Afar: A Balinese Village Carpeted in Cloves; Becoming a Paris Boulanger (SpiceLines)

tr-armchair06_ph_0500522538Afarcover%3A330high.jpg
Afar's inaugural issue includes pieces on trekking in
Morocco's Berber territory and a village in Bali's
clove-growing highlands.

It takes guts to launch an upscale travel magazine in an unpredictable economy.

Even more so, one which eschews luxury resorts in favor of a Laotian tree house in a remote gibbon reserve, reachable only by "a network of steel zip lines, some stretching as far as 1,500 feet..."

But two guys from San Francisco—Greg Sullivan, a “globe-trotting serial entrepreneur,” and Joe Diaz, a former teacher—have decided that the time is right for Afar, a stylish magazine for independent travelers that goes “beneath the surface of a place and look[s] for experiences that enrich and stretch us.”

There’s plenty for spice lovers and foodies in the premier issue: You can read about Munduk, a northern Balinese village where “cloves carpet the courtyards and walkways as buds dry in the sun, and the air smells vaguely of pumpkin pie,” and Les Garrigues in Spain, where “a fruity, aromatic oil” is made from arbequina olives. In “Feast,” there’s a tempting recipe for “bunny chow,” a South African dish “made of a hollowed-out loaf of bread filled with vegetarian or meat curry” seasoned with a mouthwatering array of spices: cinammon, green cardamom pods, curry leaves, turmeric, ginger and various masalas.

And if you’ve dreamed of chucking it all and becoming a baker, you’ll love Samuel Fromartz’s “Time to Rise,” in which “An Amateur Baker Apprentices with a Paris Boulanger and Learns the Secret of Artisan Bread.” (Fromartz’s baguette was named “best in D.C.” by the Washington City Paper after his stint in Paris.)

Afar is aimed at travelers who’ve tired of acquiring “stuff,” but along with articles like “Adventures in Saving the Oceans,” I noticed pieces on Murano glass, Laguiole knives and pricey digital cameras, like the Nikon D5000 ($850), that take HD video as well as still shots. (Not that I'm complaining--I love it all, which puts me right in the heart of the magazine's target audience.)

Still, I hope Afar succeeds. You won’t find features like Tim Cahill’s “The Kindness of Strangers” in Travel & Leisure or Conde Nast’s Traveler. Cahill recalls the generosity of Brazilian cowboys who saddled a horse and allowed him to ride alongside them when he unwittingly hiked into jaguar country. “I remember these people,” Cahill writes. “They figure prominently in the stories that define my life.”