haven’t quite gotten around to it, pick up your very own copy of Plates here. Thanks for being here. See you next week.