This is the premier issue of a magazine dedicated to South Asian food culture, with stories and photos from from India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh.

A new project from the team at magazine. Rasa features the work of writers and photographs with deep connections to the region, many of whom were born, live and work there.

Among the manifold meanings of the word rasa is "the fundamental quality that makes a food—or emotion—what it is." The magazine accordingly begins with an article on rasam, a dish with many variations throughout South India, but always with an important role to play in a meal.

Among the other articles:

• How did anchovies become beloved in landlocked Nepal?
• The Bengali custom of Matsyamukhi: the symbolic return to fish-eating after bereavement
• The practical ubiquity of puffed rice in street food
• The Sri Lankan love of milk powder, an ingredient made very scarce in the current upheaval

Attractive photography evokes ingredients, cooks, eaters, markets, and finished dishes.

Paperback. Color photographs throughout.