Here is my first draft to my magazine article
Reflection : Starting to write my article was very difficult to me as I found myself at a loss on what to do or how to start. I solved this through my teacher's method of brainstorming- jotting down some sub-headings before I started to give myself a general idea at where I might want to go and it did end up helping me begin. Eventually, writing this article became almost fun but I found myself with writer's-block in the middle where I was lost for words because I had run out of ideas. To solve that, I took a break by having personal leisure time then came back to my statement of intent as well as my research to refresh my brain before returning to this assignment. This helped in stirring up some new ideas, remember my intentions to guide me into the right direction and helped me finish this 700-word article.
Audience: Teenagers to young adults, no gender preferences
Tone: Informal
Direct/indirect: Direct
Who is the author/Author's persona: Travelling chef at 28 years old, a person who is adventurous, bold, daring with food and appreciative of its origin.
Tone: Informal
Direct/indirect: Direct
Who is the author/Author's persona: Travelling chef at 28 years old, a person who is adventurous, bold, daring with food and appreciative of its origin.
Heading:
- Too hot to handle
- Spice spotlight
- Spice market
- Chilli Connooisseur
- Chilli Cook-off
- Fiery flow of Chilli
- Sizzling Spices
- Sizzling Sensations
Reflection: I decided to use Spice Spotlight as my heading as it really stuck to me. Compared to the others, the word spotlight was the best match to the intention of my magazine's content which was "to highlight" or "to bring attention" to one of Indonesia's culinary hallmark, its spice. Its simple but catchy with both words starting with an S, an alliteration that's likely to stick with the reader. I will be rewriting it as "A spotlight on spice" to be more cohesive.
Sub-headings:
- Ignite your tongue
- Spice odyssey
- Spice up your life
- Spice trails and tribulations
- The journey for spice
- The journey for spice
- Culinary Alchemy
- Spice-I-Y
Reflection: I will not keep the use of sub-headings and only use them as tool to build off my text from. My reasoning for this was that sub-headings were not common in food magazines and magazines that I had researched, so it was a less necessary feature. Not only that, I knew the length of my essay would be likely to take up large chunks of space in my magazine and would want to avoid taking up even more by adding sub-headings.
1st Draft Article (700 word minimum)
Whenever I saw my older brother stuff his face with a striking red sauce and a side of chicken as a kid, my face would sink into my skull and I would wrinkle my nose in hopes to close up my nostrils from the overpowering and robust aroma that punched my smelling senses. Now, whenever I see my brother enjoy foods dipped into the vibrant orange tint of chilli sauce, all my sensations tingle and spark, drawing me towards it. I become spellbound and fall into a trance where my body decides its a must for my tongues to have a taste.
Admittedly, my brother has a better tolerance to spice than I- I even considered asking him to write this article for me but he nobly declined with the reason that a lover of spice will always find it impossible to love the spices below their standards which i replied with a scoff. But I whole-heartedly understood what he meant. Once you try life with spice, nothing else can suffice.
Historians can even attest to that! With just a cursory look into the spice trade, you would see an era where people called for spices, and Indonesia answered. Indonesia has long been known for its wealth and abundance in high quality spices, including nutmegs, ginger, pepper, and many others. This reputation wasn't just a myth; it was truth that grew from Indonesia's fertile and rich soil as well as their varied agriculture, which produced a large range of crops. These spices travelled across large distances worldwide. Overcoming the seven seas and entering international markets in all throughout Europe and Asia, where demand for spices erupted in the 15th century, the spice trade was recognized as a cross-cultural interaction that played a crucial role in propelling the world economy at the time that developed into the contemporary economic world.
"But why crave for spice?" you (maybe) wondered. The short answer will tell you that spices has a wide range of functionality. The long answer will detail you with how spices have been used for much longer than just enhancing flavors; they have also served as food preservatives, been used in medicine and medical practices across all the globe, and have even been used as a status symbol and seen as a luxury good. Even though preservation and medical purposes are still valid today, the majority of our motivations are merely to elevate the taste of our food or follow a culinary tradition in traditional cuisine.
With the split islands of Indonesia, its not a surprise to see dishes from each and every island and region to be differently but they all share the same topping- Chilli. Chilli or better known as 'sambal' by locals can be found in every Indonesian dish that they serve. Even if you think its not, there always will be a side of sambal. From being on meats of poultry and pig to vegetable greens and even fruit salads, spice is a popular friend amongst all. In Bali, the island's foodies can direct you to restaurants with the most finger-licking good sambal that can fit to each persons preference of sweet and tangy or salty and zesty flavour of chilli sauces. Its quite impossible to go through all recipes of every chilli sauce but when asking locals on their top rated and most reccommended chilli sauce, I found the top 3 fan favourite sauces.
So wash your ingredients and open a window, prepare yourself for the pungent smell that will entice everyone in your household. I will show you how to make the harmonious blend of spices so intense and magnificent, yet so simple, that will bring you down to joyful tears.
Recipes :
Sambal Matah :
- 10 shallot
- 12 bird's eye chilies
- 1 lime leaf
- 1 lemongrass stalk (whites only)
- 4 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 lime
- Salt
- Powdered mushroom stock
1. Thinly slice all ingredients
2. Add onions and chili into a bowl, add and squirt lime juice
3. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and powdered mushroom stock, then stir well
4. Pour in coconut oil, and serve
4. Pour in coconut oil, and serve
Sambal Cabe Ijo :
- 20g large green chilies
- 30g curly green chilies
- 50g green cayenne pepper
- 5 shallots
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 medium green tomato
- 2 orange leaves
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 a lime
- 150ml cooking oil
1. Blend the spices, green chilies, shallots and garlic, in a mortar if possible
2. Heat oil in a pan and saute the ground spices. Then follow with crushed ginger, lime leaves, tomato slices and cayenne pepper.
3. When it starts to boil, add sugar and salt to taste.
Sambal Terasi :
- 150g curly red chilies
- 75g red cayenne peppers
- 3 large red chilies
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 10 shallots
- 1 red tomato
- Grilled shrimp paste
- Salt
- Brown sugar
- 100ml Cooking oil
1. Puree all in a blender or your ulekan if available at home, adding 50ml of water as needed
2. Heat oil in a frying pan
3. Saute the chilli sauce, adding sugar, salt and seasoning according to task
4. Cook until water is reduced
Reflection: After my teacher's feedback, I revisted this article and reevaluated it while considering the conventions of food magazines. While most food magazines mostly consisted of just recipes, some magazines did have anecdotes and explanations of the dish however still kept it short and avoided lengthy explanations. I will be taking this into consideration as I rewrite my article to fit the conventions.
Reflection: Although I enjoyed the small fun facts I had added to the article, the length of the first draft is way too long when compared to other food magazines' conventions as most of the time, they only include a small anecdote along with the recipe. Thus, I will be needing to cut this article down to at best 3 paragraphs based on my research (excluding recipe). I think the informal tone of my article is very unique amongst food magazines as well as the personal anecdote of my "author" so I will be keeping those to give a more personalised feeling by adding that realistic experience that audience could relate or find entertaining.
2nd Draft Article (cut down to convention)
As a kid, whenever I saw my older brother stuff his face with a striking red sauce and a side of chicken, my face would sink into my skull and I would wrinkle my nose to shut my nostrils from the overpowering, pungent aroma that punched my nose. Now, whenever I see my brother enjoy that vibrant scarlet red, all my sensations tingle and spark, drawing me towards it like a trance. Because once you try life with spice, nothing else can suffice.
Historians can attest to that! Between preservatives, medical practices, tools that elevate flavour, or a status symbol, its functions was what popularized them globally. As Europe and Asia created a boom in the demand for spices in the 15th century, Indonesia became a successful supplier. Known for its wealth, diversity, and abundance of quality spices grown from their rich and fertile soils, Indonesia's spices had overcame the seven seas to enter the international markets and make their contribution in propelling the development of the contemporary economic world.
Chilli or better known as 'sambal' by locals can be found in every Indonesian dish that's served. From meats of poultry and pig to vegetable greens, spice is a popular friend amongst all. In Bali, the island's foodies can direct you to restaurants with the most finger-licking good sambal or you could wash your ingredients, open a window and prepare yourself for the robust smell that will entice everyone in your household as I'll show you how to make the top 3 most reccomended sambal so intense, yet so simple, that will bring you down to joyful tears.
Recipes :
Sambal Matah :
- 10 shallot
- 12 bird's eye chilies
- 1 lime leaf
- 1 lemongrass stalk (whites only)
- 4 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1 lime
- Salt
- Powdered mushroom stock
1. Thinly slice all ingredients
2. Add onions and chili into a bowl, add and squirt lime juice
3. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and powdered mushroom stock, then stir well
4. Pour in coconut oil, and serve
4. Pour in coconut oil, and serve
Sambal Cabe Ijo :
- 20g large green chilies
- 30g curly green chilies
- 50g green cayenne pepper
- 5 shallots
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 medium green tomato
- 2 orange leaves
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 a lime
- 150ml cooking oil
1. Blend the spices, green chilies, shallots and garlic, in a mortar if possible
2. Heat oil in a pan and saute the ground spices. Then follow with crushed ginger, lime leaves, tomato slices and cayenne pepper.
3. When it starts to boil, add sugar and salt to taste.
Sambal Terasi :
- 150g curly red chilies
- 75g red cayenne peppers
- 3 large red chilies
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 10 shallots
- 1 red tomato
- Grilled shrimp paste
- Salt
- Brown sugar
- 100ml Cooking oil
1. Purée ingredients with blender or your ulekan, add 50ml of water
2. Heat oil in a frying pan
3. Saute the chilli sauce, adding sugar, salt and seasoning accordingly
4. Cook until water is reduced
Reflection: Cutting down my article was quite difficult as I had to make down a mental note/list of what information should be prioritized or what information was too stretched out. I found this task to require lots of focus as I also needed to reword some phrases and sentences to better correspond to each other to ensure the flow between paragraphs would be smooth and sensible. Although this was a lengthy task, I did not find it boring because I had begun feeling excited as it was a step closer to designing my magazine.