I founded Asian Palate in 2006, initially as a wine education company, then later branched out to become an education, consulting and events company. The name ‘Asian palate’ inspired me, though critics point out that the term is as broad and vague as ‘European palate’ or ‘American palate’.
While I acknowledge that using the term ‘Asian palate’ can be a sweeping generalization, I still find the term useful as a concept. For centuries, the global discourse about wine and food belonged in the European and American realms – just research textbooks and academic subjects on wine, food and dining, and you will see that the conversations hardly mention Asia and very few Asian perspectives exist.
Asian Palate as a concept is meant to add to this conversation, a perspective that has been missing in wine and food history. When I published my first book about wine and Asian cuisine pairing in 2008, I was happy to use Asian Palate as its title. A year later, when I launched my website, I also called it Asian Palate.
AsianPalate.com had lofty ambitions – I founded it to celebrate authentic Asian cuisine and wine together. The aim, as I wrote in the welcome page, was to “lead intelligent and insightful discussions about food and wine in Asia by providing forward-thinking news and commentary, as well as a platform for others to engage, share and respond. Our goals at Asian Palate are to democratize wine appreciation and to elevate the appreciation of authentic Asian cuisine worldwide.”
Sadly, when I started to build a publishing team of nearly 40 people to launch the wine lifestyle magazine Le Pan in 2015, I had to put Asian Palate on hold, both the business and the website. Since leaving Le Pan in 2016, Asian Palate will be at the center of my attention, both in its new form within JeannieChoLee.com and as an education and consulting company.
Asian Palate offers bespoke wine classes, memorable wine and food events as well as consultation services to restaurants, hotels and corporate companies. For more information, please email [email protected].