Dearest readers,

We’ve been boiling, grilling, and harvesting ingredients from all over the world for the past three months and it’s finally started to smell good. So buckle up for a scrumptious summer feast!

Since releasing the last issue in December 2022, we went on a tumultuous journey questioning our identity as Napkins [and maybe we’ll always be questioning 🍓(that's camp)]. For some #context, we organized a really delicious interactive art exhibition called Fractal in Taipei last November. That put us through a phase where we felt Napkins would be better off focusing on events.

In retrospect, our decision, which we were dead convinced was not a phase, was probably a result of the stress (trauma) cumulated from organizing Fractal and having to push out a magazine immediately after the back-breaking work.

But as you can deduce/induce/abduct by now, we missed having the magazine. They were right when they said your first would be unforgettable. The magazine was our first, serious baby.

Except that we thought it was an adult at first, and put all the pressures of an adult on that issue. We even expected it to be financially independent. Seeing it for what it was—a tender, curious, and confused as hell child—has helped us realize that we need to walk at its pace and listen to it. And same went for our approach to working with our contributors.

Everything you read in this issue is, as always, a dance between the editors and the contributors. What set it apart from previous issues was that we now have a much more diverse team of editors—different niches, different backgrounds, different editorial styles to accompany the diverse different talent of our contributors.

It is always difficult to foresee how each issue would end up looking. We agreed on setting a theme that was general enough to encourage running imagination but narrow enough for the galloping to not go astray. What you will see from this summer spread then is a collage of different people’s summer experiences and musings made under the summer weather.

There are warm memories from childhood seasoned with fresh sea salt, wild strawberries on controversial plates, sandwiches crumpled in pockets, empanadas from hot bus rides, and much, much more…

Welcome to the Napkins Summer of 2023. Enjoy your meal and leave space for dessert!

Смачного and 趁热吃,
Dasha & Zhi Zhi x

P.S. Find the Dessert on the website.