Announcing The Cleaver Quarterly

“In the heart and soul of every great cook, everywhere in the world, I think there’s a Chinese guy.” Anthony Bourdain

I am a huge fan of Lucky Peach, in particular, and food writing, in general, that uses food as a way to seek a greater understanding of the world and all the cultures and people who fill it. What we eat, how we eat it, and the architecture of cooking reveal much about ourselves, both as individuals and as members of a culture. You could have a pretty intense (and lengthy) debate about which culture had the biggest impact on world cuisine, but whatever conclusion you come to, you would have to include Chinese cooking in that debate.

So, I am very excited to announce that Porter Square Books is now carrying The Cleaver Quarterly, an English-language magazine of long form writing about the world of Chinese Cuisine, produced in China. Here’s a sample of what they offer from their manifesto:

At any given moment, more people on Earth are eating Chinese food than anything else. They’re enjoying flavor combinations that have been field-tested by hundreds of generations of peasants and palace chefs, innkeepers and nomads, fisherfolk and soldiers and daughters-in-law and ingenious beggars.

Chinese cuisine is an evolving kaleidoscope of cooking techniques and regional styles. It’s also an eager ambassador, a globalizing and globalized cuisine. As people realize how much more there is to Chinese food beyond the menu at their local takeaway, there’s a hunger to know more – and it’s that hunger that we aim to feed.

In each issue of The Cleaver, we’ll bring together enough voices to fill a banquet table. We can’t wait to get started. There’s so much to talk about, and all of it is fair game: from earthy staples to impossibly refined delicacies, from recipes that are older than the Great Wall to the sweet-and-sour concoctions that have served as so many people’s first exposure to Chinese culture. And we’ll serve it up in the form of long-simmered essays, pungent features, organically sourced reporting, crisp vignettes, and saucy interviews with people who produce, prepare and pine for Chinese food.

We intend to be as tirelessly curious, resourceful and versatile as the cuisine itself. In short, our aim at The Cleaver is to tell you everything you wanted to know but never knew to ask about Chinese food. We’ll leave no wok unturned in order to bring you an irreverent takeaway on the real China.

Order the latest issue of The Cleaver here. We also have copies of Issues 1 & 2 while supplies last. Let us know in the order comments if you'd like a back issue.

New Magazines in 2014

Every year we like to freshen our magazine selections with some new titles. Here are a few of the magazines we have recently started carrying.

Sweet Paul: A craft and home magazine for fans of Kinfolk and Lucky Peach. Here’s how Paul Lowe Einlyng describes his magazine: “I decided that I should go out on a limb and create my own magazine that would leverage not only my years of experience, but also showcase the work of my incredibly talented posse of food-geek, photography-obsessed, craft-genius friends! I wanted Sweet Paul magazine to be an anticipated quarterly that readers could use to sweeten their everyday life. I strive to put out a magazine that is as creative and visually stunning as Martha Stewart Living but without being weighed-down with impossible recipes and projects developed for expert chefs and crafters. Full of easy-yet-elegant recipes, stylish crafts, entertaining ideas, shopping tips, recurring features and more, Sweet Paul magazine is the source people all over the world turn to for inspiration.” 

The Ink Seed Project: The Ink Seed Project is a quarterly press dedicated to the creative empowerment of their Somerville community. They foster several campaigns aimed at strengthening creative/critical thinking skills and strive to maintain an open dialogue with their readership. They publish art of every genre, created by people of every type. The Ink Seed Project is as versatile as the people who are a part of it. 

Draft & Imbibe: Cambridge is a pretty good place to grab a drink, so we added a couple of adult beverage magazines. Draft: Life on Tap is the premier beer magazine around, providing reviews, travel guides, homebrewing tips, information on new and upcoming breweries, and articles that put it all in historical context. Imbibe is the ultimate guide to liquid culture. In every issue of the magazine and on the website, you’ll find the best drink recipes, reviews, destinations and profiles—everything you need to know about the people, places, flavors and cultures of drinks. From wine, spirits and beer to coffee, tea and everything in between, Imbibe celebrates your world in a glass.

The Gay and Lesbian Review: The Gay and Lesbian Review’s mission is to provide a forum for enlightened discussion of issues and ideas of importance to lesbians and gay men; to advance gay and lesbian culture by providing a quality vehicle for its best writers and thinkers; and to educate a broader public on gay and lesbian topics. Each issue is organized around a theme, such as “The Science of Homosexuality,” “Human Rights around the World,” and “Virtual Communities,” and includes about a half-dozen essays in a wide range of disciplines as well as reviews of books, movies, and plays. A few poems also appear in each issue, along with letters to the editor, an artist’s profiles, and an international spectrum column. The goal is always to cover a topic from a range of perspectives by featuring a number of the leading contributors in the field. 

American Reader: The American Reader is a monthly journal committed to inspiring literary and critical conversation among a new generation of readers, and restoring literature to its proper place in the American cultural discourse. It seeks to be principled, but not dogmatic; discerning, but not cruel; popular, but not populist. It honors the dignity of the reading public and heralds the reemergence of a thriving and serious-minded national literary culture. It features new fiction; new poetry; translated portfolios of international fiction, poetry, and drama; well-argued reviews of new literature; considered essays on all matters literary; and occasional interviews with writers, publishers, editors, and various industry professionals. 

Even though we’ve been carrying the apt annual for a while, it gets a special mention here because it has just secured national distribution. This makes it a lot easier for stores like us to carry it. Though the publishers are in Baltimore now, they were our neighbors for a while and it’s great to see this success.