by Jennifer Laidlaw

At 155 pages, Vignettes of Taiwan is a relatively short book, full of tales and large, vibrant photographs. The book is set-up for both the newcomer and the old friend. It begins with a note on the choice of names used throughout, explaining the difficult circumstances around deciding upon “the correct” Taiwanese place names due to numerous name changes based on politics and the adoption of various systems to account for foreigners, Chinese rule, and Taiwanese governments.

Joshua Samuel Brown ventured to Taiwan in 1994. A fresh university graduate hoping to strike gold in Japan’s land of the rising sun, Brown was convinced by the owner of a small dim sum café in Rochester that he would be better off living in her homeland of Taiwan teaching English. His wallet agreed. A decade later, he still calls Taiwan home.

The extraordinary women of Asia are the backbone of society – rearing children, maintaining the household, and often working long hours outside of the home, even engaged in back-breaking manual labour. Despite life's burdens, we find they are always gracious with a smile and hospitable hosts.

As food and festivals are two areas of great interest to us, we naturally find women to be part of, if not the, subject of our photography. They are typically involved in food preparation and are usually the most colourfully dressed at various celebrations. Here is a small selection of the Asian women we have met on our travels.

by Rick Green

Browsing the booths at the San Francisco Book Fair in 2000, a large paperback caught my eye on the Ten Speed Press table. On the cover, a Khmer girl wearing a red and white-checked krama on her head was biting into one of two spiders on a bamboo skewer. Her left hand, grasping the top of the skewer, was partially splayed out in what looked like the "okay" gesture while she held spider's head between her pearly teeth. She appeared naturally content.

Cambodia was just one of 13 countries that Man Eating Bugs surveyed where people eat insects. Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio had documented in full colour eating the likes of flying ants in Thailand, Japanese caddis fly larvae, and scorpions in China. Needless to say, I bought it.

Although I love food, I wouldn't go so far as to call myself a culinary adventurer with respect to my day-to-day eating habits. I don't actually relish the thought of popping sheep's eyeballs or tucking into pig's intestines. While I have ventured considerably beyond my North American meat and potatoes upbringing, the meat and seafood I cook at home is still supermarket conventional. That changes, however, when I travel. I attempt to transform my mind into a tabula rasa to let go of my inhibitions and prejudices. That way, I can better absorb and understand the culture of my new surroundings.